a built in cherry desk

well, long time no blog ... 3 weeks at least ... lots going on here at the end of summer, or should i say the beginning of fall.  i turned the heat on in the shop when i left today.  some in the area had a frost on their windshield this morning.  the light is changing, and the foliage is beautiful.  life is good. particularly since we installed this built in cherry desk this afternoon.  chris has been working on it for a few weeks now, and im glad to see it in place in its new home.

click the photos to enlarge them ... 

we started with a drawing and then moved on to the full size mockup below

it is in a bedroom, and the space, while not exactly tight, wanted to not be confining.  hard to tell that on paper so we built the mdf and notched luan mockup, which the clients actually used while we worked on the desk. 

great sun .. great view out the windows ...

the construction was a mix of table joinery and case joinery ...

drawers everywhere .. 10 in total, and chris got a real dovetail workout. 

      

ash boxes with cherry ply bottoms ...

more photos tomorrow when the installation is complete ...

its a short drive, but a beauty of a drive ..

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another sir edwin lutyens inspired desk

here we have another desk in the sir edwin lutyens style

click the photos to enlarge them and see it happen from start to finish below ...

nice desk, and a job well done by my man chris bowlen ... 

this desk is the third in a series ...will built the first two at the links below ..

hardware by horton brasses in cromwell, ct

sir edwin rocked!  check out his wikipedia entry, then scroll down to his list of major buildings and projects any one of which would likely occupy the typical architect for many years.  in a minor aside, the entry notes that he designed a little furniture and some of his designs are still on the market today  .. 

this is one of our interpretations of one of his designs seen in the photo below.

our original client in 2009 sent us this photo, which we interpreted into the piece you see at the top of this post.  that one is in cherry, bubinga and walnut, as was the second version we made in 2013 ..

the new cousin is in walnut, ebony, and walnut burl, and has a couple more drawers than the original.
 were coming down the home stretch on it now ..

at 28" x 72" x 31" (the client is taller than most), its the largest one weve made yet ...

we went back and forth a bit on the details and palette and finally settled on walnut burl panels with
an ebony line, quartered claro walnut borders and an american walnut legs, frame and top ..
weve done some finish samples and im pretty sure it will be striking when its done ... 

it started out as lots of  parts

we started with our revised cad drawing of the original desk, lengthened it and added a second row of drawers and since it will be in the middle of the room, a stepped up back panel
and interior panels in the kneehole ..

chris roughed out the legs from a template modified from the original on our vega duplicator,
i did the final clean up and shaping of them .. just keeping my hand in .. i also worked on the structure off and on for a couple weeks while chris was in australia and new zealand .. i was happy when he got back.

we got the walnut burl veneer from ben barrett at berkshire veneer in massachusetts.  weve been buying veneer from ben for quite a while and hes always got some good stuff when we need it. we also got the drawer pulls from horton brasses in cromwell, ct.

tricky construction with the step up in the middle

and lots of edging on the top and the panels ..

only sixteen like this one .. probably 30 pieces on each panel ... lots of tape.
onward ...

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and speaking of fall in vermont

i seem to take the same photos every year .. same but different though. this year it was warm and really dry, and for a while we thought foliage season was going to be actually, a bust.  little did we know that mother nature was just waiting for the tourists to leave after columbus day to hit us with the good stuff.  well, that was tuesday, and every day seems to come on better than the one before.  

below are a few highlights.  

if you are at your desk and not on your phone, click the photos to enlarge them

standard backyard pond with japanese maple photo

a longer range zoom with a little interesting sunlight

 some golf, with occasional rainbows ... it dont get much better than this

 

its zinnia season

 and tomato season ...

  more to see through the weekend ...

and paddle tennis season starts sunday ... all good ... 

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sunny winter light

friday morning was clear and sunny and the winter light was beautiful .. 

love the way it rakes horizontally across the house.

click the photos to enlarge them

makes the cherry glow

turkeys love it too

and the frost on the windshield was excellent

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a claro walnut desk for sale

we made this desk a while back for a show at a gallery in massachusetts.  it stayed in the gallery after the show closed until the gallery was flooded by a broken sprinkler pipe.  the desk survived, but the gallery didnt, and we moved it to the local arts center where it has been on display for sale until recently.

 while it was there it acquired a pretty substantial scratch in the top of it and we picked it up a couple weeks ago to refinish it.  its ready to go again now and looks good as new.  i thought id post it here for sale for a while before i return it to the gallery.

its got a drawer and a secret compartment, and it could also work well as a small dining table for 4 or 6.  the dimensions are +/- 44 x 66 x 29.5 high, the base is steel with a natural satin finish.  the walnut top is one piece and the grain is really nice.  lots of figure and curl ... the price is $8500.  please call me at 802-867-5541, or email me at dan@dorsetcustomfurniture.com for more information.

and if that one doesnt work for you, but you like claro walnut, i have two other possibilities:

this dining table is about 36 x 90.  its in a gallery in chicago, but i would be happy to retrieve it for you, polish it up, and ship it out.  please call or email for a price on that one.  it has a dark bronze shaker style base, and nice grain in the top.

and this slab is available.  dimensions in the photo below.  its finished and hanging on the wall, ready to be something ... coffee table?  desk?  a dining table?  a headboard?  your choice ..

call or email with your ideas ... 

all for now ...

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whas up

well, its fall ... and after almost seven years of blogging and about 700 posts, i think i may be running out of steam a bit ... my last post was about 3 weeks ago. it is fall though and the outdoor activities/distractions are daunting .. i was talking with sam yesterday, and i realized one could theoretically do some fly fishing in the morning, have lunch, play nine holes of golf.  then hit a couple apple orchard covers for some grouse or woodcock in the late afternoon, play some paddle tennis around 5:00, then have a shower and dinner, and still have time for some pottery before bedtime.  so many options; so little time. 
this post will be just a bunch of pictures and short descriptions to summarize our recent activities .. not much detail needed .. click the photos to enlarge them.

the two photos above are a revisit to the hill farm project with some more work .. we reworked the funky pedestal thing above into a bar table ..

fixed bob marleys lion chair and took it to be upholstered .. very cool chair with a made in italy sticker .. appeared to be from the 50s

and we inlaid some mother of pearl poker chips into a table top.  will had to engrave a couple of them below

and weve got a new slab headboard bed going ..

another one, just like the other one ..

big and heavy, but very interesting ..

       

and i took a little trip to see emmy lou and bela fleck and abigail washburn at fresh grass

it took place at mass moca ( mass. museum of contemporary arts), down the road in adams mass. an awesome musuem and worth the trip just to see the buildings. 

       

courtyard d

and a great concert venue.  for emmy lou in joes field, i was able to stroll my way up to pretty close ..

and trevor just finished a custom walnut king bed

lots of xs  .. luckily we have done a million of em

 

 

all in.  all done

more on the fall light later  .. it particularly lights up the figured cherry on our bedroom bureau at this time of the year

pretty tough to photograph though ..

and kit has gotten the harvest in

and back in the shop, weve got another lutyens style desk going ..

this ones bigger though .. 28 x 72 .. gonna be a beauty .. lots of burl

and chris is off to australia and new zealand for three weeks on saturday ..

sam made the gates below for the side door of a local restaurant and we had to make a sign to keep the customers from using them

and sam made some funky parts for a friends gasifier furnace

some old will mosheim wood burnings surfaced in the office .. probably from about 1990 .. love the tiger ..

the pop up tv cabinet is waiting for a decision on the finish ..

and we made a new mahogany top for an antique table pedestal

amd more news from the metal shop with this custom wood rack and adjustable grill for a peter moore fireplace up on the mountain

and i think we might have had our last outdoor shower for the season.  with temps in the 40s in the morning and 30s soon, im going to have to shut it off and drain the lines soon. along with taking down the screen doors, just another fall chore.

im going to miss the view

and speaking of views, about this time of year, for a couple days we get the reflection of the rising sun off the metal roof of the gondola shed at the top of stratton mountain about 25 miles to the southeast.  its another one of those seasonal markers .. all for now ..

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