New Design

I finally finished building night stands for Jana and I, more than a year since I built the bed. I'm kind of glad I waited though, because this design is completely different from what I would have done a year ago. I think I was subconsciously inspired by James Krenov, since I've been reading "A Cabinetmakers Notebook," his seminal work on wood and all things zen. Since the cabinet was to sit 8 1/2 inches above the ground, I felt that the legs had to have a little more elegance, or interest anyway, since visually they comprise a big part of the piece. These softly curved legs is what I came up with.


I'm particularly happy with the pull on the drawers- it's gently indented on the top and bottom to give a nice grip for a thumb and forefinger. In the future I'll need to find a router bit that will do this shaping for me, but this time it came down to a chisel and a pipe wrapped in sandpaper and a lot of sweat and sore hands.

The wood has a lot of natural interest. I really like this knot on the top surface here.

I continued with my recent foray into mortise and tenon joinery with these- all joints are formed in this manner. I also took my first shot at dovetails on the drawers. I've got a few kinks to work out, but basically I'm really happy with the result.

I'm very pleased with the overall cohesion of the night stands and bed together.