Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Marina Del Rey

I just got some pictures from Josh and Rafi, A.K.A. Form Los Angeles (see link in below post). They bought the bedroom set that I built a few months ago, and I was honored for it to be included in a condo in Marina Del Rey, right on the water, surrounded by really amazing pieces, all of which were much more expensive than my bed I'm sure. They also commissioned me to build a patio coffee table and a side table that they designed.
They initially wanted the coffee table to be built from teak, but that turned out to be too cost prohibitive. We settled on clear redwood with a clear oil finish and polyurethane. My friend Tom helped me with the polyurethane, which was enormously helpful. I'm not sure on the source of the design- I just copied a picture that Josh and Rafi provided. I'd have to say that it turned into a really good copy though.
The glass side table caused me much frustration, as mentioned in the below post. To make a long story short, the first piece of glass cracked, the second had holes drilled too small, and I ended up with just a couple hours to get the third piece of glass in place and get everything finished to meet the deadline. All of this resulted in a piece that was not everything I had hoped (likewise for Josh and Rafi) but it still looks pretty freaking hot.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Lately

I've been really busy working on different projects, but have failed miserably to take pictures, thus I haven't had any posts for some time. In March I met Josh and Rafi, who collectively are Form Los Angeles. They are interior decorators, and they rock. They bought the bed in the previous post, and commissioned me to build a patio coffee table that turned out rad and a side table that was an incredible design but turned into an exercise in frustration for me for a few different reasons, though it still looked amazing when it was finished. Sadly, I failed to take pictures of either of these.

Following that, I built a king bed for this great couple in Silver Lake. The bed has six drawers- three on each side. It more or less follows the same basic design as before, but features a different approach on the drawers, and a different style pull on the drawers. Also, I stepped up my game on the finishing big time. I sanded to 220 grit, oiled, waxed, sanded with 320, and waxed again. The final result was stunning wood beauty.

Following this, I started building another storage bed for a customer in Boston. I just finished it, and it looks incredible, though I now need to figure it out how to get it to Boston, which will be a whole new challenge.

It's basically the same design as before, except I modified the manner in which the night stands attach to the bed. Two long bolts protrude from each bridge piece, extending into the bed and out the other side, where a nut tightens down, fixing the night stand to the bed in a highly secure manner, but also in such a way that the night stands will be easy to take off and put back on for the customer. Also, the finish has the extra touch once again, and I used a new joint style for the drawers, which turned out great. This bed is in cherry with a clear oil, which I think looks incredible.