furnituredesign(a community furniture design blog)

This blog is an experiment in furniture design. The aim is to create a space where anyone, regardless of experience or “skill”, can share designs and ideas in an open forum. Some will come to learn, some to teach, all to share, and in sharing all will grow. Furniture has intrigued and moved me since my youth and helped shape my life in profound ways, ultimately leading me to become a professional designer/maker of fine furniture. Despite my love and, some might say, obsession with furniture, I came to a place where creativity and passion began to wane ever so slightly. To remedy this I decided to embark on a one year journey to create a new original furniture design each day. Though I am only at the beginning, the process has already been amazing. One unexpected outcome has been the response. I have heard from weekend woodworkers and professional furniture makers alike, expressing their desire to create in similar ways. Hearing this was confirmation of a feeling I have had for some time: in all the publications and web sites devoted to the making of furniture there are precious few avenues for sharing and exploring design in all its facets. Without good design a project is doomed before it even begins. But what is good design and how do you learn it. Many woodworkers, especially “weekend” craftsman, but not limited to the amateur set, feel incapable of designing their own work. How else do you explain the predominance of Arts & Crafts and Shaker furniture in reader galleries and woodworking forums and the most common question heard in the woodworking community: “are there plans for that somewhere?”. Don’t misunderstand, there is nothing wrong with Arts & Crafts or Shaker furniture or building furniture from plans. My concern is that those people are missing the satisfaction and joy of building something with their own hands that originated in their own minds. What stops people from creating their own furniture? The main reasons I have heard are: I can’t draw and I am not creative. Can you draw a line? How about a circle? Yes? No more excuse there. Are you a human being? Yes? Guess what, you have the unique ability to create what you imagine. You have everything you need already, all you have to do is hone and practice those things and that is where this site comes in. A community of people with slightly different talents, abilities and viewpoints but shared passion, is a powerful thing. I make no claims to know everything, but together we come pretty close. The areas that I struggle with are developed by input, ideas and collaboration with others. This is my vision for this site but, if the internet age has taught us anything it is this; the more technology enables communication, the more organic the outcome. In other words, the success or failure and, ultimately, the direction of this experiment will be dictated by its participants. I encourage you to participate in whatever way you feel comfortable. I encourage all of you, whether a professional with 30 years under your belt or someone who has never used a hammer, to post a picture of what you are working on or just have rolling around you head. I encourage all of you to look at others designs and encourage and offer constructive input. This is a site for all and, above all, I want everyone to feel comfortable here, knowing they are among friends. FOR CLARIFIACTION: This site is intended as a forum for creative expression and inspiration, not as a free source of new product ideas. The drawings and designs belong solely to their creators and are not to be duplicated or produced without their consent. This project will only work if we can trust each other and we can only trust if we follow the rules. You can submit your original works here. If you have any questions just ask. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11234256-4"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}

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Ben Robinson

This is an wooden outdoor sectional couch that I designed and build. The main couch has an 8-foot seating area and the side couch has a 4-foot seating area. My favorite view is the one posted above, where the two couch sections join. Let me know what you think.

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Rustam Turgunov

Hi! I'm from Moscow, Russia. This is project for my friend.

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New Site....

Hey all! I want to thank you for your submissions and comments, they have been exactly what I was hoping they would be. It has become obvious to me,  however, that this format is not the best for growing a community of furniture design fans. For this reason I have begun work on a new site. It will hopefully be up and running by mid February (2010 in case you weren't sure). Until it is ready you can continue to post designs here or you can hold on to them until the new site is ready. I will be announcing the site opening via Twitter as well as posting a message here.

Thanks again and all the best to you,

Jamon

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Steve Taylor

This is a two-toned bookcase (maple plywood and walnut trim, likely) with a lattice structure for the shelf backing. It is an improved design of the first piece I ever built.

The walnut trim on the side boards would be cove/hollow edged, blending into the maple. I would also chamfer the front trim on each of the top shelves, to match the bevel of the sideboards.

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CHRIS WONG

Butternut Headboard:  I am posting this in response to Jamon's statement he made yesterday that headboards and footboards are uninteresting to him.  Maybe this will sway him.  Or maybe not.

To me, the headboard is a large canvas, a blank wall on which to do whatever they please.  I laid out the design on the panel in about an hour.  The carving is roughly based on acanthus - my hand ultimately dictated what the vines and leaves looked like in the end.  There are more curve that my work typically has - it appears more elegant than my other work.  The bottom rail has a live edge along the bottom.

I finished it with orange shellac rubbed out with 400x and 600x wet/dry paper and mineral oil, then applied a coat of paste wax with 0000 steel wool.

The mattress sits on a boxspring on a steel frame which the headboard will be bolted to.  The mattress is 24" above the ground and sits just above the top of the lower rail.

Critique and comments welcome and appreciated!

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Scott Zrubek, a recent subscriber.

This is a Mission style entertainment center.  The shelves will hold the equipment, the top the TV.  There are cord pass throughs at the end of the drawer bank.  There is also a space there to mount a power strip.  I've not decided if there will be plywood backing on the power strip space.

I'm thinking about using some quartersawn oak for some of it.

I'm also planning on mounting it on wheels.  It will mar the look of it, but will enable us to get behind/around a piece with a 34" CRT TV on it.

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Nigel Whitton

Hi all, Here is a dining table. Lots of curves and and shape.  The legs would be from solid stock but the braces would be laminated and then joined together. The sub frame would all so be laminated in the same curve as the table top with standard mortise and tenon joinery.  Solid top with a under cut to give it a visual lightness.

Any ideas let me know.

Lets keep this site rolling it is awesome to see other peoples ideas and to get feed back on your own.

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Steve Taylor

This is a design for a buffet, but I think you could adjust the height and make it a sofa table. Believe it or not, I got the inspiration for this piece driving by a Springhill Suites hotel at night.  The architecture featured a red brick construction with concrete columns that divided the length of the building.

Not completely evident in the perspective drawing is that the width of all of the legs taper 2:1. The pattern on the front legs would be routed with a small cove bit. On the side legs, I’m not sure if I want the pattern to be recessed or proud of the leg. I really don’t know what drove me to create the recess in the center of the table, so I could see the table without it. If I kept it, I would blacken that area – probably with a flat paint.

As for materials, I could go two ways.  Originally I thought the table top would be a darker wood, with a medium hued wood for the legs.  Thinking about it again, I could see the table being all knotty pine with wrought iron hardware and straps across the top – like a steamer trunk.

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CHRIS WONG

Shell Box:  Made from one solid piece of Western maple.  The lid is sawn off and hand-carved; the bottom is routed out and hinged on pin hinges.  The inside is flocked and the outside is finished with three coats of lacquer and a coat of wax. The box is 7" x 3-3/8" x 1-1/2"

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Jessica Nayowith

So, when J got the assignment for an hanging entertainment unit, I thought of this design right away.

The bar and cables are metal. The wood could be whatever. I was thinking it would look pretty cool in walnut rather than the common minimalist light wood with metal. Maybe even a different wood for the uprights. The shelves would be held in place on the cables by washers or some other holder-in-place-thingy (so technical, I know).

When I was done, J said "Ken wanted CD storage". So I added some on the bottom shelf. Could really be anywhere though. That's what I like about the design. I think it could be customized pretty easily.

There you have it, the first submission by "The Wife"

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Steve Taylor

This bureau brings several discrete drawers together into one open-air assembly.

When thinking about what woods to use, I originally thought this piece would have a darker wood like wenge or walnut for the frame and a lighter, figured wood for the drawer cases.  Looking at it more, I can’t help but wonder how it would look with that darker wood as the drawers and something with a medium color (honduran mahogany?) for the frame.  Another possible change would be to extend the drawers past the front of the frame; they are flush as drawn above.

One thing I really like about the cabinet is how it came seem boxy and weighty while remaining airy. I’m also pleased that I was able to draw it by hand in three dimensions. I suppose that there is a bit of my day job (I work in IT) in this design, as it greatly resembles a server rack.

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So, this was the concept of a recycling cabinet in my head that finally made it to paper. Then when our host offered to take ideas for sketches for his 365 day journey I submitted this idea to see what a professional would come up with.

Since I drew this I had a couple of thoughts. I'd no longer say to use pocket screws for the garage version. Instead I'd plow a 3/8" groove down the center of the rails/styles and use an MDF panel instead. This means less disruption to your workflow if you build the garage version (which I presume means pine/poplar/MDF and painted) rather than the in-the-house version which would use raised panels and rail/style cutters.

My design here used 30 gallon trash bags in the back for the misc stuff but trash cans would work as well. At least where we recycle you'd be able to reuse the trash bags.

The version (http://the-drawing-boards.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-22-recycling-cabinet-reader-idea.html) that Jamon designed had a feature that I'm thinking about adding - the split top. In mine it's just an open hole towards the back. You'd probably not go with the split top option if you decided on granite or corian for the top of the cabinet, but for a pure wood incarnation it could work out well.

Sorry about the scale of the side view. Those doors obviously will not close correctly - I'm new to both furniture and sketching, something that should appear obvious :)

So, my original idea for the recycling cabinet. It's just interesting how different people view the same requirements.

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Matt Kenney, cabinet on stand. I designed this piece after seeing an art deco etagere (Click the drawing to see the a photo of the original). I like the original, but find it a bit too fussy. So, I simply stripped away what I didn't like. I've built the stand, but have yet to start on the cabinet. Work just seems to always get in the way. Sadly, I've built several other pieces since I finished the stand. I'll return to it soon.

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Scott Meek

This is another box concept I'm currently working on. It will require a lot of shaping with rasps, spokeshaves, and planes, which I'm VERY excited about. I had a tough time trying to draw other proportional sketches of this box, so the above sketches really don't show whats fully in my head.

I had an idea for the corner joints, a splined miter that would show up when the wood is shaped into the gentle curves. Since I couldn't get it drawn, I just decided to do a test piece:

I am thrilled with how it turned out! Can't wait to get started on this one. The wood in the test joint is Maple and the spline is Bubinga, as those are what I had in the shop. Not sure what the final box will be made of, but it will have to be something where the grain will be an integral part of the design.

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Matt Kenney, bow front cabinet. This is where the cabinet is right now. I have only just begun the inside gallery of drawers, but had to put a finish on the outside so that it could be photographed for and appear in the next issue of Fine Woodworking. The pulls are temporary and won't be what's on there in the end. I made the door in a vacuum press. The core is made from bendable plywood (aka, wiggle wood). Everything else is solid lumber. A lot of work left to do, but so far it looks exactly like I saw it in my head back when I did the original 2D drawings.

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Matt Kenney, bow front cabinet. This is the drawing I started with. At the time, I knew that the cabinet itself would be made from Madrone, and that I would use Madrone veneer for the doors and drawer fronts. However, I didn't know that I'd be using Madrone burl veneer. And I had no idea how I would make the doors.

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Nigel Whitton

Hello all.

Here is my second drawing, a little of a two for one on this drawing.

The cabinet in the corner came from a drawing by Jamon which I like a lot and turned in to a tall cabinet. (still needs a lot of work on that drawing, you may see it down the track again)

While playing with that drawing the chair came in and I love the idea of it, With the legs springing slightly when you sit in it and you may be able to rock a little (maybe).

The technical issue are how to bend it then work it. Steam bending would be a big job. Glued laminations would be the way to go I think.

The chair still needs a bit of work but that will come in the drawing and the mock-up when I go to build it.

All the best

Nigel