Reclaimed Douglas Fir structure with plywood shelves…The challenge here was to create a large, attractive workstation with open sides that can support a lot of weight. It sports two adjustable shelves and a special fish food holder across the front. My solution for the back was to use quarter-inch thick dry erase board with circle cut-outs that create a bubble motif visually while maintaining the desired openness and accessibility to cords and switches behind the unit. (I’d noticed that the employees left a ton of sticky notes for each other on their old work station. Now they just write them on the back surface with a dry erase marker.) Legs are welded, clear-coated steel flatbar.

I opted for crafty joinery that offered maximum strength…These 5/16″ thick tabs that are the ends of the shelf caps conceal thick dowels where they set in to the vertical structure. The dowels are also long and penetrate deep into the cross pieces of the structure that support the weight of the shelves.

In progress, minus the legs and other details. The workstation is a stately 7′ wide by 71/2′ tall.

A closer look at the adjustable shelf detailing.

New project – Better photos soon! The idea is to give dog owners a place to put their dog when trying on outfits…I went all out on the style of the piece because I think a little inspiration and glamour might just move more dog sweaters off the rack. We’ll see…But this could easily serve as an entirely different kind of display unit. If you have a need for a retail presentation piece get in touch. This is designed for reproduction yet the styling is very flexible if a different look is required.

This was an ugly old office chair in great condition that I reupholstered with vintage Japanese fabric. The wooden sides are refinished with an orange ink and four coats of oil. Light weight and exceptionally comfortable, it’s for sale for $250.

Above is the initial drawing. Now that we are in the prototype phase, I have decided to do away with the scalloped edges of the shade to better compliment the base and avoid competing with it.

This is the two halves of the base just off the mold – they still have to be tapered, cleaned up and joined together. My very talented woodworking friend and co-collaborator, Mr. Paul Sykes, (check out his awesome wooden bike fenders at sykeswoodfenders.com) is responsible for the beautiful work. The bent plys are reclaimed Doug Fir that would otherwise be throw-away scrap pieces. We have a virtually limitless supply thanks to a local woodworking shop. At this point, I don’t know whether their consumption of Doug Fir is something to be concerned about or not, but in any case I am very glad to make use of their trash and turn it into something special.

The lampshade will be made of a treeless paper that is handmade by Nepalese people. The workers are paid certified fair trade wages by the distributing company (nepalesepaper.com), which is located not too far away in Northern California.

And for the light source we are using an LED bulb. I will be updating the pics as the prototype progresses. There is a lot of interest in this design and the plan is to go into limited production eventually, but I want to take the time to set up an ideal manufacturing scenario. Rather than turn to a big, established manufacturer who won’t necessarily care as much as I do, I want to utilize independent woodworkers who really need the work. I may be able to set this up through the community workshop I work in, but I am still learning about all this. Very exciting!

This is a work in progress because the glass isn’t working for me as it is. I want to replace it with a nice peach color and then try to find clear or translucent white glass to rest on top.

The joint I came up with to attach the walnut legs to this neat white metal piece I found at the Rebuilding Center works like this: the leg is two pieces rabbited all the way down. At the top the two pieces are hand-carved to match the inner and outer curves of the metal as closely as possible. The fasteners you see in the center thread into brass inserts inside the leg so that you don’t see them on the other side.

This table is made almost entirely from shop scraps and I call the legs wedged because they are set into the table bottom and then held tightly in place by a beveled wood (bamboo) disc which is bolted to the table itself (see detail).

The big hole on the side is for easy, in-bed access to magazines and whatever else is stored inside. I chose one of my all-time favorite colors, turquoise to bump up the fun factor.

18″ wide, 22″ high, 20″ deep

With a little love, some fresh Doug Fir trim (reclaimed of course), and cute metal legs, an abandoned country kitchen cabinet in pretty sad condition got a new lease on life. I really need to get a “before” pic on here, but it was so unsightly, I didn’t even think to take one.

60″ wide, 48″ tall, 12″ deep

This is a simple, sort of rustic design I did for a cool company called Tropical Salvage (www.tropicalsalvage.com) which is changing lives big-time in Indonesia and selling furniture you can feel really good about right here in Portland. Hopefully I will have pics of the actual piece to put up before too long.

Plywood and aerated foam interior, upholstered with vinyl and faux suede
43”w x 84”total length x 48”h

Maple carcass with right angle mortise and tenon joinery, suspended in molded hoop pine with aluminum hardware and glass top

36” h x 10”d x 15”w

11 gauge stainless steel with removable vinyl cushions
35”h x 38”d x 27”w

Molded hoop pine, Italian burl veneer, aluminum, glass
16”w x 48” l x 14” h

Plywood, aluminum, polypropolene, glass
32”h x 55”w x 22”d