Customers' Scrap Book #1
(Be sure to check out my later stuff.)
Monster Jewelry Case: |
This is a fully custom cherry case I built for Sherri of New York. The drawers are sized to hold 4 standard jewelry inserts, and I made some of them with custom inserts. They are all lined with a soft suede like material and all 12 drawers lock. You can just see the keyhole on the right side of the case. What you can't see, however, and pretty little turned feet that lift the whole thing about 6 or 7 inches off the floor.
Drawing-Supplies Case: |
This is from my office. (There are more pix below.) The case holds all my drawing supplies -you can just see a vertical drafting table to the left. I wanted to show a couple of different possibilities in drawers. Ordinarily the drawer cases I build have the drawers showing -proudly even. In this case, a cluttered busy mess sits behind doors. (And yep, the doors are faux finished inserts in oak fames.) 
There are 4 big drawers that roll on metal drawer glides. Below them are 10 really shallow open-top drawers -sliding trays actually- that hold my various drawing paper etc. At the very bottom are two medium size drawers. The whole thing sits on a simple painted 2x4 toe-kick and under a longish countertop with a bookcase above.
Hidden Jewelry Case:
This was in interesting commission. We had to get a maximum number of drawers behind a mirror, (you can just see it to the right). between studs, and inside of a tapered concrete foundation wall. And on top of all that, it had to satisfy Ted -sitting in there in the foreground. The jewelry belongs to Minnie of Southern California. Her husband Dave did a terrific job of installing my work. No telling what Ted did, -he looks a little sleepy to me.
Clutter Catcher:
This is my niece Bonnie. Her Mom -my wee sister- wanted a big case for her big living room. It's function is to just hold what ever needs holding. Like many families, the living room is for special occasions & company and what-not. The family room is for the actual living, -and no drawer case would ever hold all that clutter. But this is only as it should be.
The finish is interesting -it's a dark stain over poplar -not my favorite finish for stain, but my sister said she was going to paint it then changed her mind. The case and top are faux-finished in green and purple (Fuscia?, Mauve? Something on the pink side of purple anyway.) There are also little flecks of gold -doesn't show up well in the picture, but it is lovely and compliments the rest of the room perfectly. Women simply see color differently -better- then us ig'nert tool users, don't they?
Antique Microscopes: |
Clive in California collects antique microscopes. You can see one on the corner of the coffee table. This is a cherry case with Queen Ann legs. Clive was born in England (or there abouts -check out his carpet), and this is his study. He is also a teacher of sorts -teaches doctors -wrote about a 20 pound book on pathology. I found a copy of the book and am proud to own it -but I'd be lying if I said read it -didn't even understand most of the pictures.
Pastels:
Colleen of Little Rock is a pastel artist / portraitist. I didn't know this, but pastels are not blended -but actually laid down as small dabs of pure color. This means that if you work in pastels, you need about a bazillion of them. And now Colleen has a a place for two billion little pieces of chalk. This case has 15 drawers and one extra that fits into the lip around the top. She liked my samples of faux-finish and had me cover her case in the red / black / bordello faux with a little gold fretting.
Brail Cases:
I built these cases for a lifetime of dedicated collecting -in this case, they are for Judy's collection of brail tablets. They go on either side of her fireplace in her home in Arlington Virginia. Judy assures me that these 72 drawers are by no means too many -her collection is that big!
Snuff Boxes and Pill Bottles: |
Now this is interesting. Randy of Michigan collects snuff boxes and his wife, Mary Jane, collects pill boxes. Beautiful little things. What we have here is a country style coffee-table in maple with a clear finish -and their supervisors on the couch supervising the installation of the collection. (That's my supervisor in the picture above.)
Bears Coffee Table:
Now Rob here is one serious Chicago Bears fan. I made the coffee table and he finished it. Came out beautifully. Rob also has his own little 5 year-old football player, so we made the window out of acrylic. It's a regular display coffee table, but with a flat drawer added underneath. The drawer opens in both directions too!
Jewelry Castle:
This is another custom case -and for some serious jewelry collectors. Kevin and Pat of Wisconsin collect antique jewelry sets. As we were working together on figuring out exactly what they wanted, someone -probably me -being spelling impaired and all -miss-typed case as castle -and it seemed right so we kept calling it such. This case / castle is about 4 feet tall, made from mahogany and has 21 drawers -each sized to hold 3 jewelry inserts. And apparently the drawers can hold 2 smallish dogs too!
Musical Coffee Table: |
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Nancy -right here in northern California- uses a coffee table to memorialize the music of Asher Raboy. 
Player's Sports Bar:This is THE place to see and be seen in San Diego! And they have not less then 22 of my cases to display their collection of Tee-shirts signed by assorted famous people. |
The shirt on the left is signed by none-other then John Elway from my home town of Denver. I don't know who the girl is, 'cept she's pretty. I think the guy is Mike -the owner of the bar.
In any event, check out the festivities at Player's Sports Bar.
Custom Coin Case:
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Ivan's Dad got him started collecting coins. This solid oak case is to hold the best of the best of his extensive collection. (For the coin aficionado, the inserts are sized to cuddle INTERCEPTOR™ slabs.) 
Sea-Beans:
Frank finds sea-beans on the beach in Florida after hurricanes, (been a good year this, what?), and this case is for his sea-bean collection. And I must give credit where it is due -Frank finished the case himself !
What are sea-beans you ask? And I have to admit I asked myself. Turns out that they are seed-pods that fall in a river -like the Amazon- and wash out to sea and drift -literally- around the world. Something kind of impressive about this. Not going to get into a debate about creation / evolution -but it does make you think, doesn't it?
Also turns out they are pretty little things and some not so little things. Frank was good enough to send along a picture of a part his collection. And sure enough -there is an great little (and it's not so little), website dedicated to the subject at hand: SeaBean.com. If you enjoy the efforts of people who really enjoy their subject, it's well worth a look.
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Arts & Crafts / Beading:
Permit me to introduce my niece Loren and her friend Leah. They are into beading -fiddling about with these pretty little sparkly things. Things that are particularly inclined to get lost. But it turns out that my wide drawers make just a perfect, portable, and self contained work bench! And when it comes time to clean up -they just stick the whole mess back in its case.
Fine-Art Medallions:
Scott, in Oregon, collects the medals and medallions of the German artist Goetz and keeps them in 2 of my cases with extra thin drawers. Some compelling stuff.
Poker Chip Case:
This is a custom case for Richard of Chesterfield, Mo. His collection runs to 2500 chips and this cherry case features 5 velvet lined drawers holding 500 each. It also has an open able glass-framed lid to showcase the best of them.
Poker Chip Case Mk II:
This is an interesting departure from my usual work -still fussy woodwork and for fussy little parts -just lots of them. This was built for Dan -right here in Silicon Valley.
Arrow Heads: |
This case belongs to Ed of Texas who collects arrow heads. Then his wife decided she needed one too. Stand by for this picture. This case belongs to Ed of Texas who collects arrow heads. Then his wife decided she needed one too. Stand by for this picture.
These are pictures of my office. I include them here to show just what can be done with my Architectural Casework. All the base cabinets are made form stuff available on this site. The book cases above are not hard to build. If building things is not your cup of tea, you can hire a carpenter or cabinet maker to do the book cases for you.
Brass Railroad Engine Collection:
This case belongs to Bill R who collects these meticulous little brass locomotives.
Wall Safe Jewelry Box:
This was an interesting job. Robert in Wisconsin wanted a custom case to hold his wife's jewelry, his watch collection, and their mutual Green Bay Packers pin collection and he wanted it to fit into a wall safe. Came out nicely, I think, and Robert's wife loves it.
'75 -76 Cincinnati Reds
This case and collection of signed base balls belongs to Ed from Centerville Ohio
Monster Jewelry Box:
This is a custom job I did for a local remodel / renovation - a beautiful 100 old farm house, The Mrs. is a jewelry designer. Apparently she has designed quite a lot of it! It stands 4 1/2 feet tall (on its toe-kick) and just a little over 30 inches wide. I'll save you the bother of counting. That's 34 drawers. I'm not excited about the finish -it went out the door with primer- but the customer has something special in mind that was to be done after instillation.