Dec Interior and Furniture

Dec 2012 Finish Monterey Interior and Furniture

Our last entry had us just finishing the southern exterior of our place in Monterey. Since then, we've finished up the interior work: plastering and painting walls, and trimming out windows in simple colonial fashion. We've gotten some really nice, positive feedback on all of the visible work by local folks. Here are some pics of the interior. The renovation has only progressed as far as the south walls to date.

Along with a few design projects, and working on finishing up the details for my architectural license, I've spent the past couple of months building furniture. I hadn't had a shop since the 80's, so I've been really appreciating having such a nice place to work! Here a few pics of the Fan Back Windsor that I just completed. The turned parts are cherry, the spindles are red oak, and the seat is white pine. The finish is a coat of red milk paint, covered by a coat of black milk paint, hand rubbed and sealed with tung oil.

A similar design, with arms, is this Comb Back Windsor that I built in the mid 80's. I've been using it since it was built and it has weathered nicely.

These two windsors are also from this season. The red one is a Continuous Arm, and the blue one is a Sack Back.

The following cherry pedestal table was a joy to build! The drawer is hard maple and exposed on both ends in a fairly non-traditional way, exposing the hand-cut dovetails.

In our age dominated by mass production and specialization, I've been delighting in the opportunity to play in my shop and remember how similar the design and crafting of a house or barn is to a chair, table, or bowl - especially when the predominant material is wood. Please enjoy this season, and I hope that the next time I post we will have carved a bunch of turns in deep powder! Please feel free to browse the other blog entries below and if you know someone that would enjoy this page, please forward it to them.