So here it is ... the bed!

Well the bed is finished- well not finished. I still want to clear coat it. But its all built. Check it out. Next project, my daughter's bed.

My Bed

So for the last 7 years, I have been sleeping on my wife's crappy platform bed that she bought at Gothic Cabinet for about $150.

A few years ago, while at the Architectural Digest Home Show (a great show for anyone interested in high end home furnishing), we saw an amazing bed from BDDW. It was made out of beautiful claro walnut which is a walnut that mostly grows in Northern California. It is a little more dramatic than regular, American black walnut. The bed is constructed completely out of solid wood and constructed out many different pieces of solid walnut, each piece of different lengths and widths, which creates a very dramatic, modern effect. It highlights the different colors of the woods and the different grain patters.

So three years later, my wife is still lusting after that bed. I decided to build one similar to that. I have made some adjustments- the headboard is much lower than the one we saw (forty inches high). The bed is pretty low to the ground. I used American Black Walnut and Curly Black Walnut (which has strong, dramatic grain patterns that are curly almost criss-crossing across the wood). I have a picture of the wood below.


The bed is almost done and looks amazing! All the bed pieces (headboard, footboard, and the rails) are flush with one another. It creates a modern look to the bed. For the slats that support the mattress, I used ash wood (that is very strong) that is 1 1/4" thick. That way, the bed will never sag. I am debating whether to do a little bit of inlay work on the headboard. I was thinking of maybe a couple of leaves in a light, contrasting wood such as maple or satinwood. I am going to finish the bed with a clear satin lacquer and then hand rub it down to give it a smooth satin feeling and low luster look. The clear lacquer will really bring out the grain of the walnut.

Also, the bed is completely collapsible, so its easy to move. The rails detach from the headboard and footboard, as to the slats.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow of what I have done so far.

One piece of furniture we are taking

So about a year ago, I made a coffee table for us. I contemplated the design for a while and wanted to create something unique that I had never seen before. The only thing I knew is the type of wood I wanted to use (zebra and wenge), but I was playing around with the design.

I was pretty happy with the end product and actually made another table similar to it for a customer. I wanted a chunky, solid look for the legs and I wanted the top to have a hidden drawer and look like a thick slab of wenge. I originally wanted the legs to be seen through the top, but ended up changing the design. You can see the progress photos below.

To make the top more interesting, I inlayed along the length of the table two stripes of wenge, but with the grain going in the opposite direction of the rest of the table. It's subtle, but I like it.

So this is one of the two pieces that I have actually built for us in the past few years that I am taking with me when I move.

Designing furniture for my home.

So this is my first blog. I am in the process of moving and chucking the furniture my wife bought fresh out of college over 10 years ago when she was a poor law student.

Now we are moving to a bigger apartment with our 3 year old and need to get all new furniture. Lucky for me (and my wife) I'm a furniture designer and builder. I have a business called Alancraft based out of the New York metro area. So whatever we want, we will get.

I guess now is the time to tell you a little about myself. Like I said, I design and build furniture and cabinets. I really love the creativity of the design and the zen of building it.

Lucky for me, I live in New York City which is full of inspiration for design ideas. New York is also a wealthy town and creativity comes from wealth. I have had the opportunity to work with some great high end interior designers who had clients with lots of money to spend. So I get to play around with amazing exotics woods and designs.

So I have been checking out some nice furniture stores in Soho to figure out what we want for our own home. I was really impressed by the Armani Olimpo drawer sets. The piece is simple yet elegent and has a few features that seperate it from the rest: soft close slides, 1" thick drawer fronts, the drawers are finished the same as exterior and super sleek low profile handels (bronze) that realy complete the unit. I also like the different finishes and veneers especially the Sukupira and Grey oak which is a really nice and unusual finish.

I am really going to enjoy building furniture for myself for a change.

The list is long and time is short, gotta to get to work.