Ebony Over Red Oak with Reveals

Hi Everybody...This was a lot of work....and a lot of fun! 

My customer asked me to take a look at an oak bedroom suite he had acquired a decade and one-half ago--nine separate pieces. He explained how he was tired of the Red Oak motif and that he wanted to change it out for something darker. I looked at it and we discussed a couple alternatives. But because I know a finished sample is often helpful to visualize how the outcome might look, I suggested I could take a drawer, finish it, and return it for his consideration.

And that's what we did.



His oak set is indeed beautiful and very well made (i.e., Oak Interiors, www.fineoak.com). His pieces' corners, trim, and floor plates were punctuated with beautiful carvings--all of which would be covered up--muted--if I just stained these pieces black. So, I suggested that we "reveal" the carvings so that instead of muting them they were actually highlighted. And that's another reason why I thought it might

Hope Chest

be important--even necessary in this case--for him to see a sample  to whet his visual appetite. So I finished the face of a drawer that included some carvings and took it back to him a few days later. He really liked it. I recognized a fresh enthusiasm about what this effort might promise. So, we were off and running--or sort of.

Footboard

Those of you who may have been to my shop know I don't have room for a nine-piece bedroom suite. So, this effort became something of a game of "furniture tag," getting and finishing a couple pieces at a time, then carefully delivering them back and taking a few more back to the shop. Similarly, you've got to know that a dresser, for example, is not just "a dresser." In this case it was twelve drawer fronts, twelve drawer

Armoire Top

boxes, and a large structural box frame--26 separate pieces taking up space in the shop. Then, too, there were virtually stacks of brass hardware to be catalogued and stored during the finishing for each piece! The work took a

Armoire Base

little over a month--and all nine pieces were happily delivered home. See how the reveals turned out? You're not seeing all the pieces, but I think you can get the idea. Yes, there were a few surprises along the way, but all-in-all the project ended with happiness on both ends: I was happily able to make him happy... and his bedroom suite is black and beautiful!! Check out the pics of some of his pieces and let me know what you think.

That's Wood Talkin for today....are you listening?

Dick