Oak and Walnut Armoire

Great design Dusty I like the flowing grain on the sides that contuinue between the two pieces and I’m guessing the front face frame pieces.

I’ve never seen the use of two different species of wood in a raised panel before. It brings a nice continuity in this piece.

I like it.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Dusty,

I really like the contrasting woods used in this project and the night stands. All of the pieces are beautiful. I especially like the raised panels in the armoire. The room must be a real treat to stay in as a guest. Did you also make the bed? It looks like it is oak and walnut as well.

-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter

Beautiful work!

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Beautiful bedroom suite, Dusty!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Iowa Woodcrafter,

Yes I did build the bed and night stands that go with the amoire. I posted pictures of these projects this morning if you missed them.

Bed

Nightstands

Thank you for your comments.

-- Dusty

Great work, Dusty.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Lordy. The amazement never ends. What a terrific looking bedroom this must be with this as well as the bed and the nightstands. Wonderful Dusty, really wonderful.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

Very handsome bedroom set. Great wood selection and design – both for looks and for practicality.

-- Dave J. Oakdale, MN

Dave J.

Thanks you.

Its great to have another Minnesota Woodworker on Lumberjocks.

-- Dusty

amazing as always!!!

-- Matt, Napa, CA...119 days to sanity...

Very nice Dusty!

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

All three of the pieces for the bedroom are great, dusty. I love the contrasts of the oak and walnut. I’m curious, on your drawer slides for the side tables, what are the rough dimensions? On the armoire, do the two pieces have any pegs to keep the top aligned with the bottom?

Thanks for sharing these other great pieces. Impeccable as always.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Jeff,

The over all dimensions for the night stand are as follows-

24” wide 16.5 ” deep and 24” inches high

The drawer is made from 3/4 oak with 3/8 dadoed groves cut in the side to accommodate the 3/4 maple slides. The drawer is flush mount with the front of the face frame on the night stand as the picture illustrates.

The drawer is constructed with half laps.

The bottom is a dado grove to hold the oak plywood used for the bottom of the drawer.

I hope this helps.

-- Dusty

Jeff.

I used to use pegs to aligned the top and bottoms. After a few times of moving these pieces and the pegs breaking off went to a flat plate like the one in this picture to hold the top and bottom perfectly lined up and secure.

Of course it goes with out saying with the two pieces you have to have perfectly square and identical pieces for this to work and look good.

-- Dusty

Thanks for the details and extra photos, Dusty. Quite helpful.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Dusty the bedroom suite is absolutely beautiful. I can only imagine what the other bedrooms must look like if this is the guest room. Great workmanship, thanks for sharing.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Cajunpen,

Thanks for the kind words. In case you missed the posting I have some of the other bedrooms posted in my last blog entry of “This Old Crack House”. I have not got around to posting the rooms or pictures in to projects yet.

Here is the link your interested in some of the other rooms in my home.

-- Dusty

Nice work Dusty.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Great job, Dusty. The contrasts are beautiful. The finish looks silken, not slick and shiny. Nicer to the touch.

-- http://dustynewt.com

Dustynewt

Thank you,it is a very smooth finish. I wanted the piece to ” POP” and show off its true depth an richness.

The walnut contrast really help to achieve that.

I used several coats of Armor Seal and a natural stain along with some other method of application.

-- Dusty

This is a great set Dusty, thanks for sharing it. The contrast between the oak and walnut is a gorgeous look. The doors on the armoire are like a magnet, I can’t stop looking at them.

-- I've cut that board three times and it's still too short!

Shaun,

Thank you for the kind comments.

I have over time found mixing various woods like walnut and oak or cherry and maple for example can lead to some very exciting results.

In truth it isn’t that hard to do and really just amounts to another step or two.

In the future I plan on doing a blog series on this topic if your interested.

-- Dusty

Very clever! I like it!

JON3,

The design was born more out of necessity than me being clever.

The clearance of the stairs and header of the steps going up stairs to ”This Old Crack House ” caused me to build and redesign a whole line of furniture.

If I wouldn’t of did this I would of really been limited as to what type and styles along with the size of furniture I could of moved stairs.

The funny thing is this came from learning a very hard lesson. I had built this large armoire and sold it. Part of the deal was for me to delivery the piece.

What a ordeal that turned out to be…tearing down a solid oak stair banister, along with several other mishaps If your interested in this rather amusing story and what inspired me to build large pieces here is the link .

I vowed never again.

I’m glad to report since I designed and built this new line of furniture not only is my back better but I have not had a single problem with any piece fitting in tight or small hallways or old homes.

One interesting side note; I ended up doing a whole series of pieces for small apartments, dorms for college students, and small living quarters like mother-in-law apartments.

These pieces turned out to be very popular in addition to functional.

-- Dusty

I’ll be watching for that blog Dusty!

-- I've cut that board three times and it's still too short!