In last week's post I showed off a couple of custom Shaker-style barn doors that I've been working on in my studio.
So naturally this week's blog post is all about those doors, and where they ended up.
It all started when Leslie Huntley of Roost Interior Design contacted me about putting a pair of sliding barn doors in her clients' home office in their downtown condo. They had a perfectly good door there...
...but floor space in these condos is limited, and they wanted a new door that didn't swing open, so they could put more furniture on the wall.
We couldn't find any pre-made doors that would work well in the space, so I got to work in my shop.
By the way, check out that respirator! It's my new toy... top of the line and easy on the lungs.
Plus it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Side note: I never realized how many sci-fi astronauts are wearing standard dust-filter respirators until I started researching dust filtration. It seems to be a Hollywood shortcut: buy a mask from Lowe's, spraypaint everything black, and slap on a few extra gadgets and hoses.
And once I noticed that, I started noticing all kinds of things, like plastic French drains being used as spaceship "pipes." Low-budget Netflix space operas just haven't been the same since then. Anyway, back to the job... I also make custom cabinets at our sister company, Artisan Built-ins, so Leslie commissioned us to build a set of white bookcases with a custom shelf to hold a printer. Here's the 3D model we created so she could preview the design.
And here they are in our workshop, alongside another project for the same condo... an electric chimneyless fireplace.
As you can see, our model was very accurate.
Back on the job site, the office walls were painted a striking cobalt blue...
...the better to set off the crisp white sliding barn doors and the bookshelves.
If you've got sharp eyes, you might notice that the printer shelf is a little lower than it was in the drawing. That's because I planned ahead and made it repositionable or removable so that if they don't need a printer there any more, they can take the shelf off and have a plain bookcase once again.
The whole project came together beautifully, and the formerly bland room is now a striking office that looks just as interesting as the view of downtown Asheville.
If you've got a tight floor plan that needs a custom solution to make it workable, give us a call. We can come up with a plan that optimizes your office and makes it fun to go to work.
It's peak season for handyman work, and I'm keeping busy...
...making a pair of custom sliding barn doors among other things.
More pics of that to follow!
Meanwhile we still have a bit of fun in the summer, and last weekend I got a chance to indulge another favorite pastime: music. Since this tune is about Asheville, I thought I'd share it here.
I wrote this one when I moved here... could it be 20 years ago already?
Which is how I've gotten to know so many of the best local handymen. Give us a call when you're ready to get your projects done. August in Asheville is in full swing, and I think it must be ten years since I"ve seen such a cool and pleasant mountain summer. Perfect weather for getting out the motorcycle. Well, maybe not that one. It only looks like a road warrior! That's from one of the local workshops. I was driving past one day and couldn't resist stopping for a photo. I believe they recycle metal, and clearly they've been putting their scrap to good use. Speaking of workshops, I thought I'd show you a peek behind the scenes at my cabinet shop. Because although we're still doing lots of handyman work in Asheville, I've been working on a couple of really cool woodworking projects as well. You're going to love these! Here's the shop... You can't tell, but there's a creek just outside the window. And there's nothing like turning off the ventilation system for awhile and letting Nature do the work while I assemble a few cabinets and listen to the creek rush by. I've even got an outdoor workbench in the shade for those really nice afternoons. Those gray boards eventually turned into a pair of bookshelves and a mantel to go around an electric fireplace. This is going in a brand new condo in downtown Asheville. I love these electric fireplaces because they don't require a chimney, so you can put them anywhere. You might have noticed that I haven't added the crown molding or baseboard on one side. That's because the tobacco poles are getting in the way. That's right... my shop is built into an old tobacco barn. The poles aren't holding anything together... they're just there for sentimental value. Here's what the shelves will look like when they're installed. We create models like these for most of our handmade cabinets.... it gives you a chance to preview your project before we install it, so you can make changes and get exactly what you want. Here's another view of the shop... I snapped this one a couple of weeks ago when I was working on another ventless fireplace. You can see it in the back of the room there. In the foreground you can see why every cabinet shop seems to have a million clamps! Believe it or not, I still plan to buy a few dozen more of them. Here's a pic of the fireplace mantel that I was clamping. It had a fiery cherry grain and it turned out really well. Yowsa! It looks great from a distance, too. The homeowner had a set of Craftsman tiles custom made just for this hearth. And as I said, this is another one of those chimneyless fireplaces, so it can go anywhere. You can see more photos of this Arts and Crafts fireplace on our custom cabinets website. including the inside of the cabinet, which is hiding an entertainment center. It's a great way to disguise your TV. Or if you're here for handyman work, we can help you with that, too. Just give us a call.
One of our customers just moved to Asheville and bought a beautiful new luxury home on the banks of the French Broad river. But luxury is in the details, and in this case one or two details were missing. For example, the cabinets were very stylish, but when you opened them up, they just had a shelf inside. Things kept getting lost in the back, and you had to dig around for them. She had me replace the shelves with pull-out drawers. Now it's easy to see what's in the back. Something like this would be a really nice Mother's Day gift for your mom or spouse. No need for them to get down on their hands and knees on the hard tile floor every time they're looking for the dish soap. They can just pull the drawer out and it's right there in front of them. Plus, these are soft-close drawers, so the kids can't slam them shut, and nothing gets knocked over or jarred around. While I was there, I added another great little improvement: an extra cabinet and a valet rod in the laundry room. The rod is over the sink, so the homeowner can hang her handwashables here to dry and the excess water will just drip right down into the drain. If your laundry room is inefficient and hard to work in, give us a call. We can add counters, cabinets and drawer pull-outs to make washing clothes easy and maybe even fun. Like this pretty walnut counter which we installed over a customer's washer and dryer, so no more socks will get lost behind the machines. Plus, a good-looking laundry room adds a lot to your home value for a very modest investment. So give us a ring.
Today I thought I'd show off a project from our sister page, Artisan Built-ins. This is a set of bookshelves in an offset modern pattern, with integrated brass lights to showcase the books. To the right is a built-in windowseat with a flip-top lid to allow for storage. It really transformed the room, which started as a blank canvas. We designed these for the homeowner based on a previous design which we did for another customer. The uprights on both bookcases are staggered to avoid the "tic tac toe" look which you see in traditional shelving. We actually finished these a few months ago, but this is the first time we've seen photos of it with the books, and the custom cushions on the windowseat. It looks like a great place to relax with a good novel. If you've always wanted a library of your own, give us a call. We'll help you take your room from "Blah" to "Beautiful."
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