Shapely Legs Make Graceful Nightstands and a Successful Set

In the last post I talked about the stylistic and technical aspects of the bed frame. After the bed was done it was time for the nightstands. The key to the graceful look I wanted in the nightstands was the leg shape. Straight-sided trapezoidal legs might have been a good compliment to the bed, but they didn't look very feminine (left, below). The key to making them graceful, yet still related to the bed, was to use similar materials, and similar proportioning, but soften them with curved leg profiles (right, below).

And the key to successfully constructing them was proper materials. This meant making the legs out of a single piece, rather than laminating smaller pieces. So I used 12/4 (nominally 3" thick) hard maple, which allowed me to control the grain orientation as it related to the four leg faces. The way to ensure the most consistent grain on all faces is to have the end grain running as close to 45 degree as possible to all the faces. To lay this out I made a simple marking jig with an opening that was 2-3/4" square. That allowed me to optimize the grain direction.

Once the leg blanks were milled, I used a simple paper template to lay out the profile on the two outer faces.

To mill the profiled legs, I first cut the profile on one face (left, below), then taped that offcut back onto the leg (middle, below), turned it 90 degrees, and cut the adjacent profile (right, below).

You'll notice that in both of the photos above, you can see that all the joinery was cut while the leg was still square - very important!

The curved leg shape made all the difference in keeping these nightstands substantial enough to hold their own with the bed design, but still project a softer presence. To further help them relate to the bed, the drawer pulls were hand shaped from the same figured claro walnut as the head- and foot board accent squares, using similar opposing arcs to the bed.

The pièce-de-résistance that really let them stand out on their own, though, was the use of highly figured quilted maple for the tops. The tops were veneered with shop-made 1/16" veneers cut from a single billet of wood and book-matched, which made for a great effect.

When all these elements were put together, the end result came out great, and struck just the right balance.

Put it all together, add in some great Japanese prints my client got in Tokyo, and the set was a great success that I'm really happy with!

An Asian-inspired Bed with Nightstands

The current project in the shop is a real 180 from the last one. This project has a light and airy design, and is made of all solid wood.

My client came to me wanting to replace a large and imposing bed made in the Mission style from fairly dark wood. The old bed was visually heavy, and dominated the room. What she wanted was a more feminine design that was much lighter, both visually and color-wise. What we came up with was a light and airy take on the iconic Japanese Torii gate.

A great example of the classic Torii gate.

The house has many classicly Arts & Crafts features, including lots of Douglas fir trim work. We explored several possible design directions in varying degrees of Mission/Arts & Crafts and Asian styles. After a few iterations, we ended up a mixture - a Torii-inspired bed with more Missiony nightstands, which we lightened and made a little more feminine by adding a few curves. To maintain a lighter feel, the set will be made of maple, with Douglas fir panels.

Our final design.

After turning a handful of 10' boards into a pile of part blanks, construction started with the foot board sub-assembly. The first task was to create dadoes for the dark wood accent squares. Because the profiles of the pieces they join are curved on both sides, these had to be milled while the part blanks were still square.

Steps for attaching the dark squares.

The dadoes were made using a simple jig and a top-bearing router bit. As you can see, the first step was to make shoulder cuts with a handsaw (shown by the arrow). Then about a third of the material was removed with a chisel. Next, the jig, whose "fingers" were the exact size of the dadoes with the correct spacing, was clamped to the workpiece and waste material was removed with a router. Once this was done, the curves could be shaped. Layout for the curves was accomplished with a simple flexible batten and a couple of small nails.

Laying out a curve.

Once the parts were shaped, the rest of the assembly was constructed using half-lap joints. Cut with a similar technique used for the accent dadoes, shoulder cuts were made by hand, the majority of the waste removed with a chisel, then the joint was finished with a top-bearing router bit (using the shoulder cut as the "template"), and fine-tuned by hand with a chisel.

The half-lap joints of the foot board.

The head board will be made the same way, with accent squares and half-laps. Stay tuned.....