Louis XV inspired cabinet.

This one was definitely filed under "stepping up to the challenge". This past client had been scouring the planet to find a piece that matched what she envisioned, and after realizing that she wasn't going to find the right size, configuration and quality in an antique, she recalled my craftsmanship and made the call. She provided me with a page ripped out of Architectural Digest and a sketch of how she wanted the three dimensions altered, and the door / drawer layout changed to become a handsome bar. Other than that, it was "make this." Or almost... I didn't trust that the desired dimensions were going to really sing; I thought that the depth was possibly needing tweaking, so I made a full scale model, complete with molded doors. My suspicions were right, it was just a little too tubby, overhanging the front legs 5/8" more than my eye wanted. With this confirmed, I had all I needed to know to make the piece, it was just a long series of steps in making templates, jigs, fitting pieces and executing perfect "cabinet math", and unrelenting attention to detail. From the beginning, I recognized that the guys originally making these pieces didn't have my tools or my electricity, therefore there was no whining. Good thing I prepared myself that way, because it was very demanding. It's made with air dried black walnut, French burled walnut veneer and handmade holy and ebony inlay strips. It features marquetry work on the top that is booked matched with banding radiating out on the non-geometric curve. The burled veneer was exceptional and came with the added story that it had come from Normandy, and that's why there were bullet holes grown over in it,(!)...an even better reason to shut up and stop whining. The doors and drawer also have a diagonal radiating banding outside of the bent inlay, and the beading on the doors follows the curve. The legs are hexagonal tapered posts with fluting. I even had to make a special mold to bend and glue the wood for the single curved inlay in the top.   After this project, I was happy when my wife handed me a roller to paint the living room. "No problem, give me a barn to paint, it's time to give the brain a rest!"
  I got through it, and everyone came out the other side alive. I didn't doubt that I could do it, and it set a new marker in my mental index of what I'm prepared to do. You will have to pay me I might add though.   Cheers!

Full scale mock up.

Fluted hexagonal leg mock up

Custom made vacuum molds

Pouring on the first coat of waterlox

Gloss laquer drying, to be rubbed to a satin finish