Custom Casework Design

Bay Window Breakfast Nook

Clean classic lines create an inviting spot for breakfast and casual dining in a bay window to one side of the kitchen in this Capitol Hill townhouse. Drawings for the project are below

 

Built-in China Cabinetry with Archway Header

The owner of this Washington DC townhouse wanted to maximize storage space as well as display her collection. Units were designed for both sides of the archway to the living room, with a continuous header tying the sections together. The design features beveled glass doors, interior lighting, plate glass shelving, Red Levanta marble countertops, raised panel base doors, and corner columns with Ionic caps. Cypress finished in red mahogany stain. Two line drawing elevations from the project plans are shown below.

 Mantle and Bookcases

Custom mantles and bookcases for the townhouses of Capitol Hill were a specialty of mine while doing business as City Finish in Washington DC.

 

Signage & Sculptural Design

Hospital for Sick Children, Washington DC

 

This project involved redesigning a specialized hospital ward for children recovering from serious injuries, making the space as inviting and comfortable as possible. The lead designer was Diane Pabilonia, a specialist in medical facilities layout. My job was to design complimentary geometric wood sculptures and signage throughout the ward, along with specifying the stain formulas and colors for all the wood elements.

 

A common pattern was used for sculpture and numbering each patient room, with variations in stain and trim colors for each door, sculpture, and sign.

The lead designer asked me to formulate stain colors because of my experience in waterbourne (non-toxic) richly-colored finishes. A palette of three deep-pastel colors was used on wood surfaces throughout the ward, with several more colors used just for my sculptural elements

Special designs were created for rooms with specific functions, and four larger sculptures were placed throughout the ward as wall decor.

 

Wainscotting and marbelizing

The stairway was original to this 19th century townhouse, but all the woodwork had been painted except the chestnut newel and railings. The owners wanted to warm up the hallway with more stained wood, so I designed wainscotting that included the semi-concealed understair closet. The painted steps, risers, and stringer were given a marbelized faux finish to blend them into the new look without a disruptive tear-out or stripping process.

 

 

Garden Gates with

Eyebrow Arbor 

These gates are all double-framed cedar with functional forged iron hardware. The project included topping the brick column with a copper pyramid cap. The owner later trained climbing roses over the arched arbor.

 

Glass Door Bookcases & Mantle

 

Doors protect rare books and provide a tailored look in the study of this 18th century rowhome on Capitol Hill. Looking closely, you can see that the firebox of the 1790 chimney structure was offset to the left. To create symetrical balance for the flanking panels, I created a matchbox holder and bellows hook next to the opening.

 

Breakfront China Cabinet and Bookcases

 

This project, filling one wall of a formal dining room, used a combination of fully custom shelving and semi-custom manufactured cabinetry to create an integrated design in a more cost effective way.

 

High Victorian Mantle

For a high victorian townhome, I designed this mantle with corinthian colums, filagree, and dentil molding that fit nicely over the original cast iron firebox face.

 

Modern Bookcase with Floating Cabinet

Something simple to finish the sampling of casework projects, and a favorite of mine. Created in collaboration with Designer Les Faulk for an Atlanta showhouse, this clean design worked perfectly for an inset next to a fireplace. Oversize quarter-round frame edging, a 4" thick countertop face, and a frameless "floating" base with touch-latch doors and underlighting complete the look nicely.