I would like to introduce my first completed project – the “Tawny” bedside cabinet. The cabinet is intended to be used as a bedside cabinet//table with a mixture of differently sized drawers and shelves.
The “Tawny” improves significantly upon the usefulness and practicality of existing bedside cabinet designs by offering multiple shelves which are open on three sides. This allows the user to see and access the contents of each shelf whilst lying in bed. Somewhere to charge your phone, somewhere to place your watch, your current novel, the alarm clock… …and the top surface is still free for a lamp.
The design is simple yet elegant and is intended to allow the wood to speak for itself. The oak has been specially selected to show off some stunning medullary rays on the front frame surfaces and the end grain of the shelf ends has not been hidden, as is often the case with furniture, and instead is laid bare and highlighted to become an integral part of the exterior design.
The two larger drawers slide on wooden runners, whilst the smaller drawer slides on the shelf. Whilst it would have been much easier to fit silent soft-close metal runners, I wanted these cabinets to have an honesty that celebrates the wood and does not shy away from the sound of wood runners and drawer stops. For a similar reason, I did not want to use purchased metal handles and instead made the drawer handles from wood – the gently chamfered top and bottom edges of the handles makes them very effective and easy to grasp.
The “Tawny” is available as a single ‘right’ or ‘left’-handed cabinet, or as the matching pair. The versions in the photo measure 700 mm x 490 mm x 490 mm. The three drawers are 130 mm wide, 280 mm wide and 450 mm wide and all are 120 mm in height. Dimensions can be tailored if required.
(PS. There are 220 mortices and 110 loose tenon joints in each cabinet.)
(PPS. Each cabinet contains 1.5 cubic feet of oak, and you can certainly tell it’s solid from their weight!)
