Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Painted Library


We're underway on our next project, which involves a number of pieces for a historic house that is being restored in a nearby Veront town. It's a beautiful brick Federal style with many period details still intact ... This week we will be installing the upstairs library cabinets which will be painted in a Farrow and Ball Winbourne White. The baseboard and ceiling molding will be installed onsite .. Click the photos to enlarge them ...

Installed 9/17 ... We had some serious out of level issues in this 1841 house ... 2" total from the near end of the cabinet to the far right corner. The carpenters have been dealing with this throughout the house and will handle the baseboard and crown molding installation now that we're gone ... They have mastered the art of blending the impossible to make it look natural ... An old house can not and should not be 'perfect' ... part of the charm ....

Level across the hole ... didn't check till the end ... we were lucky

The architect's original elevations

My interpretation after consultations and site visits

Underway last week

Door construction

The cabinets as of yesterday, before priming today ... applying the finished ends

4 comments:

Jeff Branch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeff Branch said...

Nice haunched tenon. Like the light filled shop.

cameron said...

When painting pieces, do you prefer spraying or brushing? Since these cabinets are headed for a historic site, brushing may be the only option. Also curious what your painting process involves. I have had great results and not so great results with spraying and brushing.
ps. LOVE this blog!!!

Dorset Custom Furniture said...

Hi Cameron ... A good paint job is an art in itself and I'm glad this one will be done by the pros .... We brushed the primer as I don't really like the look of a sprayed primer for historical projects. To get the best paint job, I recommend an environment as dust free as possible and a good oil base rather than latex paint ....