A New Client's Interesting Idea

Often my new designs are a result of interactions with thoughtful, 'know what we want', clients. I met some folks at the Woodstock Furniture Show. It was totally the last minute and, I mean, totally the last minute. Other furnituremakers were packing up their booths as we were talking ... Anyway, it turns out they had purchased a house in Manchester ( ! ) where I had sometimes gone to parties in the early 70's ( ! ) when I was a bartender. They are remodeling it and when I went by to check it out, it brought back some interesting, hazy memories ... The origianl owner's pool table was even still there ... I took the photo below throught the sliding glass door as there was no one there and roughly photoshopped in their idea for a mirror, a 4" wide frame covered in galvanized, hung on the stone ... I wasn't precisely sure how to go about it so we had the local metalshop bend up some test pieces, stuck them on the wood with 3M Spray 90 adhesive and cut them to length on the table saw with a thin carbide blade and face shield. So far, so good ... We need to discuss finish colors, if any, and get approval for the copper boat nails we placed in the edge of the mirror. Without the nails it is going to be hard to hold the outside metal edges tight to the wood with just the contact adhesive ... Great concept ! Click the photos to enlarge them ...

The fireplace

With the mirror photoshopped in ... Actually, in the picture, it's too big. The stonework is 7' wide, which I didn't know when I did the picture .. I think 4' will be perfect ...

The cutoffs of the steel parts with the spray 90 on them. The folds on the outside edges wrap around where the mirror sits

We are using 1" plywood for the frame to eliminate complicatons from seasonal wood movement ..

With the copper boat nails on the edge ... I plan to try a little patina solution on the galvanized and the nails just to see what it does, after talking with the clients ....