Jewelery chest design

[Ron Bontz]

OK here is the deal. I have been trying to come up with a design for a jewelery chest for my daughter's 16th birthday. A year from now. It will probably take me that long to finish. I wanted it to make her say Wow and become a quality heirloom. I am wanting it to be a little over 30" tall, with a matching table for it to sit on, to be built later. I was also working on various hidden compartments. The wood would be natural 2 tones IE: curly maple with walnut or perhaps mahogany and maple. It would be all dovetail with raised panels I think and mortise and tennon joinery when appropriate. My problem: Every time I have sat down at my drafting table,(yes I am an old fashioned guy), I find my self changing the drawings and then staring at it forever trying to figure out how to make everything work. I have looked at various chest at the stores for ideas but they are always so cheap, it just turns me off and of course the hardware those chest have is rarely available to an average Joe.
So with all that said, does anyone know of a design or pictures of these types of jewelery chest? Surely someone out there has seen or know of a high end custom chest. I would appreciate any input. THanks

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like a chest-on-stand type design might be the right ticket for this. You'll often see this kind of thing in a slightly larger scale than you need for this project, but the idea is the same. Here's an article on a large one, but it may be helpful to you, nonetheless, as you think about your design: http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Gallery/GalleryImage.aspx?id=29790

This style of project is often popular with the studio furniture artists, too.

[John Schreiber]

I often get stuck in the design process myself. It's so easy to move things around on a computer screen or on paper, but kinda frightening to actually buy and cut (expensive) wood. Having confidence in the design helps. Also, I'm a fair woodworker, but good on the computer.

I would suggest searching around the internet for plans, not so you can copy them, but so you can see how others have dealt with the same issues you are.

Also, if you can put your plans into a graphic which can be uploaded here, this community is very helpful in making suggestions. If you want, based on your plans, I'd be happy to model it in SketchUp, which is a free 3D design program. That way, even if you don't have much experience with the program, you could look at from a variety of angles and explore construction variations.

[Ron Bontz]

Thanks for the input. It reminded me to renew my script. to fww magazine. It also reminded me of the down side to the old fashion drafting board. No 3d with out drawing isometrics. Time seems to always be an issue to learn turbo cad or sketch up. Not to mention my feeble brain. :rolleyes: