[OP]
Member
Today saw the beginnings of the new ottoman for my living room. I live in an 18th century farmhouse and the furniture is mid-century modern style so to avoid mixing too many styles I will stay with simple clean lines.
Started off with milling the stock.
Then plane to remove milling marks. Can you tell which two have been planed?
Marking out for the mortises.
Chopping!
Managed to get all the mortises chopped today. Let’s hope for weekend of profligate tenoning.
Member
Michael,
Always good to to see a build thread.
ken
Contributor
Looking forward to seeing more of this project!
Fred
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
[OP]
Member
I had some extra 6/4 mahogany from a shoji screen build this winter. The pieces that were not quite straight enough for a 60 inch panel will do just fine as an 18 inch tall ottoman.IMG_0981.jpg
Contributor
Those are nice too. I'm going to try my hand at that one day.
Brian Holcombe has done several of them in light wood. Look up some of his posts if you're interested.
Fred
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
[OP]
Member
I have read a couple of Brian's post on his shoji screens. Between his writings and Odate's book on shoji I felt fairly well prepared.
I like them in lighter wood too. That is what I have at my house. It is a bit more subtle and understated. The mahogany makes quite a striking contrast with the paper. It was chosen to match the trim in the clients' house.
You should give them a try. They are fun to do and look great. I find myself fantasizing about removing walls in my house so I can install sliding shoji panels. Alas, there is only so much time in the day.
[OP]
Member
A little bit more progress made. Got all of the tenons cut and fit with the mitres cut for the intersecting top tenons and square edges for the offset lower stretchers. I even got the first pair of sides glued up and lounging in a sunbeam.
Next I will use a combination of machine router and planes to give everything a round-over and then I will glue the other stretchers in place.
Then I get to teach myself some basic upholstery for the top. Stay tuned...
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Contributor
Thanks Mike. Keep us posted.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
Contributor
Nice work Mike, certainly interested to see this project develop.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Contributor
Looks like a good start.
Upholstery can be fun or a real pain.
I find myself jealous of your natural light. Been working in a windowless shop for the last year and a half or so.
Making furniture teaches us new ways to remove splinters.
[OP]
Member
After a busy morning chasing around with the painter at a remodeling job I am finishing I got to go home and finish the glue up of the frame. Everything square and lining up nicely. Routed a couple of edges while still in halves, lots more rounding over to do.
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[OP]
Member
Finished the rounding over work. Got more or less the curves I had initially imagined. I am pretty happy with it. Some machine router, some block plane, some spoke shave and a fair amount of sandpaper by hand later, this is what I got.
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Cut the rabbett for the upholstered bit out of the top. I wanted to make sure I got some bearing on the legs in case the invevitable happens and someone sits on the ottoman.
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Then I cut a sheet of plywood to size This will be what I glue the foam to and staple the fabric around. I plan to chamfer the top edge so there is nothing to knock a limb against while it is cleverly hidden by fabric.
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Contributor
I like the clean design and your joints look nice and tight. Will look forward to seeing the fabric.
Best,
Chris
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
--Yogi Berra
[OP]
Member
Put the chamfer on the plywood cap piece. (Actually I am not sure what the proper name for it is). The wooden Jack that I refurbished made short work of it.
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Here is the fabric I am using. Picked it up a long time ago at the local fabric store for an as yet unforeseen project.
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Fabric, four inch foam and plywood ready to go.
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And here it is.
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I still need to put the finish on the wood before it is truly complete, but this is the rough outline.
Thanks to all for your kind words and your encouragement along the way.
The general design was popular among the members of my household and there may be some tables of a similar labor intensive rounded over design in the future.
Michael
Contributor
The fabric looks great and congrats on the pass for more of the same!
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