Small cabinet with Iron Deco base, #165

Hard to believe I get paid to do this! I had fun making this one. I purchased the cast iron base at Alameda recently. It has Art Deco decoration on it. Also, the label "Jewel". It had a slate bottom and little rubber feet. I think it had a glass case encased within. I inverted it, removed the slate and rubber feet, and created the base for this small cabinet. Leaded glass door from SF victorian remodel and some creative reuse of hardware, old corbel, and old fence pickets finishes off the top. Very Cute! Enjoy.

Raw material

The glamorous life of the entrepreneur, revealed. I worked on Sunday. Here are some photos of my various finds on Sunday. First, I checked Craigs list "Free" ads cause you never know and.....This load of shelving was listed. I drove to SF, looking for the alley described in the ad and hit the jackpot!. There was already one other truck there, we laughed about loading free wood in the rain on a sunday morning. From there I drove to Petaluma to scout locations to sell my furniture. While browsing one of the antique malls I came across this column and the pediment. The column I think will serve as a base for a table idea I have in mind. The pediment is oak and I believe it was originally on a piece of furniture, although most frags like this were over windows or doorways of houses. The final photo is of a broken cast iron stove base. After leaving Petaluma I drove to Berkeley and went to Urban Ore, where I found the stove feet. A cavernous warehouse of rescued building materials and cabinets and books and JUNK!- Awesome Fun! You never know what you'll find there, a great place to browse on a rainy day. I will try to feature the finished furniture in a future posting. Thaks for visiting and be sure to mention you read this if you visit my booth on sunday at Alameda Pointe Antique Faire (T-20).

tables, Big shelf

Here is a small table, a BIG shelf/doorknob coatrack, and a small desk. The table is an old newel post attached to a marble base(Heavy!). The marble is from some old entry steps from a SF Victorian demo. The table top is a old victorian cast-iron floor register. I see these things on Ebay all the time, they usually sell for more than I am willing to pay. This one I got at our local SF flea, Allemany, and it was in immaculate shape (They are often broken, cast-iron is brittle). I cleaned off the rust, separated it from the louvers , and painted it. It is set against a white wood background, the geometric patterns are quite striking. The shelf is built for a wall in my kitchen dining nook where I decided to create some additional storage. It is 74" long and I used some very unusual high end knobs (Not sure how smart that was, the knobs alone cost about $200). I figured I will show it at the next market, it gives people ideas, and if I happen to sell it I can make another. I also used some old cast-iron shelf brackets, they don't match but I like em! The last piece is a small desk, I purchased this at the flea as a renovation project. This was a piece of junk when I got it. I had to glue and screw everything back together, I replaced the plywood top with something much more attractive, and I made a drawer to replace the missing one. I like the way it came out, its really cute and I think it will sell right away. BTW next Alameda market is right around the corner(Sunday march 1), I am supposed to be back in spot T-20, I will send out an official email once I get the confimation in the mail. Peace, Bryan

mirrors!!!

Here are 3 new mirrors. The full length one I call the "princess mirror", My friend Jan named these for me. I have made quite a few of these princess mirrors, they are alot of fun. The crystal knobs are set in some really cool bronze plates. They came from the estate of the collector who had all the Bank Of Italy(Original Bank of America) salvage. Before I clean them up they have a little black button in the center and in the housing is a bell and some copper windings, obviously an early elecric buzzer/doorbell. I believe they were what you pressed to get into the teller cages at the bank. The various knobs are for hanging stuff- coats, hats, jewelry, whaever! Another mirror is made from a cool piece of salvaged mirror that looks deco to me , the shape and the geometric etching are unusual. The last was an old medicine cabinet door turned sideways, then I built the frame with all the crown, etc. The green crown moulding was originally a handrail, I cut it in half with the tablesaw and turned it upside down-voila,Crown! Oh yeah, the brass curvy things are from an old chandelier I got out of a dumpster in the excelsior district, SF.

More new stuff, surprise!

This is a new piece, a custom order, for clients with very specific dimensions. They came to my shop and we had a lot of fun looking at various raw material, they picked out the leaded glass cabinet door which I modified to fit the dimensions needed. Also, they looked at a lot of hardware, and picked out what they liked. The surprise came when I was creating the top section. I purchased a piece of salvage many years ago at the allemany flea market in SF. It was a section of green panels, very old, probably Victorian. I recently used a couple of them on a piece which is now in Zonal, a very nice gallery on Hayes st. here in SF. http://www.zonalhome.com/. I had one panel left over, I decided it might work for this piece, and as I started to clean/sand off some loose paint, this painted flower is what I found underneath. Quite a surprise! Anyways, I really like the way this piece came out, enjoy.

Here are two pieces created recently. The chimney cabinet on the right I have already featured. The step-back on the left is new. I bought the deco cabinet doors at my local flea, allemany in SF. The decorative piece above the doors came from Ebay, along with the hardware. The colorful beadboard was purchased at the local salvage yard in SF- Builders Resource. The stove feet were fun, I had one of them for a couple of years, I just recently purchased the other at a flea market- a perfect match. Both of these cabinets are at Warmth Co. (http://www.warmthcompany.com/) in Aptos Ca. through next Sunday. They have a great store, check them out. To look at either photo close up, put curser on photo then click. Peace, Bryan

Guilt Free Redwood Planters!

Here are the new planters. I will soon have pricing, shipping info up on website (it is in the shop for a overhaul) at bryanappletondesigns.com. Meanwhile, I can be contacted at 415 336 2784 or bappleton01@yahoo.com. I will be in the monterey/carmel valley area thru sunday feb. 8th, selling planters and furniture. These boxes are constructed from 100% repurposed old-growth redwood. All the beauty of quality redwood with no guilt! Frame construction with attention to every detail, these boxes will last decades. Enjoy!