New Pieces, Upcoming Alameda Antique Fair(Booth T-20, Sunday 7/5)

Hard to believe three weeks have passed since my last post. In my next post I m going to show some photos of recent salvage finds, Victorian Columns with wonderfully carved capitals, also some leaded glass diamond pane cabinet doors. Shown here are pieces I have made in the last couple weeks. The Singer sewing machine base was a rusty mess when I got it. I cleaned it up and painted red, a departure from what I usually pick for colors, it does pick up some red in the distressed wood top nicely though. The next piece was described to me by my gf Jan as "Weird, Bryan", high praise indeed! I have had the stove base for a while, been dying to incorporate into something. I added an old metal medical cabinet, has beveled glass doors with locks(where they kept the narcotics??), the top is solid black walnut, salvaged from an old eastlake dresser. Some cute balusters and beadboard backdrop for a shelf. Weird, I know but this is what would create for my house. The lower drawers are fronted with some small cast iron registers with vey nice antique gass knobs. The next photos are of a table with 4 benches. I made one recently for a custom order, I loved the way it came out so I made another! A client saw it and bought the benches so I made two more. The base is from an old farmhouse table, I created the top from various colored wood, finished with varnish to seal it. The benches are of some more of the colored wood, also sealed. Finally, the coatracks were recently ordered by a local wholesale client. I willbe showing quite often in the next couple months, Alameda sunday 7/5, Petaluma Art&Garden sunday 7/12, Moss Landing Antique fair sunday 7/26. Come on out! Peace, Bryan

NEW PIECES, ALAMEDA

Here are some new pieces made last week. I am continuing to clean out my shop of "projects", pieces I have acquired to create with. The dresser at top right was covered with a layer of brown paint when I got it. I started sanding it and discovered pink and blue layers underneath. The top was veneer, badly degraded, I removed it and made a new top out of some old beadboard that had many layers of blue and pink in it. Finally, I made handles out of some old black porcelain doorknobs, adding the oval backplates as well. I also renailed/screwed/glued all drawers and body back together. It is very cute and sturdy once again! The glass door cabinet started out as a shell of old redwood, painted white at one time. It was salvaged by a friend at the Monterey dumpsite, where they pick through what people dump and sell it. I had these glass cabinet doors from a victorian in SF, they were almost exactly the right size for the opening! The front feet are cast iron stove feet, very decorative and OLD. The space below the cabinet body puzzled me at first, I realized that it had probably had a drawer there at one time. I rebuilt the frame/body of the cabinet to accomodate a drawer that I built. New shelves and a crest from an old gate. I recently picked up some very ornate brass victorian hinges on ebay , I used them with a brass cabinet latch and bin pulls to complete this one. The last piece started out as two very old built in kitchen top cabinets. Each had been installed in a corner, so only one side had the many layers of colorful paint. I mated the two face frames together to make one cabinet, and spent may hours stripping the layers down to reveal what is there now. I added a base with feet, trimmed it out and added some little carved grape leaves along the front trim piece, salvaged from an old victorian oval mirror frame. The doors are made with vertical multi-colored slats, I call this look a "patchwork quilt", various colors and textures of wood. The hardware is some old cast-iron window catches as cabinet latches, and the knobs are some beautiful milk glass opalescent with bamboo aesthetic eastlake brass backplates. The white glass door cabinet is now for sale at "Abode", a store in Half Moon Bay, Ca. Bay. http://abodehalfmoonbay.com/ . Check them out! The other pieces are still available from Bryan Appleton Designs. I am excited about my upcoming show at the Petaluma Art and Garden festival, Sunday July 12. I will send an email to all on my list as the date approaches. Thanks, Bryan

CUSTOM PIECES, NEW CABINET

Here are some photos of new pieces. First is custom wall cabinet with blue shutter door. Built for a referral from a local store, it has victorian cast iron hardware, old stamped tin for crest, and some antique furniture parts as an embellishment along the top rail. The second set of photos shows a custom table and bench set built for another referral. The client wanted lots of color to lighten up the space it was to be in. I used a "patchwork quilt" arrangement of top boards, random widths with various colors and textures. We decided to switch the direction of the top boards for the benches, keeping the patchwork quilt arrangement though. All 3 pieces were finished with several coats of a satin spar varnish to seal. I really liked the way it came out, I think I will be making more like this. The last set of photos are of a new hutch piece. I have been trying to unclutter my shop, it was getting pretty plugged up with "projects", pieces that I have acquired and felt they had potential. This piece was one of those. It was in pretty bad shape. I completely rebuilt it, replaced the cheap, delaminating plywood back wih some old T&G beadboard with lots of color, and added the same to the rather plain lower door panels. Some amber glass knobs and other cool hardware completed this piece. Alot of work! Sometimes it is more time consuming to rehabilitate a piece like this than to build one from scratch. This piece and all my other new work will be at Alameda Point Antique fair this coming sunday, June 7. Booth space T-20. Peace, Bryan