Dog House

This is a dog house I made as a wedding present for a couple of friends. They have traditional values/ stile and I tried to design it in a way to suit them, but also to reflect my own aesthetic.

It is an indoor piece, the roof is decorative. I decided to leave it open so that there is plenty of air for the dog. The whole house comes apart as you can see from the picture of the different parts. The side can be easily reupholstered, and the cushion on the bottom has a cover with an elastic to be washed whenever needed. The fabric I used is velvet, I used it on the inside, but also to upholster the ribs between the pieces of yellow plexiglass.

The wooden part is veneered - ice birch.

WATER DESK

I made the desk with the idea that the shape, the materials used and the finish can create an effect of drawing your eye in. Further when you sit at it, it envelopes you to create your own distinct and protected space. I like to use different contrasts, in this case the contrast is not just the colors, but also the wood and the finish. The outside shell is cherry veneer, the finish is flat, there isn't much figure in the wood itself. The inside is an ice birch veneer, the wood is highly figured and has a natural shimmer. It reminds me of water; sea; river. I used a high-gloss finish to bring out the shimmer and figure even more. Combined together the different materials and the shape of the desk lead the eye to a focus point somewhere in the desk itself.
Because this is a desk, not just a piece of art, I wanted to have a way to organize the cables for the computer and so on. As you can see from the pictures, there is a power strip at the back bottom and the cables are attached to the sides. The only visible cable left is a power cord from an outlet to the bottom of the desk.
If you are interested in any of the designs on this blogs or wish to order something similar, drop me a line kalin.asenov@yahoo.com

COFFEE TABLE

The latest piece for now is a coffee table. The table is veneered, the veneer is figured gaboon. The substrate is a mix of bending birch and solid poplar. For the inside of the circle I bleached the gaboon veneer, which is a dark brown colour and dyed it golden/yellow. The finish is water based lacquer, which I brushed.

SMALL CABINET

I had some leftover materials from the entertainment center so I made this small cabinet. It is made out of bended plywood and it is finished with white glossy oil paint. The black door is made of a piece of Plexiglas, thicker then what I used in the entertainment center so it wouldn't bend. This piece can be used for anything you may think of. We use it to store shoes, it is in the entryway and it is sturdy enough to sit on.

ENTERTAINMENT CENTER

This is the first piece of furniture I consider entirely mine. With my early projects I had to think about how would they fit with the existing furniture, or I was constrained by the materials I had to work with. I designed this with the idea that it will be a corner piece, the upper part that supports the TV can be removed if needed so from an entertainment center it could become a corner unit with a storage shelf. I used a dyed veneer to make the black part. The white is painted plywood. A piece of flexible Plexiglas is used to enclose the electronic equipment (DVR, DVD and so on), it can be opened by sliding out. There are wholes at the bottom of the shelves for ventilation. There are some shelves at the back of the unit for additional electronic components that I didn't want to have enclosed, the wireless router and such.

CONSOLE TABLE

The table happened very randomly. The community school I was attending was closing down and there were some unfinished projects left from other students. I was able to get the wood for the table and had to adjust the design to what was already made. The legs are made of lacewood and the top is solid mahogany. The finish is brushed shellac.

HEADBOARD

This is my second piece of furniture. It is a solid wood mahogany headboard, which I made to fit with the rest of the furniture in our bedroom, hence the design is still quite traditional. There is a curve starting at the top of the mattress, which creates a comfortable support for reading in bed. It is made to completely fall apart for easy moving, also the fabric panels can be very easily reupholstered. The finish is lacquer.