A Custom Vanity Project

Like so many of our projects, this one started with an 'inspiration photo' of an existing piece of furniture. Inspiration photos are often clipped from magazines or books or collected from the internet. In one case last fall, I made a table for a woman who claimed she had had the photo on her bulletin board for TEN YEARS ! Anyway, this particualr piece is destined to be a vanity in a formal powder room so we had to make some design modifications. The vanity will have a stone top and the sink is about 8" deep, but is glazed on the bottom so any part that shows will appear finished. The original appeared to have elements that were gold leafed so we made some samples and decided on a palladium leaf. We first made a template to rough turn the delicate bobbin style legs which were then cleaned up by hand, turning with a center steady rest. We then tried a couple of diffferent detail ideas but in the end, settled for a plain apron and leafed appliques as on the original.

6/18/08 Well, we picked up the legs with the Palladium leafing today and they are something! We'll be gluing up the rest of the vanity tomorrow and after a quick couple of topcoats, itwill be on it's way south ...Can't wait to see the whole thing finished ..
Here it is 6/26

Finished means like, in New York, with the real stone top and the sink and faucets installed ... Next week


The inspiration photo

Ready for paint and leafing. The 'top' in this photo is painted mdf.

The original turning sample

Showing the duplicator template and the steady rest.
The Vega duplicator attaches the to lathe ways between the drive center and the tailstock.