A father, a husband and a hero. We feel honored to have been chosen for this vintage door custom furniture build. This piece is a remembrance for the father of the family. This father was a fire fighter, risking his life everyday helping others. One of those days happened to be September 11th. He gave his everything to this country and to have helped this family be able to cherish his memory, was all we needed, to want to be part of this project.
Our client, his daughter, came to us explaining that the door came from his workshop in the house, his man space of the childhood home she grew up in. It had a extra special touch of him from his drawing of a devil, his calling number, and his wife’s name, which he engraved himself, into the center of the top of the door. She had kept the door since his passing and never knew what to turn it into. Not knowing how to incorporate the door into her home, either as a functional piece or decoration, she contacted us for help. She was fully open to different design aspects, which we love because we can really unleash our creativity.
We spent a lot of time making sure we had a good balance of sentimental reflection, functionality, and beauty. We wanted all three to blend into a glorious melody and be a center piece in their home for years to come. Since we had full advantage of the design aspect we didn’t hold back. We knew it was going into an open concept room, one end being a kitchen the other a living room. We wanted this to be a feature that is usable for the entire space; allowing them to bring family and friends together, celebrating and spending time. To tie all of these concepts together we designed a wine and whiskey cabinet, along with a bar top to pour and serve drinks.
Once the door was in our hands and safely in our workshop, we got a better look at the quality and condition it was in. The door itself was in good condition however, we came to realize the door was completely hollow. Worst case scenario when your trying to attach and build into this surface. This discovery whether we liked it or not, meant we had to think outside the box. How do we make a door that can not be nailed or screwed into at all but turned into a vintage door furniture piece or decoration for a home. Let alone be a memorial for a father who did so much for this country. We had a lot on our plates!
The solution: We decided to make an illusion!
The end result, which looks like one piece, is actually three. Upon discovering the hollowness of the door, we changed plans. We took pallet wood and 1x4s to make a door. The top of the pallet door is a frame of 1x4s and an empty center. When all three pieces are together the 1x4s form a frame and showcase the fathers drawing.
The lower half of the door is a beautiful display of carefully selected pallet wood that we chose for its coloration of gray and tan. The patterns in the coloration of the rings in the wood make a gorgeous background. They start just beneath the shelf and extend the entire depth to the floor, thus allowing them to be the backdrop when you look through the inside of the cabinet. Once the illusion door was created we started to build the cabinet.
The cabinet has a wine glass rack, two wine bottle shelves, a whiskey glass compartment, and a whiskey bottle compartment. The wine glass rack and the wine bottle shelves are all in one compartment. The top wine bottle shelf is on a slight slant that is a permanent position for displaying your wine bottle.
The lower second wine bottle shelf can slide forward or backward and can also be flipped over and used as a regular shelf. Upon flipping it over, the surface is flat and you can use it for storage for numerous items. If you have the flat shelf showing and move it backward you can also have addition storage space using the floor of the cabinet to store even bigger items.
The whiskey half of the cabinet is separated into two compartments. The top compartment being the smallest, is where you store the whiskey glasses. To prevent any sliding on the wood and clanking of glasses when you open or close the doors, we laid down a bar mat for the glasses to sit on.
We made the bottom, the larger compartment, for the whiskey bottles so it can fit any size bottle. The cabinet was not complete until we put on the countertop. The countertop was perfect for the thickness for durability and matched the shade of wood in the shelf.
When we first picked up the door, we were able to walk into our clients home and checkout her general style and the colors she chose to use throughout the rooms. The floor was a honey color as well as the door she was giving us but slightly different variations. When we brought the door to our shop we compared it to a stain we love called Honey Teak. It turned out to work beautifully making the honey color from the door and the floors from her home go together cohesively. We left the gray and tan swirled pallet wood unstained and just covered it with a layer of polyurethane. We did not want to take away from its natural beauty at all.
Coming to the few last touches was a special moment. Richard and I were so excited to show our client her door, just for the meaning behind it alone, we knew she would cherish this forever. We connected the three pieces by four bolts. It holds it together for base support and with the pads under the feet, the bolts allow the piece to move together easily across any floor as long as there is no carpet. With all three pieces together the final touches were small but really added a lot of character. We chose to make the hinges and door knobs black to enhance the glow of the honey teak even further. Adding the thin, black screen for the front of the cabinet doors added a romance feel to the cabinet, an unspoken elegance. Finally we made frames to display pictures of her father. One had him alone and one showed him and his wife Barbara whose name is on the door.
We have a bunch of products we will be posting about in the next few weeks! Contact us for any inquiries or questions you may have.
Christmas is right around the corner, contact us today for hand burned signs, painted signs, furniture pieces, pet furniture, etc. All items are built custom and we would love to work with you on a unique piece. For all of long island and the tri-state area we will delivery to you personally and the delivery is free! Happy Halloween everyone!!
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