Bedroom Vanity Unit

[Glynne]

Just completed this with air dried English oak bought at Pugh's auction 5 years ago - coincidentally there is an auction this Saturday 19th.
Beautifully figured wood but very hard and prone to be somewhat brittle and hence the mitres could be better.
Finished with just cellulose sanding sealer and cabinet makers wax.

 

[AndyT]

Nice! Pleasing to see that like me, you give wood plenty of time to stabilise before working on it.

I especially like the recesses around the drawer knobs - how did you cut them?
And is it stable enough as it is, or will it get fixed down onto something else?

 

[Glynne]

Hi Andy,
The recesses were cut using a core box bit (Wealden's) with a guide bush and a circular template (MDF drilled with a large Forstner). I'd like to say it was my idea but I picked it up from a Mike Pekovich post on Pinterest.
The unit is heavy enough by itself with the mirror so no need to fix it to anything.

 

[Mangokid]

Very nice.

Can I ask what you used to attach the mirror and allow it to pivot? Or any tips on doing that? I'm looking to make something similar for the Mrs.

 

[John15]

Very attractive Glynne

John

 

[ColeyS1]

Looks great ! The grain looks really striking.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Glynne]

Mangokid,
I used these: -https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/j7b/Hinge-Bracket-Supplies-Mirror-Fittings-E41-181-52Mmx20Mm/B0085T96B2
They don't come with screws and I did have to enlarge the countersink but other than that they are fine.
They simply screw onto the mirror frame and the supports and then you just lower the mirror into position and adjust.
I assembled the mirror to the supports and then measured the distance between the supports (at the pivot) and then used this as the distance to fix the base of the supports - so as the whole thing was parallel. I fixed the supports to the base using 8mm dowels with a scrap of wood as a template to make sure the holes lined up.

 

[custard]

Blimey, I've just seen this. It's a knockout!

Those drawer pulls, and the recesses they sit in, are absolutely superb! I've been looking at it for five or ten minutes trying to decide if I'd have picked up the Ebony pulls with a really fine inlaid stringing around the mirror, or some tiny, pyramid shaped finials on the mirror posts? But on balance I think you've absolutely nailed it just as it stands.

How many hours went into it by the way?

=D>

 

[morturn]

What an attractive and well-designed piece of furniture. Great stuff.

 

[Glynne]

Thanks for the positive comments.
I didn't clock how long I took as I tend to make things a bit at a time (saves getting my ear bent) but it wasn't that long.
Mitres took a little bit of tuning and I'm not the quickest at dovetails but overall it was a reasonable quick build.

 

[Mangokid]

Mangokid,
I used these: -https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/j7b/Hinge-Bracket-Supplies-Mirror-Fittings-E41-181-52Mmx20Mm/B0085T96B2
They don't come with screws and I did have to enlarge the countersink but other than that they are fine.
They simply screw onto the mirror frame and the supports and then you just lower the mirror into position and adjust.
I assembled the mirror to the supports and then measured the distance between the supports (at the pivot) and then used this as the distance to fix the base of the supports - so as the whole thing was parallel. I fixed the supports to the base using 8mm dowels with a scrap of wood as a template to make sure the holes lined up.

Perfect, going to order a set, thanks for the info. Going to attempt a poor copy of your build!

 

[rafezetter]

That's lovely, not ordinarily to my taste, but I'd be proud be to give that to a family member (edit:who am I kidding, I'd ecstatic to make that). Andy's right about those recesses, brings the whole piece up a notch.

Forgive the ignorance, but is the wood naturally like that? I find Oak a bit bland if I'm totally honest, but that's very striking.

Custards comment about stringing or small pyramids, I think the pyramids would have been nice, giving echo's top and bottom, stringing might have been a tad too much.

 

[Glynne]

This oak is naturally figured / grained - only sanding sealer and wax used.
I bought 5 boards from Pugh's thinking I could match some of my bought oak furniture but it is all highly patterned. Most of it is quarter sawn so lots of medullary rays / patterns which is nice for smaller pieces but a sod to try and match.
The sides & top of the vanity unit all come from one continuous piece and even the saw kerf to cut the mitres does break up the flow if you look carefully.
I did think about different handles but the wood is that highly figured I thought less was more - but it is all down to personal taste.

 

[DTR]

Very nice Glynne =D> =D> =D>