These nightstands were designed for my client in West Palm Beach, Florida. He has impeccable taste, from the clothes he wears to the teapot he uses to serve his guests. And what a gentleman. I met him by way of his daughter who lives in Manhattan on Park Avenue and has fine taste as well. I’ve built several pieces for her family and truly enjoy working with both of them.

So my Florida client presented me with the shape he desired for the nightstands, and I made veneer suggestions. I always try to create something out of the ordinary, and rarely suggest using anything pre-fab. I prefer to collaborate with my veneer man in Queens and select something different. In this case, burled eucalyptus If you’ve never seen it, it’s quite light in color, and has a swirled and irregular pattern. It looks kinda like crushed seashells which have been bonded together by mother nature (Breccia). Something totally appropriate for a client living in Florida.

So I created my working drawings and then asked my veneer man to cover various panels with the eucalyptus. Once done, I brought them back to my shop in Beacon and began to assemble them. Because of this unusual veneer, the seams needed to be mitered and I kinda had to build these nightstands inside out, so as to hid all my connections. It took a little bit of thought, but I enjoy overcoming challenges like these.

Once assembled, I added a little bit of color to enhance the grain and then clear coated them with satin lacquer. My intent was to make them look like stone, so the finish had to be matte.

They were very well received and in the coming months, my client placed orders for a several additional pieces.