Nightstand with Drawers

A nightstand in walnut and mahogany. My wife wanted something with storage. And I wanted to continue exploring ways to reduce furniture to fewer and fewer components. Can you mount drawers without a case? How do you keep it from racking and failing without a vertical brace? 

But, ah, the unexpected nature of wood. Apparently, viewing this walnut at different angles affects the color dramatically, which is why the top seems blonder than the legs. And the walnut stained lighter than I had expected, so the two-tone effect I was attempting is subtler than I had planned. But the grain came out beautifully, so you win some, you lose some.

One small touch. Since these drawers don't have stops, I inlaid a small indicator to show how far you can pull the drawer out before it's close to falling off the rails. A design solution for an engineering problem.

Date:

November 2013