Our latest install was this beautiful white wall of built-ins to a home on historic Pine Street in Old City Philadelphia. The piece has a desk with bookshelves on the right side, with a closet in the middle, and a built-in bank of drawers with more shelves on the left. The desk area included LED lighting. Solid brass Firenza pulls from Signature Hardware were used and the finish is waterborne lacquer matched to Benjamin Moore Pure White.
This room was up three flights of old stairs and was expertly designed to break down to make it to its destination. Just ordered a new camera to take out on installs because this phone just isn’t cutting it any longer! Better images coming soon, promise.
Custom wall of cabinetry with Walnut countertopsEvery inch of space is neatly maximized
This week and last, Adam returned to New Hope, Pennsylvania in Bucks County to install a large modern vanity and some closet built-ins in a dramatic overhaul of an old stone farmhouse. The kitchen, described by the homeowner as “Extreme Shaker” style, also features white countertops and Miele appliances including an induction stovetop, oven, and steam oven in the island. For another look at the cabinetry, with a variety of views of the pantry pullouts and drawers in action, see this previous post. Shaker Knobs by Nice Knobs and Farrow + Ball Paint in Stony Ground.
The clean-lined 10 foot long vanity was designed by the homeowner and is deceptively simple-looking. It boasts a cantilevered Ash countertop, hand towel cutouts- and a very neat finish. First the lumber was bleached using a two part wood bleach, then three coats of soap finish were applied (nota bene – soap finish process and product described here). The soap finish is not yellowing or shiny at all and is frequently used on floors and furniture in Scandanavia. For another look at the construction of this vanity, see this previous post.
soap finish on woodGrain flows across the vanity front
bottom drawers extend to the wall with no outer face frame
After a full day’s work installing custom closet rods and shelving ( painted Farrow & Ball Lamp Room Gray), our work at this remarkable house has been wrapped up- for now.
Unique Kitchen Island doubles as dining table and wetbar
It is always a joy to go back to one of the kitchens we have created and see the totally finished space in use. The front door to this home needed some Cherry interior trim installed, and a couple custom thresholds put in (all handmade and finished in the shop). The window trim in the kitchen that blends seamlessly with the custom Cherry upper cabinets was also made by us. This entire home is a stunner and filled with antique wood furniture that looks great in the new timberframe and SIPS space.
Beacuase this homeowner couldn’t get the look and quality she was seeking from a stock cabinetry salesman, they chose to go the handbuilt route, with lovely results. The lightly distressed black lower cabinet frames and the island are highly unique. The finish on all cabinetry is durable dull sheen waterborne lacquer. Both the round sink in the island and the larger single basin main sink are hammered copper. All hardware is black iron. Large expanses of oiled Cherry slab in the island top invite a lingering caress and draw the eye. All cherry was provided by the client who happened to have dried and aged lumber in storage ready to be utilized.
This post gives a look back at the drawings for this kitchen as well as the progress photos in the woodshop, while this one shows the gorgeous custom bathroom vanities built for this home outside of Benton, Pennsylvania.
Cherry topped Table with black legsCherry custom kitchen
A kitchen rennovation in Bloomsburg, PA was capped off with a gorgeous slab Walnut counter on the island. After considering a butcher block versus a thick solid slab, the homeowners opted for the latter. This beautiful wood countertop started as two enormous 3″ thick boards from Alderfer Lumber. The client decided to embrace the lighter sapwood and live edge details that define the edge of the former tree. Isn’t Walnut beautiful?
After flattening and joining them together, Adam used four carefully placed dovetail keys to strenthen defects or knots in four areas and filled another knot hole with epoxy. At each end a perpendicular board crosses the long grain of the counter, joined with mortises and tenons and pegged so as to allow seasonal movement of the wood. The counter then was sanded, and sanded, and sanded before heavy coats of mineral oil were applied and allowed to soak in under plastic wrap. Finally, a custom beeswax/ coconut oil/ mineral oil top coat was rubbed on and buffed out for a completely food safe finish. Some people think wood counters are hard to care for, we disagree. Here is a good arcticle on maintaining an oiled wood counter.
Live edge with Breadboard ends
The homeowners seem pretty thrilled with the result.
” Oh my goodness gorgeous! This is unbelievably beautiful, Adam and Nicole. Thank you so much for your hard work and labor in this. We absolutely LOVE it.” – H.A.
“Thank you Adam. It has been a lovely experience to work with you guys on this… I got to see something that I always wanted come true, I felt fully involved with it and I LOVE the outcome. It means a lot to me.” – S.S.
Finished with mineral oil and beeswaxpegged mortise and tenon joineryDovetail Key detail
Handcrafted Cherry and Black Kitchen with Table side of Island shown
The black knobs and bin pulls are not yet on, but this special handcrafted kitchen is nearly ready for installation at an amazing new home in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. The homeowner decided to go with us when the semi-custom kitchen vendors just couldn’t give her the look she was going for- Cherry upper cabinets, and black base cabinets with some of the black rubbed off to allow the grain to show through. And they just happened to be sitting on a seriously nice stack of dried Cherry lumber.
Stock and semi-custom kitchens can’t offer islands as unique as this one!
The uniquely shaped large island has a hammered copper sink and oiled Cherry counter, garbage pullout and overhang with legs on one side for seating.
Dovetailed Inset Drawers on soft close self closing undermount slides are standard
Hand rendered layout drawings are included with our kitchens
The latest installation was this long walnut credenza for a New York City residence. The base measures 14 1/2’ long and sports ten doors and a matching walnut counter. The doors are push to open and reveal an inner shelf.
The three floating shelves with integral LED lighting are over 90” long and 2 1/4” thick. The finish is a satin waterborne lacquer. The drawing for this job can be viewed here.
This mirrored wardrobe is finally installed and has been tweaked so that everything is to the homeowner’s satisfaction. The before photo has been included to show how much pizazz built-in custom woodworking can add to a space. The cabinet will be very useful for storing clothes, picking out outfits, and getting ready to greet the day.
A custom kitchen inspired bu the style of Christopher Peacock. It features true divided light glass upper doors, a cherry furniture-style hutch, and wood-paneled appliances.
This is a natural cherry kitchen where we also installed hard maple counters. This was a kitchen that the Springhouse Woodshop designed to fit around the unusual shaped room. The large upper cabinets on the stove wall are actually full depth (24″) to utilize the depth on either side of the stone fireplace which is in the living room on the other side of the wall. Lots of prep area in this kitchen as well as a bar counter for seating or a serving buffet.
This kitchen went into an addition on a beautiful 1850’s farmhouse in Oley, PA. The cabinets were simple painted hard maple with flat panels. The island counter was slab hard maple. The counter is finished in Duravar catalytic varnish. The effect of the cabinets in the pale yellow room is graceful and understated in this historic home.
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