A quick sawdust update:

I’ve been working finishing up a personal project this week and doing a little legwork for my next piece.  In May, two friends of mine became married to each other.  I got to see them meet, watch them fall in love and stand up and give a hell yeah! at the wedding while wearing an uncomfortable rental tux.  I decided to celebrate with a chair.  The results so far:

Lowe’s provided the legs and various hardware pieces, while I scrounged up about five yards of blue suede from the local fabric shop.  I salvaged the stuffed chair base from an old, expensive office chair.  This project turned into an excellent learning opportunity.  I learned to iron, upholster, fit & cut patterns and most importantly, I learned my wife could sew.  She’s kept her talents hidden from me for six years!

I still have enough fabric for an ottoman, although this week’s heat wave has kept me out of the shop for two days.  More pictures & a dedicated project post when this clears my outbox.

I also did a little designing.  My much better half has given me permission to build a Craftsman-style couch to match out armchair.  The CAD rendering looks like this:

It’s a modified version of Stickley’s No. 220 “Prairie” couch.  I downloaded the model from Highland Woodworking’s collection via the 3-D Warehouse and changed the panel into the ellipse motif.  The ellipse panel is repeated on the back.  All comments welcome.

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.