Jewelry Armoire - Project of the Week

October 16, 2008 by loglad
Filed under: Armoires, Chest of Drawers 

This week’s project comes from Tim in CA who writes:

This jewelry armoire was a graduation gift for my niece. It is made out of Bubinga, Birds Eye Maple veneer (door panels), figured maple veneer (top), and Birds Eye maple (drawer fronts). Each drawer is dovetailed and the bottom drawer has a hidden compartment accessible from the back. The base is from a David Marks project Open Bookcase. The finish is Seal-A-Cell with several coats of Gel Stain on top. I was in way over my head on this project which means I got to learn many new things.



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10 Responses to “Jewelry Armoire - Project of the Week”
  1. David Petty says:

    Outstanding Tim! What a neat and detailed project that will definitely end up being a family heirloom. Well executed details and a fine contrast with the dark and light woods. Your niece will be blown away! Well done Tim.

    One question for ya. How long did it take from start to finish to build such a project? Thanks!

    David

  2. Rob Bois says:

    Someone has way too much jewelry! But seriously, great project.. If you were really in over your head, the final product certainly doesn’t show it. Bubinga and maple seems to be the hot ticket these days (I feel like another project on this web site featued the same materials I just can’t remember what it was….).

  3. Gatorbait says:

    Holy smokes! That thing in gorgeous. But I would hate to be the man that has to fill that for her. Do you know how many tools you could buy instead :-) Great job!!!

  4. shrklvr21 says:

    Wow! That is beautiful! Are all the drawers lined like the first few or are the larger ones for storage?

    You might have been over your head, but it came out looking real nice. I’m sure your niece will cherish it forever.

    Excellent job!

  5. LOL @ Gatorbait… a true intimidation piece for a boyfriend/husband!

    Tim… that is an heirloom piece… just gorgeous!

    Does the felt have an adhesive backing? I’ll be need to add some in the future…. anyone have a recommendation on where to buy?

    -Charles

  6. Tim Hill says:

    Thanks for all the nice words. To answer some questions… the felt is peel and stick. Rockler sells it as Self Adhesive Velvet. It comes in 12″ widths but only 24″ lengths. I wish they’d make longer lengths ( I couldn’t find any but that doesn’t mean you can’t get it somewhere). Only the top five drawers, the doors, and the upper box are lined.

    I worked on it over a period of four+ months and delivered it in late June. I had to re-work some of the parts and built many test pieces. Like most projects it seems like it takes a couple hundred hours to build the first one and much less to build the second. I did build a prototype of sorts to work out the dimensions. I also extrapolated the dimensions of the legs from the David Marks project.

    There’s plenty of room for other girl stuff than jewelry, but this way she doesn’t have to cram things together. I didn’t know what a jewelry armoire was when she asked. I had to do some Googling and figure out the essential elements (i.e. drawers, necklace storage, mirror, etc.).

    Lastly many thanks to Marc Spagnuolo for all you are doing.

  7. Loxanne says:

    I would love to get a copy of the plans for this jewery armoire. Do you know how I may get a hold of the plans? I just love the combination of wood used! Great job!

  8. lc says:

    I see many like that in the internet, but this is the best one

    amazing !

  9. drunkenalien says:

    Nice, Want to build a jewlry box /armoire Good inspiration for me to try.

    Thanks

  10. Tim Hill says:

    Loxanne… sorry I haven’t replied earlier. I just viewed this again. I don’t have any plans, but it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out. Essentially it is just a box with a face frame (front and back) like a kitchen cabinet. The rest is just door and drawer construction. Re the base, if you follow the link to David Marks’ project page you can see how he built it and you should be able to work out the curves and other dimensions. He doesn’t have any plans for this project but he does supply the dimensions of the stock. From that you can get what you need.

    Some things I’d do different include: I would look in to using a 1/8″ mirror instead of 1/4″. I think 1/4″ mirror glass is 3.5 pounds per square foot or something like that, so the top I made was heavy. I would also look in to using Soss hinges for the lid. You are in luck as Marc has a great video on the Soss hinges that he used for his Gadget Station. Anyway, you need some way to hold the lid up. The hardware I used is difficult to line up and I think the Soss hinges will stop at 110 degrees or so which would be perfect.

    Hope this helps. Good luck… show pictures when you’re done.

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