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Home / Projects / Vitrolite Inspiration

Vitrolite Inspiration

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Not your grandma’s quilt. The original wood floor is painted in a traditional quilt pattern protected by polyurethane topcoats. (Painter: Rich Jenkins. Photography: Kendall Reeves, Spectrum Studio)

When Carol and Roger Parks decided to redo their kitchen in 2006, they knew they wanted something unconventional. They’d lived for years with an assortment of cabinets, freestanding and built-in, arranged in a cramped, impractical layout. They hired Golden Hands Construction, Inc. as their general contractor and NR Hiller Design for the design and cabinetry.

Carol wanted to combine wooden and painted cabinets, and she pulled her paint color from the Vitrolite tile installed in the kitchen and back hallway when the house was originally built in the 1920s. I mixed green and white from The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company and experimented with oil-based topcoats until I had just the right color and applied it thinly as a semi-opaque wash.

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Doors are inset, hung on traditional butt hinges. Drawers, too, are inset.

The hinges, knobs, and pulls for the cherry base cabinets are unlacquered brass. The green crystal door knobs on the painted cabinet doors add an extra jolt of color; when Carol first suggested them, she said she firmly expected her friends to call her crazy but went with them anyway.

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A cabinet patterned after a vintage armoire hides the microwave and provides plenty of storage for large items.

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A glazed display cabinet with interior lighting marks the transition from kitchen to dining room.

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Even the spice cabinet is painted in bright colors. at nearly 3′ wide by 7′ high, it’s capacious enough for the most serious cook.

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Several weeks ago someone asked how I decide where Several weeks ago someone asked how I decide where to locate door and drawer pulls. My latest post for the Pro’s Corner blog at @finewoodworkingmagazine is a detailed answer. Link in profile.

i’m always happy to have requests for blog post topics. I write one every month and will consider any suggestions, so jump in and send them by direct message!

The armoire here is an Art Deco original with Bakelite pulls that are like cats’ eyes. I bought the piece years ago at our local Habitat ReStore. The ceiling fan pulls are by @mladler6 .
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#customfurniture #customfurnituredesign #customfurnituremaker #furnituredesign #customcabinetry #customcabinetmaker #furniturehardware #cabinethardware #finewoodworking
While looking for a recipe the other day I noticed While looking for a recipe the other day I noticed the diversity of comments I’ve made over the past couple of weeks. Mark bought a subscription to the New York Times cooking site and I have been experimenting. The kale salad is divine, if you adjust the ingredients to your taste. I can’t imagine using the recommended quantity of olive oil.
Daniel @ogradycustom just sent snapshots of the ki Daniel @ogradycustom just sent snapshots of the kitchen he did for Kim and Sam @swaction and gave the thumbs up to me sharing a few. 

It’s deeply gratifying to see my drawings brought to such beautifully crafted life — and skillfully adapted in cases such as the exhaust hood, which had to be reworked after changes to the window plan. And yes, those are some @benchcrafted Swing Out seats (I hope I got that name right, FJ and Jameel). You do me proud, Daniel.

Most of my day went to an out-of-town CT scan.
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#customcabinetrydesign #craftsmanship #highlyrecommended #craftsman #furnituremaker #bigchillappliances #bungalowkitchen #oldhouselove #oldhousekitchen #benchcrafted #pancreaticcancer
Tonight we are grateful to @lynettebretondesign fo Tonight we are grateful to @lynettebretondesign for her divine sun-dried tomatoes and to my great friend Marianne Palmer for introducing me to socca. This is soul food. Yum!
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#love #pancreaticcancer
Currently in our living room. Mark was busy today. Currently in our living room. Mark was busy today. Now it’s Tony’s turn.
Thanks to @swaction for sending these shots of Dan Thanks to @swaction for sending these shots of Daniel O’Grady @ogradycustom and his employee, Jesse, in the final stretch of a kitchen for which I designed the cabinets many months ago. The second photo shows a vent hood that Daniel designed in discussion with the clients after some structural changes to the space made the original design impossible to implement.

I take my hat off to Daniel, who has been through plenty of late and kept his eyes on the prize. He’s a paragon of conscientiousness. I feel like a bit of a slacker sitting here watching the progress take place without any input from me.
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#kitchencabinetry #fullcustomcabinets #goodwork #reliable #customwoodwork #customcabinetmaker
Today we are remembering my stepson, Jonas Longacr Today we are remembering my stepson, Jonas Longacre, who — still incredibly— died on this day in 2014 at the age of 15 as a result of what is commonly known as the choking game. He fit the typical profile: intelligent, athletic, good at music, school, and outdoor skills, in addition to languages, both historical and constructed. He was thoughtful and had no interest in alcohol or drugs — also typical for kids who engage in this practice. 

Some months after his death, Megan Fitzpatrick @1snugthejoiner asked if I would like to do a bookcase article for Popular Woodworking, where she was the chief editor. (Not sure that’s the official term, but I can count on her to correct me!). This is the one I ended up building. It’s in the December 2015 issue, which I saw for the first time over dinner in an interstate chain restaurant while driving back to Indiana from a kitchen job in Washington DC. We called it The Jonas Longacre Memorial Bookcase, because he was a serious bibliophile, and put it in his room until we moved in 2016. Now it’s in our upstairs loft room, next to the guitar Mark had bought for him and the basic version of a guitar that Jonas made.
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#choking #chokinggame #chokinggameawareness #erikscause
Kudos to @danielle_rose_byrd, if belatedly, on “ Kudos to @danielle_rose_byrd, if belatedly, on “The Handcarved Bowl.” I bought this book when it was published, mainly because I admire Danielle and wanted to add my dollars to support her solid, enterprising, and bold artistic work. I gave it to Mark for Christmas, after he expressed an interest in learning to carve spoons. 

He has read most of the book over the past few days and is suitably impressed — not only by the meticulous discussion of materials and techniques, but the thoughtful inclusion of a great section on body care, a topic dear to Mark, who has just retired from a career spent building and remodeling houses. (He has long called his visits to the masseur and chiropractor “tool maintenance.”) Thank you, Danielle, @petergalbert and @bluehillspress !
Photo of Bloomington’s City Hall by @aerisaema 
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#bowlcarving #highlyrecommended #womeninwoodworking #greenwoodworking
Our house is furnished with stuff that didn’t se Our house is furnished with stuff that didn’t sell. This decidedly over-the-top yet simple cabinet (behind Mark) was in a show at the state museum juried by @wendymaruyama whom I was thrilled to meet (briefly!) at the opening, several years ago. There’s a reason (other than basic bad taste — and I’m too tired to qualify or defend that) for the gaudy design, but it’s too much for this post.

This post is especially for @ashanahan5 who will appreciate the heart (dangerously good, David).
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#trustworthstudios #luckyme #furnituremaker
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