Greg Aanes Furniture
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  • Info Home
  • FURNITURE CATALOG
    • Beds
    • Barstools
    • Casework
    • Desks and Desk Chairs
    • Dining Tables
    • Smaller and Occasional Tables
    • Seating
    • Serving Tables
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • About Us
    • Faces
  • Contact
  • Particulars
    • Hardwoods
    • Working Together
    • Seat Coverings
    • Seat Covering Size, Orientation and Considerations
    • Drawings
    • Shipping
    • Utility

Desk Chair base options

4/17/2019

2 Comments

 
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Pacific Desk Chair with former nylon base


​Currently in the design prototype fabrication stage is a finished metal base by Brian Gilman. Its like planting unknown flower seeds. I don't know what he will come up with but I know it'll be good. Stay tuned.
The old nylon bases have evolved. We now offer two new choices, soon to be three.
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Plain Steel Base
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Wood Clad Base
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First Look at our Thin Edge Bed and homage to George Nelson (1908-1986)

4/17/2019

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Nelson bed made by Greg Aanes Furniture
​Our Lizzie Bed owes its heritage to George Nelson also. At this point I see yet another design on the horizon based on this theme.
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Lizzie bed by Greg Aanes Furniture
It was 1954 when George Nelson created his Thin Edge group of designs for Herman Miller Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dirk DePree, the Chairman of Herman Miller, had selected Nelson to be the company's Director of Design despite Nelson having no experience designing furniture.  DePree was more interested in Nelson’s insight into the best way to make furniture innovative and useful. Nelson was offered a contract that allowed him the freedom to work outside of Herman Miller, and to use designs from other architects that Nelson had worked with. His Thin Edge Group is still sold today by Herman Miller. It is also being made by nummerous offshore manufacturers and sold through Design Within Reach and Hive and takeoffs of this design may be found at West Elm and HedgeHouse. I have observed a few things regarding these takeoffs and the mass manufactured versions. The price seems nice, but once all the boxes arrive on your doorstep and you are assembling the bed the construction might seem minimalist. In other words lots of lightweight fasteners between the pieces allow for loosening and movement.  They are a good value given what you pay, but bed joints not immutably fastened only become more and more loose. And with the weight of a few people the stress on the joints multiplies.

But back to the designer. In his time George Nelson seemed not only unconventional and tastefully noncommercial, but at times negative. "...the career of an architect who advocated the end of architecture, a furniture designer who imagined rooms without furniture, an urban designer who contemplated the hidden city, an industrial designer who questioned the future of the object and hated the obsession with products."


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Solid Wood- an adventure

2/15/2019

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Wood has some odd behavior. Once a tree is cut down it is not alive, and neither does it need to breathe, yet it does have seasonal shrinkage in certain directions but not others. No shrinkage in the "0" direction (see the top right photo). Maybe a little, .01%, if you want to be exact, but not enough to matter in use. Across the grain in the "1" direction it shrinks almost 10%! And what really makes it difficult is wood shrinks only 4% in the radial "2" direction. These percentages apply to thoroughly dried wood to 6% moisture content. These are just the seasonal movement percentages for dry wood! 

Thats why it warps, splits and changes shape as it dries requiring special techniques to build with (as shown in the middle right diagram). That is where plywood has changed the world. The wood plies alternate in direction, and as long as the plies are 1/8" or less in thickness they lock each other down into a stable non-moving sheet of plywood. The diagram at the lower right is courtesy of​www.lozidesigns.com, specialists in making cool plywood designs.

Why use solid wood if its so tricky to use and costs more as a material? Some of that increased cost is not knowing what you are getting into until you cut it open!

​See my next blog post for differences in building furniture with solid wood versus plywood.
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Bed needs name

9/23/2017

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Patrick wanted a new and special bed and was patient while I conjured up a few uninspired ideas. He knew that he would know when he saw the right design and had good clear comments on various features (so crucial). It tickles me when we all know something is "right" when hit upon, and from the moment I started drawing the top arch I could feel the excitement in my veins.
The side tables are my Akura design. The entire set is finished with our 2k polyurethane (shellac as a sealer coat to bring out the grain and color). As usual it has a center support and leg.

It is definitely an addition to my stable of beds, but what to call it? I already have an Akura bed. Hopefully the present Akura bed wouldn't be offended if I stole its name and demoted it to something new. When I signed up to make furniture I didn't know I would have to name each design too...

​Comments are more than appreciated.
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Live Edge Table

11/28/2016

1 Comment

 
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While we make dimensioned furniture, we occasionally help put together a "live edge " project. In this instance the customer brought a slab of Northwest yew wood which needed a base and the top flattened.
Like all slabs, this one had a significant had a twist to it we had to rout a flat landing in the base.
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1 Comment

Banquet room tables

9/27/2016

1 Comment

 
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Because the tables will be moved frequently we made the tops with a honeycomb core for strength and lightweight 38 lbs. The tops unlatch from the folding bases and may be hung on the wall for storage. 
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1 Comment

How much table is enough?

8/8/2016

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This large Walnut Dining table is 52" wide by 103" long. It seats eight comfortably as you can see (count the chairs). The top shape was generated by the owners right before we started on what was to be a standard Boat top shape. They wanted something which fit the sense of the house they had just completed. The top is 1-1/4" thick, a standard 1" top appears skimpy on a table this size.
Note the Fleur arms which allow the arm chairs to be pushed in farther than our standard arms.
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How much room is needed per person?
24" of width is best. A place setting is 20" wide, but the person needs more room than that. Typically chairs are 18-21" wide, but the person needs more than that. 
​From the front edge of the chair allow at least 14" for legs and knees when a person is sitting at the table.
So three on a side is 24" times 3 which equals 72", plus 14" on each end for a total of 100"!
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    Written by Greg.

    Founder and Owner of Greg Aanes Furniture

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Showroom-Office
​2109 Queen Street
Bellingham, Washington 98229
1+360.389.2714 US
​1+604.670.0502 Canada


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​The Shop
​2115 Queen Street
Bellingham, Washington 98229
1+360.389.2714



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