Design Questions

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I am building, or rather planning, a complete office system. It will include 1 stand alone desk, 4 bookshelves with another built in desk. I am using red oak which will be ebonized black withe analine dye. The non-dyed parts will be fumed QSWO. I am trying to decide what parts will be left natural versus what will be dyed.

The stand alone desk is loosely based on the photo below. Instead of glass in the doors I will be using raised panels.

I am positive I want the desk top to be QSWO. I am pretty sure I want the raised panels to be QSWO. Do I want the rails and stiles to be QSWO? Should I make the base trim out of QSWO? Should I make the sides raised panels instead of the plain sheet good box they have used in the photo below? Should the raised panel be QSWO?

To be honest, yes I would love to make it all out of QSWO. Problem is that the wife has fell in love with a Cherry and ebonized red oak bookcase I made for a friend. She wants ebonized red oak. She has not argued me taking over the detached garage, venting dust outside, purchasing a shop full of tools, etc therefore I want to give her what she wants.

Help me with this design please . . .

[LarryG]

Hmmm.

Ebonized stiles and rails on the door will look best with the current translucent panels, IMO. If you want to ebonize the door frame, I'd use a plain flat panel in the doors ... the color change plus the RP will be too busy.

If you use a raised panel in the doors (without ebonizing the door frames), raised panels on the ends will be okay.

If you ebonize the base, AND the door frames, you're going to have an overly-heavy look at the bottom rails of the doors.

If you do decide to ebonize the door frames, also ebonize the top surround, to visually tie the two together.

(These are my off-the-cuff thoughts; they are not necessarily coherent.)

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Oh, I do need to add that whatever I do with the desk will apply to all the other furniture. The bookcases will have doors on the bottom and will be identical to the doors of the desk.

[Stytooner]

Sounds like it may be time for you to try out Sketchup. It is nice for helping you visualize what the final product might look like. Its easy to change too.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Sounds like it may be time for you to try out Sketchup. It is nice for helping you visualize what the final product might look like. Its easy to change too.

I knew that was coming!

[drumpriest]

I did a 3D model of my desk when I designed it, and it was invaluable in determining what materials I wanted. And color comparisons for finish treatments.

I don't use sketch-up, and don't know it's rendering facilities, but by grabbing some texture maps of the materials you like, you can quickly create a set of images to compare.

BTW, my choice was to have the door frame and drawer fronts, as well as edge band trim to be a seperate material from the desk carcass.

here was the result

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=18697

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I did a 3D model of my desk when I designed it, and it was invaluable in determining what materials I wanted. And color comparisons for finish treatments.

I don't use sketch-up, and don't know it's rendering facilities, but by grabbing some texture maps of the materials you like, you can quickly create a set of images to compare.

BTW, my choice was to have the door frame and drawer fronts, as well as edge band trim to be a seperate material from the desk carcass.

here was the result

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=18697

I remember that one. Very nice. Man, if I could talk her out of this ebony thing that would be awesome.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Sounds like it may be time for you to try out Sketchup. It is nice for helping you visualize what the final product might look like. Its easy to change too.

Ok, been there done that. I am glad other folks get a lot out of it but it just didn't do it for me. I acknowledge that I am not a creative or artistic person. I spent an hour with it. Imported some work from the Sketch Warehouse, made some changes, etc and I have a picture of desk. I don't know what I am missing but I am in fact glad that you folks are happy with it.

[Stytooner]

Actually, I wasn't meaning that you fully learn how to use it. I started trying it out for shop design. Never actually finished it. It did seem pretty easy for the basic shapes and things that would make up desk furniture. I chose to learn Cad instead, as it seemed a more useful tool for my needs.
I was suggesting that you just do the basic shapes and then add and remove colors and textures to see what contrasts and colors would look like.
You can also do it fairly easy in any graphics program. I don't imagine it would take more than an hour for anyone to do this in just about any suitable program. It really can be a very useful tool.

Pencil and paper is another way to do it but changing colors and textures aren't as easy.
To me, graphics are a key element in any design to help visualize and tweak a project. I have had to change finishes often enough that I understand the value of test samples and simple graphic representations. It really helps to get two or more people on the same page about a particular design.

You could even use the photo you posted and do some photo shopping on it. Just take this for what its worth.
You asked for help and those were the best suggestions that I have to give.

[ejs1097]

Ah, the 2 part Workbench home office suite. I looked at those plans for quite a while. Lots of tough questions. It's always better the get the best gauge now and wish it was a little tweaked after the final product is assembled.

Should I make the sides raised panels instead of the plain sheet good box they have used in the photo below? This might be a little busy looking if you do 2 tone doors. If the door's rails, stiles, and panel were all the same I think it'd look nice. Wrapping the 2 tone look with panel on the side might look alright with a contempory flat panel and simple stile/rails (much like the picture). A more traditional raised panel with routed stile/rails much be a bit much. Alot of it comes to personal preference.

Whose going to be using the desk and office more? You or your wife? A 3D model may help but sounds like you are as good as me with those.

Do you already have the material? When I'm experimenting with new finish recipes I like to make a story board to pick a combination. If you have the material you could mock up a door, sides and trim with a small sample of the ebonized and QSWO to see how they look together to help visuallize the desk completed. This might also gauge when mix/matching the 2 becomes too much or not enough.

Good luck, I'm sure it'll turn out great as all your work does.

[siliconbauhaus]

Jeff

If it's of any help I can render different versions of it for you and you and your missus can choose ( its what I do for a living )

Send me the dimensions of the desk and I'll knock something out for you.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

You asked for help and those were the best suggestions that I have to give.

Oh, absolutely and I appreciate your help. Please don't take my post the wrong way! I was merely stating that when I was working with desk in Sketchup it didn't really help me personally visualize the finished product, even though I was seeing a reasonable depiction of it on the screen. Says much more about me than the program!

[Stytooner]

No problem, Jeffrey.
I did have to scratch my head more than a couple times when I was playing with sketchup. From what I saw, it doesn't have as realistic of a rendering engine as a good Cad program, but I was thinking it was good enough to get a visual aid as to shapes and contrasts.
Pencil and paper does work and I find that I use that method pretty often as well.
Good luck with it and I hope to see some finished pictures.