one of the often overlooked rules of architecture is to "alchoices site your house so that the sun shines into the shower on the winter solstice".  like stonehenge, this lets you know exactly when the days will be getting longer.  this rule was even overlooked, as far as i know, by famous architectural idea organizers like christopher alexander.   in his famous book, a pattern language  which is one of my favorites, he describes a set of "design patterns" that can be used to solve complex problems.  the wikipedia link above describes the book, and you might want to check it out if youre about to design a new place to live or work or are just interested in organizing your design thoughts.  its a good one.
for our house, the rediscovery of this important rule was a happy accident of house positioning that i have enjoyed every morning the sun comes out around the time of the winter solstice.  i was lucky today.  the world did not end, the sun shone at least briefly while i was showering, and the days will soon be getting longer.

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a custom walnut sideboard

well, were coming down the home stretch on this one ... its walnut, and sam is nearly finished welding and polishing the steel base ...click the photos to enlarge them ..

 all done   1/15 ... off to long island

 heres the story ..

we started with the clients very detailed drawing with measurements that she kindly sent to start the dialog ... most folks are not this organized.

after putting it into my cad program, we made a few changes to get things under budgetary control and ended up with the elevation below.  the piece will have a stone top and a steel base,

here it is, early on,with the box defined, the runners in and the face frame on.

here, the drawers and doors are fitted up ... the client did not like our choice of crotch walnut veneer and so, will made a new pair of doors with calmer grain ... no problem.  thats why we send photos ...

its in the finish process now.  the base is complete, and well put it all together next week.

there will be a wine rack in the center drawer, and room for other bar bottles stored vertically in a pull out drawer behind the center doors.

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