Entry Hall Mirror

What a great time of year! This red maple, in our backyard, was bursting with color just two weeks ago when this picture was taken. Now the leaves have been shed and winter seems just around the corner.

As the season turns, I'm returning to an entry hall mirror that I started a while back.

The yellow birch wood I found for this project has a great story. It was logged some 150 years ago. Unfortunately for the loggers, this one sank to the bottom of Lake Superior or some other North American body of water. It rested there until the good folks at Timeless Timber in Bayfield, Wisconsin had the inkling to mine logs like this one and sell them for a variety of uses, from commercial flooring to furniture projects like mine. I appreciate being able to access these amazing woods without further logging of old growth timber. The wood produced by large trees in mature forests is very special, and it's truly an honor to be able to work with it. In counting the annual growth rings, I figure this tree was already well established sometime around 1550 A.D.

The design for the mirror is a simple one that takes advantage of the straight grain and calm tones found in the wood. It will be made mostly from yellow birch, with the drawers, etc. made from other complementary woods. The mirror frame is set on top of a shelf and is flanked by two small cabinets, each containing key hooks and a small drawer. The overall height will be just under 30 inches. This is a computerized rendering of a model I made using SketchUp software; a useful way to quickly mock-up an idea and play around with the possibilities before cutting too deeply into the wood.

Hej då!

Craig