Mid Century Modern Nightstand Final Report Part 1 – Design

My final project for the class is a Mid Century Modern Nightstand, the driving reason this is the artifact I wanted to create is because I currently lack a nightstand and have been using my windowsill as one, and a 3″ strip of windowsill doesn’t quite provide the same amount of room for books, a drink, and a lamp as a nice sized nightstand. I opted to make this piece as opposed to buying it mostly because I find that creating is one of the most rewarding feelings one can experience, and while I have invested a comparable amount of capital into the materials as I would spend on buying a nightstand, and many more hours of opportunity cost; the experience, skills, and enjoyment I have experienced was well worth it in my opinion.

When thinking about this project back in March I new I wanted to do a simple yet elegant design, and the mid century modern aesthetic would achieve this for me. This aesthetic is characterized by simplicity, and streamlined and functional designs, it can be applied to entire spaces, buildings or individual pieces. I really like the feel mid century modern furniture adds to a space, clean and elegant lines with attractive features that do not pull too much attention in a room.  Once I had done some research on existing products I began my sketching process, I was toying between having a drawer/ cabinet on the top vs bottom of the nightstand and at this stage in the design process was not sure. In Figure 1 you can see my very first initial sketches.

When researching existing designs I came across hundreds of nightstands in this aesthetic, it took quite a lot of scrolling to find examples I really liked and I did not find a design I loved every aspect of so I found bits and pieces of different designs and then created my own hodgepodge piece. Below is an example from Walker Edison that I really liked the form of the ‘top box’ of the nightstand with the internal chamfer and mitered corners, and below that is an example from Albert Parvin that I drew inspiration for the blockier tapered legs of my design. One core aspect I of course needed was a dynamic element, which I went for the choice of a drawer, I could’ve made a 2 drawer design, but I liked the look of a singular drawer and a shelf below for odds and ends. For my first project I made it completely out of cherry hardwood, and I had a very nice time working with the material, it is relatively forgiving, and ends up with a beautiful look after sanding to a fine grit and with an oil based finish. So from that prior experience, and to match my earlier piece, I knew I wanted to make this project neigh entirely out of solid cherry. Every piece on this nightstand is indeed solid cherry bar the bottom of the drawer, which is baltic birch plywood, and the back of the top box, which is an MDF core veneered with cherry.

After I found the above examples I had envisioned a design in my head and on paper, and I began making a CAD model of my design. For me CAD is pretty pivotal in the design process, even when it is not “needed” for posterity etc. it helps me visualize what the end product will look like much easier than pure pencil sketches, especially when I can assign colors and materials to different aspects of the design. Keep in mind that the design I show here is not exactly what I have ended up creating due to a few design simplifications I made during the fabrication process to ensure I completed the artifact in time.  Shown below is the CAD I used to start the project and followed along with most of the way. The two design changes I made during the build process were to simplify the drawer front, which saved me lots of time, and was helpful as I didn’t have a plan on where to actually mount a drawer pull. And secondly there was originally a panel separating the top and bottom halves of the inside of the box, where the drawer is, and where the cubby is, in the end I omitted this feature as all it really did was take up space and since the drawer is mounted on slides and not wooden runners it was purely aesthetic.  In the final post I will try to make sure I have updated my CAD to portray the changes I have made along the way.

Shown below is the exploded view of that same original design, my favorite parts of the design are the legs and the use of miter joints on the top box, I think the internal angles really draw the viewer’s eyes into the piece in a really unique way and the legs are intricate yet also subtle.

Figures 6-10 shows the artifact in its completion, fully finished with two coats of Danish Oil. The drawer is mounted on BLUM Tandem Undermount soft close drawer slides and features an entirely custom drawer box, drawer front, and drawer pull. The legs are the original castle joint with cross lap brace design I wanted, and are a removable piece from the nightstand box to allow for deconstruction if shipping or moving the nightstand. The top box is how I originally imagined it with the caveat of the removal of the drawer and cubby separator panel, and the MDF panel in the back as opposed to a solid cherry panel, to ensure humidity stability. The last part of the project is to let it sit in the sun for a while, the fun thing about cherry is that as it is exposed to UV light the wood reacts and darkens, some dislike this feature but I find it incredible and it adds another dynamic evolution to the piece. So I plan to place the piece outside in the sun for a couple days, making sure to bring it in at night, rotate it, and keep a close eye on the weather; hopefully this will darken the piece even further and create a wonderful tone in the wood.

Personally I believe I have achieved what I desired, it didn’t turn out exactly how I designed it a month ago, but I am more than happy with the result I have and am super proud of all of the many hours, sweat, and a little bit of blood I have put into this project. I am also so excited to see how it really is meant to look once I let it sun tan a bit, I think it will be a truly beautiful piece that I will treasure for years to come, and likely own until I die, hopefully passing it on to a relative.

References:

Figure 2: https://walkeredison.com/products/mid-century-solid-wood-nightstand-collection-1-or-2-drawer?bvstate=pg:3/ct:r

Figure 3: https://midcenturywarehouse.com/albert-parvin-for-american-of-martinsville-mid-century-walnut-and-brass-nightstands-pair