the short

Over summer break a few years ago, my mother was remodeling our living room and was in search of a set of twin cabinets. Due to very specific wishes about the style and dimensions of the cabinets, I decided to design them myself and then export the building to a local contractor. This design process, though fairly short, was a great exercise in designing for a client (even if it was just my mother).

research + design

I began the process by researching a number of different cabinet designs - most were rather modern and featured a large number of drawers. As my mother wanted to display these cabinets on either side of a room, it was important to keep them similar while also customizing them each for their specific uses. The right cabinet would have to have an open surface for TV controls as well as a width that would support the base of the TV screen. We also wanted to have a large storage space for various kitchen appliances that were too large for other containers, which limited our layout options and prompted me to choose an asymmetric design. Additionally, we wanted the cabinets to have a modern design with minimal detailing and medium height from the ground. Given these constraints, I decided to go with a design that kept drawer layout simplistic and eliminated any handles, opting instead for pressurized functionality. The asymmetric design features a side panel of three drawers as well as a main body of one large drawer and either a drawer or open space within the smaller top area (open for the TV right drawer, closed for the left).

modeling

In order to give the carpenters a 3D representation to work off of, I created a model of the two cabinets using Sketchup. As I modeled the cabinets, I ended up reworking a few different details such as the border width and the length and spacing of the legs. Once I had finished to my liking, I ran it by my mother, made small changes, and then added measurements for ease. These models ended up acting as the base design for the built cabinets, and it was very exciting to be able to use furniture that I designed!