Able + Baker

What an incredible year this has been. We have been b-u-s-y to say the least.  We have had the opportunity to be a part of some very cool projects this past year, and though we have a lot to say about so many things, we’ll cut to the chase and share some photos. 

Also, you may remember those cute little newborn babies we posted about last year (scroll a few posts down) -- well they are now 16 months old, running all around, and adding so much joy to our lives.

Here are a few highlights from this past year.  We’ll follow up with individual posts and info about each project soon. 

Thanks for continuing to check in on our blog!

Once again we're proud to be featured in a major print publication - The May Market Tabloid Issue of INTERIOR DESIGN Magazine.  I have to admit, if there's any magazine I'd like to see my name and furniture in, this is it (although my honorable mention in People Magazine's "50 Most Average People" was a close second).

We also built this really cool custom revolving Whiskey bar for a really cool client.   It features several handmade brass elements, as well as my Signature Vintage Globe feature.

Take a close look at the image below.  The side of the solid walnut cabinet has a laser etched tree branch hanging down.  Subtle and tasteful. The turntables that allow the the three units to spin have detentes that allow the cabinets to uniformly stopped at various fixed positions.

There is a certain brand, era and style of globe that I have begun collecting for these projects.  This one is one of the Coolest!  See the three black lines that wrap around the globe?  Made in 1962, this globe tracks the historic Mercury earth orbit of John Glenn on February 20th of that year!  

Final photos to follow after the marble top gets installed.

Hey dog owners.  I bet you didn't know you needed this.  It's a custom made bed extension for man's best friend.  We built it in 3 easy to assemble sections using Conformat connectors (like IKEA). 

We stained it to match the clients bedroom furniture suite.  Here it is in place.  Dogs not included.

I keep meaning to post more images of the stuff we build, so here's a clean and simple workstation.

Even though this is pretty straightforward, it has several fun features, such as a custom Printer pull-out with paper storage (not shown), and these fresh drawers lined with green Formica.

Oh man...what a year so far!  Big changes at ABLE & BAKER.  We have some of the coolest projects EVER in progress, but I don't want to give anything up yet.  As always, I've been so busy that I don't feel like I have time to talk about this stuff.  But I might as well highlight a few things.

Check out these custom Aluminum and Resysta benches we built for the Roxbury Park Community center in Beverly Hills.

Resysta is a crazy product that comes out of Munich.  Made from Rice husks!  What?!

This Resysta material is neat stuff, but truth be told, to get results like this it takes some serious skills and a lot of elbow grease.  This stuff is murder on saw blades, but the finished product turned out great (as always!).

I never posted pics of this Woodland Hills addition and remodel we did.  I like to take photos when everything is completely finished, but some times there are parts that get postponed for one reason or another, and I never take the time to get the website worthy photos.  This job included adding about a 500 square foot Master Suite onto the existing home, as well as some pretty extensive work to the existing space, including a much larger new kitchen.  Some how, the only photos I came away with were in the new bathroom.  Here's a custom vanity and countertop that we built in our Ventura shop.

One of the nicest projects we recently wrapped up was a collaboration between myself and my wife Jen.  We really put a lot into it, but like most things we do at Able & Baker, the results were perfect.  This is a two component piece we're calling "Jonah & Henry".  We debuted them on April 30th, 2014 at the Kaiser Permanente Gallery in Woodland Hills.  Today was the end of a one-month test run, and everything is still going great.  Unfortunately, both "Jonah" & "Henry" are a one-off production piece, so we will not be taking any future orders on either model. 

We had the opportunity to design and build several pieces of custom cabinetry for a client. Several years ago, we built some pretty cool cabinets for their large laundry room. 

Upstairs in the pool room we built this cabinet with four wine coolers, and these nifty integrated pulls.

Our favorite piece is the entry cabinet - A large white oak cabinet with black stain.  The client wanted a space at the bottom of the cabinet for shoes.  Because the space was wide, but not too tall, the only doors that made sense were sliding bi-pass doors.  Most bi-pass doors are clunky, with one door mounted on a track in front of the other.  We found the only hardware made that keeps both doors flush when closed.  Check out this super-awesome Italian bi-pass hardware in action!

A lot of love (and a lot of work!) goes in to making our Modern Library Storage Bins.  Hope you enjoy this little video...!

We often receive comments from people who are surprised at the high quality of the Bin itself.  We take the time to build these Bins to a furniture level quality, just as we would build a drawer box for custom cabinetry.  Once assembled, Bins are sanded, and sanded, and sanded some more, until they're nice and smooth and ready for an eco-friendly clear Finish.  A few coats of Finish are applied, and then the fun really begins... adding an artful selection of book spines. 

We build our Library Bins in limited runs, so to all who've written to us lately, our next run of Bins will be released in late Spring. We'll be sure to announce on our blog and Facebook page as they become available.  Our most recent run of Library Bins has nearly sold out, but there are a few really fun themed Bins still available  (Sports, Classic Hollywood, and Astronomy...)

Complete Bath Remodel in Mid-Century Home, Southern California.  We had the opportunity to work with some fantastic clients on this remodel -- they knew exactly what they wanted and as soon as they said the words "orange, white, and Birch" we were all ears!

We took the existing bathroom down to studs, removing everything including flooring and a small window above the vanity.  The beautiful window pictured was added to allow for increased natural light and air flow.

The cabinetry and mirror were fabricated in our woodshop, from White Birch with exposed Euro Ply edge detail and a No-VOC eco friendly finish.   The door and drawer faces feature unique built-in finger pulls, a fun addition to the project.

All Cabinetry including doors, fabricated by Able + Baker; Custom Maple Ply mirror, fabricated by Able + Baker; Floor and Bath Tile, Heath Ceramics; Countertop, Caesarstone.

We just finished building this custom Walnut table for a client's entryway. We spent several months fine tuning the design, experimenting with various leg details, drawer faces, angles, etc., and are really happy with the final design.

Forming a design on paper is one thing, but you really get to know something when you get in the woodshop and start building.  This table was pretty complicated and time intensive to build (who designed this thing?  Oh yea, I did.) because it's full of curves. These pictures don't really illustrate just how many curves there are, but trust me on this, there aren't a lot of right angles on this thing.

I'll be posting photos of the finished table soon, and will share more about the process then.

Last year we designed + built a Danish Modern inspired wall unit and mantel for this same client.  We're so thankful to have had the opportunity to design and build two significant pieces for their home, and hope our work will be enjoyed for years to come.

A few months ago we spent an amazing afternoon at the Santa Paula airport photographing The Tarmac Ladder.  There's something about spending a day at a small airport watching the planes take off and land that leaves us feeling so inspired.  This airport is particularly cool because it really has a down home feel and it's set against a beautiful mountain backdrop.  Did I mention that Steve McQueen had a hanger there?  I told you this place was cool.

I'm building these ladders in an Edition of 5.  This one is built from 13-ply Maple with Bittersweet Orange and vintage fiberglass veneer and is available now for purchase.  If you're interested in a Tarmac Ladder built from a different color and wood selection, please contact us...!

Don't forget to check out the Tarmac Ladder video here:  http://ableandbakerdesign.myshopify.com/pages/the-tarmac-ladder

Above, I've included a few early renderings of the ladder so you can get a sense of the design progression.  One thing that stayed true (and one of my favorite aspects of the ladder) can be seen on the rendering on the right -- it really illustrates the graduating arc detail of the stair treads -- a cool view awaits when you climb to the top!

I can't believe all of the things we've built lately.  Kitchens, baths, desks, tables, additions...Too many things to name, which is why I never have time to blog anymore.  Anyhow, Tyson at RNT Architects here in Ventura had us help them out with a couple of things this past Summer (it's past Summer, right?).  Among the projects, we did the woodwork on their new conference table, and donated this little pamphlet box to the new Ventura Downtown Trolley. 

It's a small box, but unique because it's built from recycled Oak floors that we tore out of one of our other projects.  We clean up and mill the Oak, then glue it into sheets that we can cut panels from.  Of course it's finished in our standard, durable No-VOC polywhey (Milk Protein!) finish.

This was a pretty exciting day.  We had finished the Maple + Red Tarmac Ladder and were getting ready to drive up to San Francisco and deliver the ladder to a client. This project was a long time in the making so it was really gratifying to see it come to fruition.  This was the first ladder in the Edition of 5, and the color scheme was designed to coordinate with our client's loft. 

Lola's, Hollywood

Many years ago, in my first foray into Southern California, my friend Craig Hames invited me to work with him on a restaurant project.  Years later, Lola's is still going strong, and when you drop in for dinner or drinks, you'll see why. 

I never took photos when the restaurant first opened, but recently we were in the area during the day, and dropped by to snap a couple of pics.

The Martini's are the best, but so is the Mac N Cheese.