This Shaker-inspired chest of drawers is as old-school as your great grandma. You won't find any fancy hardware on it -- no plastic drawer gliders, no glitzy metal store-bought pulls. Instead, you get simple materials, careful one-at-a-time hand-built construction, dove-tailed joints on the case and drawers, and a gloss-free stain finish. Who needs more?
Like many of our items, this chest was designed by master woodworker Norm Abram, for his PBS-syndicated TV show, The New Yankee Workshop. The piece was inspired by a visit Norm made to the Hancock Shaker Village, in Massachussetts. While meant to evoke Shaker design esthetics, the chest does use modern materials, including plywood, screws, and adhesives. It is made using modern methods and tools.
The chest of drawers is a little bit larger than it might look in the photos, and almost too heavy for one person to move around easily, unless you take the drawers out.
The Shakers were a band of Quakers renowned for beautiful, yet very simple and durable furniture. The Shakers rejected sexual relations, and today are nearly extinct -- while much of their furniture endures.
Dimensions: 39 1/2 x 18 5/8 x 42
Materials: C or D select pine plywood
Finish: Stained
Select pine is one step down from clear pine, and one step up from #2 pine. It may have a few small knots, but they are tight, and unlikely to fall out. C and D refer to the grading of plywood finishing -- which becomes kind of moot when you finish the exterior sides yourself.