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Second of Showrooms
Classic Fine Furniture by
T. Frank Parlier
This second of my showrooms (Carolyn's) contains selected pieces of fine furniture that Frank has built over the past thirty years. For the most part, only the feet are turned. A few pieces do not have any turned parts.
Solid Walnut
Queen Anne Handkerchief Table
Frank's Masterpiece
This is a solid Walnut Queen Anne Handkerchief Table built by Frank in 1986. To me, not only is it the most beautiful table in my showrooms, it is the most beautiful table that Frank has ever built. The Queen Anne legs are cut from solid pieces of wood and hand carved. Queen Anne legs are an elegant form of cabriole legs; therefore, only a portion of the feet are turned. The table itself is quite unique. It can be used as shown, it can be placed in a corner, or it can be used as a square table by raising the drop leaf and opening the gate leg. No matter how it is presented, it is stunning.
This is a three-cornered masterpiece
described by Eugene Landon in
"Fine Woodworking" May/June 1985, No. 52.
Solid Oak
Queen Anne Side Table
This Queen Anne Side Table is one of those woodworking projects that many woodworkers put off because, while it does not necessarily require a master craftsman to build it, it does require a high level of skill. Frank built two of these out of Oak so that we would have matching tables at each end of the couch.
Walnut Writing Table
This is a solid Walnut Writing Table that Frank designed and built in July 2008. It was a birthday gift for the oldest son who was remodeling his house. On this project, Cody learned to cut the cabriole legs from a solid piece of wood, to hand carve the convex and concave portions, and to turn what had to be turned on the feet.
Cherry Music Chest
This is a solid Cherry Music Chest that Frank designed and built for me in the early 1990's. I began playing the piano about fifty years ago, and I have accumulated quite a lot of music. Instead of having stacks of music on the floor, I store much of it in the segmented drawers. This beautiful piece of showroom furniture has cabriole legs - very delicate above the feet.
Solid Cherry Cedar Chest
Frank built this solid Cherry Cedar Chest in 1984 to fit at the foot of a king-sized bed. You can see the bedspread reflected in the finish. All of Frank's hand-finished fine furniture has this deep reflective characteristic. He always removes any glassy shine from the furniture in the last stages of his finishing process.
The design Frank used was from a
Blanket Chest - A Country Classic in
"Woodsmith" Mar/Apr 1984 Number 32.
Solid Walnut Executive Desk: Two Views
Frank built this Solid Walnut Executive Desk for me in 1999. (The only way to remove it from my office is to know how to take it apart.) I needed a desk and, lucky for me, I knew just the fellow to approach about it.
Solid Cherry Coffee Table
Frank was commissioned by
Mr. Juergen Brockmann in 1999 to build the Cherry Coffee Table in the above picture. The top of the Coffee Table measures 3 1/2" x 42" x 60" and the each turned leg is 5 1/2" dia. Frank was also commissioned to build the
Cherry Sofa Table and the two Cherry End Tables seen in the picture below. They were for Mr. Brockmann's home in NC.
Solid Cherry Sofa Table and End Tables
Solid Walnut Reproduction
18th Century Secretaire-Bookcase: Two Views
The last picture in this showroom is of an 18th-century Reproduction Walnut Secretaire-Bookcase Frank built in 1998.
He used the text and drawings
by Victor J. Taylor "Fine Woodworking"
January/February 1983, #38.
According to Mr. Taylor, "It's not often that you come across a piece of English antique furniture that can be dated precisely, but glued to one of the drawer linings of this handsome secretaire-bookcase is the following receipt: B. Milward [the purchaser]. Jan 25. 1787. Bought of Mr. Evans, Broadmead, Bristol. Price 15.15 [pounds].'"
This secretaire has a fall-front drawer that, when pulled out, allows the writer to have knee room. When the fall-front is closed, it looks like it is just the front of a large drawer.
Frank did not make this secretaire-bookcase exactly like the one pictured and described in the "Fine Woodworking" magazine. As with most of the furniture he builds, he has his own preferences. It does, however, consist of the five parts - the plinth, the cupboard portion which he converted to drawers only, the secretaire, the bookcase, and the cornice (simplified).
It also has two secret compartments as did the original built in the 18th century.
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