Our CNC router (computerized numerically controlled) cuts the plywood in an effortless pass, leaving very smooth edges that require less sanding than the usual. I chose the Techno CNC because they are made in the USA and the company is based just outside the city.

It is incredibly precise and fast when you compare it with traditional methods, particularly when cutting curved or intricate shapes.

The router table is designed for sheets of material measuring 48″ x 96″. It cuts plywood, MDF and acrylic. It’s automatic tool changer will grab the indicated router bit from the tool holders which sit along the side of the table.

A powerful pump creates a vacuum under the table surface. This negative pressure, evenly distributed along the table, sucks down flat and tight the pieces of plywood against it.

The computerized router increases productivity and precision providing a clean and perfectly consistent cut.

In storage deprived New York apartments there are never enough drawers or shelves. At three feet from the ground, this bed has the equivalent of a dresser, a bookcase and a small closet under it.

Oscar checks out his drawers and the steps going up

The leather handles provide a warm, rustic touch.

The end of the bed has open bookshelves.

The bed is made of bamboo and MDF

The elevated platform beds can come apart and be lowered closer to the ground. The middle components can be used separately extending the useful life of this bed. Made to order in Brooklyn.

I have a storefront window in Vinegar Hill. It’s a window without a store: it advertises my web site. In the window I place small chairs and desks or scaled models of loft beds and other furniture that I make. In the walls I hang sketches.

I keep the lights on at night. It makes the window seem less lonely as passers by stop for a peak.

There is something about the size and colors of small children’s furniture that fits well for a window display. Particularly the scaled models.

This window is an opportunity to show some of my designs and add some light and color to the street. It has brought some new clients too.

I recently completed a project that involved splitting a room for two sisters who both needed a space to claim as their own.

I created a two sided cabinet that divides the room in two halves. The room has two windows, one on each side so both areas have natural light.

The floor plan and the initial sketches

The partition is 7 feet high and has drawers on one side and bookshelves on both. Each girl has also her own mirror.

The cabinets are secured to the wall but they are easily removable and the components can be used independently and in a different configuration.

In this recently completed video I talk about my work and designing for children. Documentary filmmakers Bret Sigler and Liam Dalzell capture some typical moments at the shop, from the initial sketching to the fabrication process. The final part of the video shows a very nice custom room I did in New York City last Spring.

Preserving wood’s natural character and a little history too. In a Meat Packing District loft I built and installed a floor to ceiling cabinet wrapped in reclaimed lumber. The upper shelves were supported by bolted steel angles. The old lumber belonged to the walls of a dismantled farm house in upstate New York.

The boards were carefully selected for structural integrity, color and texture. One by one we cleaned, hand brushed and applied a clear, dull protective coat for durability to each board.  No stain or additional coloring was used in the process.

The overall roughness was smoothed over so as to make the cabinet more pleasant to the touch. Some imperfections were kept and some others were corrected in the interest of preserving the character of the piece but without being a “purist”.

Using reclaimed wood appeals to me for at least three reasons: the beauty of the patina, that only the exposure to the elements can create, preserving a bit of history, by bringing to the present something clearly made in the past and most importantly, the environmental benefits of giving a second life to these battered wood planks that otherwise would have gone to waste.

When that special visitor is in town. A twin bunk bed over a full sized bed has several benefits when compared with a regular, twin-over-twin bunk bed. You can lie down and read a book with your child or you can pull out the trundle below it for your son or daughter and let your mother-in-law sleep in the larger, more comfortable full bed.

But most days your child will enjoy a larger bed that becomes the focal point of the room as it also functions as a daybed. A large bed is more conducive to sharing moments with parents or siblings and read or watch a movie together. The trundle bed also gives children more flexibility for sleep overs.

The stairs can also be used as storage space when drawers are added to them. But more importantly they are well designed steps that are very safe and very easy to climb up and down. The round port holes are strategically placed so that kids can use them as hand rails.

In this similar design, all in natural birch, the bookshelves flank the stairs on the left end of the bed. The custom bookshelves have round poles that also act as handrails. The steps have drawers that are 22 inches deep. The whole bed is 9 feet long by 5 feet and 8 inches.

These types of beds take up more space and are more expensive than regular bunk beds but they offer added features that solve spatial challenges with a pleasing design. For best use of this unit I recommend a minimum room size of 120 square feet. For more information or to obtain a quote please email me at rg@casakids.com

Twin girls get twin desks. In a Greenwich Village home I designed and constructed two identical desks for 5 year old twin sisters. Their bedroom doors face each other and are connected by a hallway. The girls can see each other from their desks but still have the privacy of their own rooms. Twins are said to enjoy a special connection so maintaining this symmetry was a quality I aimed to preserve.

The desk top includes three long pencil drawers. In addition, three magnetic boards are attached to the back wall of each desk, just above the counter top

The desks are made with birch plywood and assembled with screws that are visible on the sides of the bookshelves. This project is designed like a Meccano toy or an Erector Set, whereby the assembly is executed by screwing together already-finished components. No glue was used in this project, all the joinery is mechanical.

We’ve also created taller shelves for books and shorter shelves which are perfect for collections of small objects. Hanging the desk from the wall is a way of streamlining the cabinet’s profile and creating both a smaller footprint and a lighter feel.

For smaller spaces and younger children, a compact version is available. This one has adjustable height.

In a bright loft apartment in DUMBO (Brooklyn) I built two cabinets in a combination of walnut veneer and white painted plywood. For the living room I designed a media cabinet that holds books, a flat TV screen and a variety of stereo components, including large speakers.

The cabinet, almost 9 feet tall and over 7 feet wide, frames a large flat TV screen, mounted on a removable back panel. Selecting the wood and choosing how to lay the veneers is part of the attractiveness of using walnut in this unit.

The upper doors have extension arms that hold them open at 90 degrees. The lower cabinets accommodate  the audio equipment in pull out trays. The speakers are hidden behind doors lined with speaker fabric. All the equipment can be connected and disconnected easily. Additionally we have created gaps and cut outs for the wires to efficiently run through the cabinet.

For the master bedroom I designed a large dresser, bookended on the right side by a tall, mirrored shoe and bag closet.  The most visible and appreciated portion of a cabinet is its face (doors, drawer fronts) so we make them in the nice, expensive wood. The cabinets (boxes behind the faces) are built in regular plywood painted white.

I recently converted a walk-in closet into a tiny bedroom for a soon to arrive baby girl. The small space had only one sliding door opening to her brother’s bedroom. We created a second sliding door, opening into the hallway right across from the Master bedroom (see floor plans) making it easy for the parents to watch their baby.

The custom crib was designed to fit tight in this space and is only two inches smaller than the standard crib size. Under the crib we fitted two large drawers. The crib easily converts into a toddler bed (not shown) that can carry the child until she is six or seven years old. On the other side of the room, in an existing niche, we created a built in dresser just about the right size for a changing tray and a hanging cabinet above.

BEFORE AND AFTER

The roughly 5′ x 6′ room opens up on two sides and further integrates with the adjacent spaces.

As you enter the boy’s room you see the side of the new Armoire which has shallow shelves for collections of small toys and picture frames. The Armoire has hanging bars behind the doors, adjustable shelves and large drawers below. The boy’s room already had a toddler bed and a dresser. We added a window seat with drawers and two bookshelves above.

Bruno patiently awaits the arrival of his baby sister.

This was a relatively inexpensive solution compared with the cost of moving to a larger apartment. With a customized solution like this one, a small storage space can become a beautiful and functional baby’s room.