Mahogany Credenza by John Keal for Brown Saltman

I've had the pleasure of working on a number of pieces by John Keal and always enjoy the opportunity to experience more.  All of Keal's pieces exhibit the designer's attention to detail with every aspect from aesthetics, to functionality, to material quality obviously having been considered.  He always seemed to incorporate some little "trick" feature that showed creativity beyond most designers.

This piece is no exception.  The frame is all hardwood wrapped with mahogany veneers and finished off with many solid mahogany pieces such as the legs, rounded front edges and the drawer pulls.  This piece has a "hidden" tray compartment below the doors and drawers that can be used to store large serving trays or other large flat items.  The uppermost drawer has dividers for organizing utensils, etc.  The open storage on either side of the drawers as an adjustable shelf on each side.

Originally this pieces was finished in bleached mahogany.  This is not a color and finish that I love and I find it difficult to incorporate with other pieces.  I opted to change it to a more traditional rich dark brown mahogany color that would also work well along side walnut pieces that are from the same era.

Dimensions: 66"W x 33"H x 20"D

Sold

Modern Zebra Wood Crib and Changing Table Set

No, this isn't mid-century at all.  I have yet to see a true mid-century crib or changing table that I think has good aesthetic design or functionality.  If you are a design conscious expecting parent you've probably discovered there aren't many options available today that offer good design and build quality and don't cost an arm and a leg.

These two pieces were not made by the same manufacturer.  However the materials, design and build quality are nearly the same, so work well as a set.

The crib is the Studio crib by Nursery Works.  Nursery Works is in Los Angeles and builds very high quality, low production furniture for children.  All their pieces are bench made, not mass produced using hardwood frames, exotic woods and low or no VOC finishes.  Hardware such as hinges and drawer glides are also high quality, high load design pieces built to last a lifetime.  This crib has a number of ingenious design features incorporated.  The base has 2 full depth drawers for storage.  The base can also be removed when using as a toddler bed to minimize the mattress height.  The end of the crib has a drop down shelf that holds a changing pad and has small storage compartments behind it.  As the child grows, this shelf can be converted to a drop down desk.  There is additional storage below the drop down desk.  The white mattress platform has 3 adjustable height positions (and a 4th when removed).  The white "rail" sides can be removed to convert to a toddler bed.  The use of Zebra wood and stark white is a striking modern look.  An Ikea Vyssa mattress will be included if desired.

The changing table is the Manhattan model by Litto Kids.  It looks like they have gone out of business but they were also based in Southern California and operated with the same philosophy of quality materials, production and design.  This piece is also built on a hardwood frame with Zebra wood veneers over and low VOC finish.  I refinished the wood portion of this 4 years ago when we were expecting.  I used  pure tung oil cut with orange oil for the finish to stay with the low toxicity, low VOC finish methodology.  This piece also uses high load, side mounted roller bearing glides for high durability and safety.  The 3 drawers are deep and offer ample storage for all the necessary baby goodies.  The case sits on a polished steel base.

New, the crib sold for $2200 and the changing table for $950, so together would have been well over $3000.  I'm offering these as a set only as it would be challenging to find matching pieces.

Sold

Dimensions:

                 Crib 64"W x 46"H x 32"D
                 Changing Table  42"W x 39"H x 20"D