Lane Olive Ash Burl Armoire

This armoire is part of the "Alpha II" line from Lane that has been attributed to Milo Baughman.  Judging by the use of Olive Ash Burl and the otherwise very orthogonal lines and lack of visible hardware I'm guessing that attribution is correct.  One of the other pieces of information I discovered as I researched the piece is that it is said that Lane used Persimmon wood veneers and solids for the casework.  This is not something that I had heard of before, so I researched further.  Persimmon wood is more common than I realized in furniture making and is most notable for its use in making wood golf club heads.  It is also know as "white ebony" because it is of the same genus as other true ebony woods.  It is the only ebony that grows in North America.  As I sanded and "worked" the wood, it reminded me the most of monkeypod wood but really didn't look like any other wood I have encountered.

For this piece I opted to warm up and darken the color a bit from how Lane originally finished it.  As it came from Lane, the case was very similar to Birch in color.  That light blond, yellow toned color isn't particularly popular today.  The color I used matches some of the darker coloring in the burl and still allows the figuring of the Persimmon wood to show through.  This piece originally came with a pedestal style base, which had been broken through its years of use.  I replace this with low, substantial chrome feet which look appropriate for a Baughman designed piece.  The other thing I like about these is they reflect the floor that they are sitting on and almost look like a part of the floor, which gives a sense that the whole piece is floating.

With 2 large drawers on the bottom, 2 half width drawers in the middle, a wide drawer hidden behind the doors and divided open space on top this piece offers great capacity as well as style.  It would work well not only in a bedroom for ample clothing storage but I could also envision it as a dry bar in a den or dining room.  Either way it would be a hip addition to a mod decor.

Dimensions:  42"W x 57.5"H x 18"D

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