"Of course your chest is over your drawers"

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was struggling to identify my next shop project. I finally finished the woodworking on the Nutting tavern table for my wife April, it only lacks its milk paint. April will be painting that soon, after which I will post the photos. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, especially the clamp joints on the top.

So, looking for my next project, I once again cracked open Denis Hambucken's book on country furniture, Early American Country Furniture: 22 Woodworking Projects Inspired by 18th- and 19th-Century New England

In the book, there is a rather nice chest over drawers that I immediately knew I wanted to build, which is extremely simliar to this 18th century English piece:

18th Century secretary, but one with similar lines to my storage piece

It features a slanted lid to the top chest portion, with two nine inch deep drawers underneath. Mine is a storage piece, not a desk, so it will not have a writing surface or chest gallery divisions. As I mentioned before, one of the great things about Hambucken's book is the lack of measurements. Choose the composition (overall size / footprint) of the piece, then make the parts to fit proportionally. A great way to work. Mine is being constructed from quartersawn eastern white pine (cut from home center 1x 12s, but I've left a few knots in it) and will be painted with milk paint. I'm undecided if it will be painted a red-brown color or a blue-green color, but blue-green is winning right now.  Anyone have any thoughts?

I'll shoot some pics of my progress tonight. This weekend I got through panel glue-ups, some dado work (my router plane got a workout!), a few rabbets, a some dry test-fitting.  Eventually some dovetailed and cockbeaded drawers will be built, along with square bracket feet.  This project is going extremely quickly, but I won't be making any predictions on how long it will take.  If I do that, something will come up and it will take me 6 months to finish, just like that darn Nutting table.

Zach