Office Furniture Plans?

[Dave Falkenstein]

I have been looking for plans for several matching pieces of Arts And Crafts style office furniture. Contemporary and/or Craftsman style would likely work just as well. I want to build a large pedestal desk with drawers on both sides, a work/computer table that will form an L-shaped corner with the desk and a pair of two-drawer file cabinets. I have scoured the plans sites that I have saved, but have not found anything that works. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Tom Berninghausen]

Let's go to the library Dave:

Dover Publications has my Mission bible: Mission Furniture: How to Make It. My copy was $9.95 at Powell's Books but I would guess the book is fairly available.

http://cambiumbooks.com published two books by Robert W. Lang: Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture and More Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture. A bit more money, $23 or so.

One more: http://lindenpub.com puts Blair Howard's Arts &Crafts Furniture on the market at $22, more or less.

We don't have a sales tax in Oregon so if'n you do, I guess you have to add it on.

Now you know Stickley didn't make any computer tables...sorry, couldn't resist. I would suggest you use the above books as design definitions to build your office suite. My "office" is oriented around the corner computer desk, 42 inches square with a corner cut off leaving two 24 1/2 inch sides to connect to the returns.

Tom

Edit: For inspiration http://www.stickley.com has a downloadable pdf catalog with an office section.

[Jim Becker]

As an add-on note to Tom's post, Bob Lang is an SMC member and he might have some interesting ideas about adapting existing tables and furniture for this need while staying in character.

[Bob Lang]

Hi Dave,

Sorry for the delay in getting back on this. In addition to my two books on Craftsman furniture, "Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors" has general, built in cabinet info for the period. Another of my books, "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker" has some information on general cabinetry for desks and filing cabinets. The Dover reprints of original Stickley catalogs do contain some desks to give you an idea of sizes and proportions.

I doubt if you'll find any plans available that will exactly suit your needs, but what you're proposing isn't that difficult a project to plan. Figure out how you'll make the worksurfaces and how to make a basic file drawer cabinet and you're halfway there. A trip to Staples or Office Depot would be in order-you can pick up a catalog of factory made stuff that will give you basic sizes and configurations.

The hardest part will be trying to squeeze 2 file drawers for hanging file folders under a standard height desk top. I would solve the practical issues first, get workable sizes and then add what you think looks good.

hope this helps,

Bob Lang

[Dave Falkenstein]

Thanks to Tom, Jim and Bob for your replies. Thinking about this project, I am leaning toward making four cabinets, probably all the same size. Two of those cabinets will be fitted with two filing cabinet drawers and used as free-standing two drawer files. The other two cabinets will be fitted with three drawers and used as the pedestals for the large desk. I will focus my search for a plan on a two drawer filing cabinet, and modify it for the three drawer pedestals. Adding a top for the desk and making a table to match for the L-shaped corner unit should be simple.