Fremont Nightstand

Darrell Peart

Darrell Peart's Fremont Nightstand takes Greene & Greene influence to new heights. Featuring three drawers, breadboard ends, finger joints, and custom drawer pulls, this heirloom piece will challenge and expand your woodworking skillset.

Made from Mahogany and Ebony, the dimensions are 26″ W x 18″D x 27″H

Save time and effort with our pre-made templates for this project.

  • 18 lessons
  • 264 min
  • $99.00

Here's what we'll cover:

  1. Intro & Lumber

    Design inspiration for the Fremont Nightstand, as well as wood choice, and wood preparation.  

  2. End Panels

    The sides of the nightstand consist of a panel, a faux divider strip, and top and bottom rail.

  3. Legs & End Assembly

    The legs are cut to shape and attached to the side panels.

  4. Back Panel & Web Frames

    The back panel and web frames come together and all parts that connect the side panels are cut at the same time.

  5. Case Joinery

    Strategic placement of biscuits is the key to getting the case together.

  6. Arched Drawer Divider

    The rail is cut to shape and used to create templates for the drawer fronts.

  7. Case Assembly

    The case parts come together with the help of some glue and biscuits.

  8. Drawer Fronts & Sides

    The drawer parts are measured and cut to size.

  9. Finger Joints

    The drawer fronts are joined to the sides via proud finger joints.

  10. Shaping, Grooves, & Holes

    The drawer parts have a number of small details that need to be added before assembly.

  11. Pillowing & Drawer Assembly

    The drawer fingers are pillowed and the drawers are assembled.

  12. Drawer Runners

    Drawer runners are installed so the drawers are located perfectly.

  13. Drawer Pull Options

    Two options for a custom drawer pull.

  14. Ebony Plugs

    Classic ebony plugs are buffed to a shine and cut to size.

  15. Breadboard Top

    The top panel and breadboards are cut to size and joined together.

  16. Ebony Splines

    The ebony splines add an attractive and compelling detail to the breadboard top.

  17. Final Details

    Looking for flaws and raising the grain in preparation for stain.

  18. Finishing

    The stain and finish are applied to the nightstand.

What will I receive?

  • Detailed cut list and plans including a PDF and a SketchUp file (Metric and Imperial).
  • Paper patterns so you can make your own hard templates (or buy them here).
  • Hours of detailed video instruction (19 videos in total) showing every step of the build.
  • All videos and plans are digital and will be available for download upon purchase. 

What will I learn?

  • Material Selection
  • End Panel Faux-rail Construction
  • Ebony pegs
  • Greene & Greene edge/corner treatment
  • Biscuit joinery
  • Domino Joinery
  • Finger Joints
  • Spline joinery
  • Greene & Greene Ebony Splines
  • Breadboard Ends
  • Drawer Construction
  • Hanging Drawers on wooden runners
  • Pattern Making
  • Making offset matching pattern
  • Template Routing
  • Cloud lifts
  • Shaping /pillowing proud fingers
  • Making a G&G Pull
  • Discussion on Greene & Greene Design
  • Greene and Greene finishing

What will I need?

Note: This is not a required list of tools. This is simply what Darrell used during the build. Remember, there are always multiple ways to accomplish a task so if you don’t have one or more of these tools, you can very likely still make this project.

Lumber Estimate (contains 20% overage):

12 BF of 4/4 Sapele, 5 BF of 5/4 Sapele, 8 BF of 8/4 Sapele, 3 BF of 4/4 Poplar, 1 BF of 4/4 Maple.  You can also pick up a Bell Forest Lumber Package for this project using a 10% Guild discount!

Tools

  • Table Saw
  • Jointer
  • Planer
  • Router/Router table
  • Plunge router
  • Bandsaw
  • Hand Drill
  • Drill Press
  • Spindle Sander
  • Buffing wheel
  • Disc sander
  • Hollow Chisel Mortiser
  • Biscuit joiner
  • Domino DF 500
  • Sharp flat bottom dado head

Bits

  • 1/8” aircraft (long) drill bit
  • Countersink bit for #6 screw
  • 5/8” collar
  • 1” collar
  • ¼” straight or spiral bit
  • 5/16” spiral bit
  • 1/8” round over
  • Top bearing Flush trim bit
  • Bottom bearing flush trim bit
  • ¼” spiral flush trim
  • ½”Spiral flush trim bit w/
    • 5/8” oversize bearing
    • ¾” oversize bearing
  • ¾” straight or end mill bit
  • 1” straight or end mill bit
  • 3/8” bull nose spiral
  • ¼” spline (slotting) cutter

Hand Tools

  • Lee Valley Square punches ( with appropriate drill bits)
    • ¼”
    • 5/16”
  • Small plastic headed mallet
  • Calipers capable of measuring to .oo1
  • Fine grain rasp
  • Medium grain rasp
  • Flush trim hand saw
  • Sharp chisels

Finishing

  • Stain applicator
  • General finishes dye stain  medium brown
  • General finishes dye stain  orange
  • Sam Maloof  Poly/Oil Finish

Misc. Stuff

  • Table saw sled
  • Heavy duty Double back tape
  • Hot melt glue gun
  • Sanding mops – 120 grit

This is an Advanced Project

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the project is very difficult, it means that there won’t be quite as much hand-holding as we normally aim for in the Guild. Darrell uses specific tools such as a biscuit joiner and a Festool Domino. While there are alternative options, this series doesn’t cover them. An experienced woodworker should have no problem substituting their own joinery preference.  Also, because guest instructor projects are filmed on the road with a limited time to work with, we just can’t spend as much time on each segment as we’d like. A beginning woodworker might find the pace too fast. Between the videos, the cut list, and the dimensioned drawings, a relatively experienced woodworker will be able to step through the process.

The history of the design, from Darrell Peart:

The Fremont Nightstand came about as many designs do from a client request. My client had purchased an Aurora Chest of Drawers and wanted two three-drawer Nightstands as companions. My Aurora nightstand only had one drawer, and in my mind, adding two more drawers to the design simply would not work. I had to start fresh.  I decided to retain the single drawer from the Aurora NS as the top drawer for the new piece. I also decided upon case construction (as opposed to legs and aprons) – which allowed me to use the tapered leg from the Chest of Drawers.

It had been a few years since I had designed the Chest of Drawers and in the meantime some tweaks to the design had been bouncing around in my head. The most important of these was a re-work of the leg to add a sort of corbel at the top. In my mind the corbel reaches out and gives added visual support to the top.

This was one of those magical designs that took form as if I were just sitting back and watching the process take place. Subconsciously, I think I had worked out much of this design even before I had the client request.

The biggest problem this piece presented was – what to name it! I already had an Aurora Nightstand  – and I did not want to go with Aurora Nightstand II.  So thinking back – the original inspiration for my Aurora series came when standing in line at the grocery store while looking out the window to the arches in the Aurora Bridge.  The Aurora Bridge connects the Fremont District in Seattle with Queen Anne. I was standing on the Fremont side of the bridge. If I had been standing on the Queen Anne side – that would have complicated things!

Please note that if you intend to build Darrell’s designs for profit, you’ll want to contact him directly regarding licensing fees.

Reviews:

The video instruction and plans were phenomenal. When I had questions, Darrell responded quickly. It was a wonderful experience and the nightstands turned out great. Going for the rest of the bedroom suite now.

Greg Michael
Guild Member

What a fantastic build! The video instruction was superb and the plans were great. Quite the challenge on many levels for me but I learned a ton of new skills and techniques along the way. I very much appreciated Darrell’s philosophy on how and why he did what he does. Hard to believe that such high level instruction is available like this. Thank you to the Guild to make this possible!

Keith Olive
Guild Member

A challenging and entertaining project! Darrell does a great job of explaining the reasoning behind his order of work and pointing out how to achieve the details of his design elements. It’s great to be able to view the lessons over at any time, as some things went by me very quickly and new details became clearer with repeated viewings. I liked that some mistakes were not edited out and I was able to see how Darrell dealt with them. I’m looking forward to more classes with Darrell and Marc.

David Hughes
Guild Member
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About Your Instructor:

Darrell Peart

Darrell Peart started his career in the early 1970’s making and selling small wooden items at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. To broaden his experience, he then went on to work for various high-end custom shops throughout the Puget Sound area gaining an extensive background in both commercial and custom furniture making.

Exploring new design ideas is where Darrell’s passion lies. Although the influence of Greene and Greene can clearly be seen in his work – he draws inspiration from other varied sources as well.

Darrell also writes and lectures about design, woodworking, and the history of Greene & Greene. He has written articles for Home Furniture, Today’s Woodworker, Fine Woodworking, Woodwork, Popular Woodworking, American Woodworker, Woodworker West, Style 1900, British Woodworking, 360 Woodworking, The SAPFM Journal, and Australian Wood Review.

His first book, Greene and Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop, was published in April 2006 by Linden Press followed by his second book In the Greene & Greene Style: Projects and Details for the Woodworker, in 2013.