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Laurie Lynch’s Cherry Computer Armoire: A Mission Accomplished, with Secret Drawers!
For ten years, Laurie Lynch, of Gibsonia, PA, had struggled to work out of this tiny cramped home office in her kitchen.
She dreamed of a perfect home office, one that would make her much more efficient and more organized. This dream office also needed to inspire. It needed to be something special, something to be treasured. It also had to be functional. One key requirement was the ability to close the doors on her office, not worrying about the clutter of work-in-progress.
After months of frustration searching for a computer armoire in furniture stores and on the web, she drove to MapleTree’s shop and described her “dream office” to me.
We had a great “brainstorming session”: I listened to Laurie’s ideas and shared my ideas, distilled from 15 years of designing home offices. I suggested adding secret compartments! We agreed on a list of features to be incorporated in the design. I began to sketch out design drawings. The Dream Office started to take shape. After several phone calls and email exchanges, Laurie and I arrived upon a final design that incorporated Laurie’s detailed wish list. The price suited Laurie’s budget perfectly. Laurie decided to place her order and MapleTree’s production crew got to work.
During the process, Laurie frequently visited the shop to see her masterpiece-in-the-making, meeting with our lead cabinetmakers, Jesse and Mark, fifteen-year MapleTree veterans. She was able to see the creation come to life and make decisions on stain color, hardware selection, moldings’ shape and exact dimensions of the armoire’s extensive features. Thanks to her close involvement and many visits, Laurie felt as if she were a part of a close-knit team – as she was!
The results of this furniture adventure are astounding! These photos were taken on the delivery day, May 2, 2014. From the exterior, with the doors closed, this piece mimics a 19th Century Shaker cherry armoire. Yet, with the doors swung back to the sides, a spacious office materializes, including fully extending desktop surfaces, retractable keyboard tray, slide-out printer platform, a file drawer, and lighting!
What makes this piece especially personal to Laurie are the two secret bookcases that glide out of the upper cabinet sides. This is truly Laurie’s “Dream Office”! In a few years, when some of the Lynch family’s five children go off to college, the armoire will be moved upstairs into a bedroom-turned-office. As we judiciously built this armoire in two sections, it will be easy to move when the time comes. Another MapleTree furniture adventure with a happy ending!
