Floating

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At Dark Horse, we’ve created quite a few things that float. (And nope, we haven’t run away from home to become magicians.)

In design parlance, floating simply means that a shelf (or a table or bench or whatever you dream up) appears to float on a wall, with no visible brackets holding it there.

For this #ThrowbackThursday post, here are a few of the floating features we’ve created for clients.

In the Oakview home, we created a floating library:

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… and two colorful powder-coated steel vanities for the bathrooms:

 

… and a beautiful walnut floating vanity for another spectacular bathroom in the house.

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In the Highland House, quite a few things float. When you come in the front door, you see our floating lockers in the entryway:

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Both the large walnut vanity and a simple bench float in this Highland House bathroom:

 

In this bedroom, two “live-edge” nightstands float on either side of the bed. (“Live-edge” means that the natural edge of a piece of wood is incorporated into the design of the piece.)

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In the Friar Tuck home, which was recently featured in the New York Times, we built elegant floating Macassar ebony vanities for two of the bathrooms:

 

… as well as a floating dresser:

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And for the Olympic house, we built another floating library. This stained walnut veneer shelving is held up by steel supports hidden behind the sheetrock; each shelf is rated to hold 1,300 pounds, so the clients can bring on their heaviest books and treasures!

Olympic library

We love doing all of this sleight-of-hand work for our clients (especially since it’s tough to make a living as an actual magician), and we hope these creations give you some inspiration for your next renovation project.

~ Chris and the Dark Horse team

The best kind of surprise: More Dark Horse work featured on dwell.com

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We love the concept of recycling, especially when it involves Dwell magazine taking beautiful photos of our work from past feature stories and including them in new stories on dwell.com.

First up: In “How to Design with Mahogany,” posted on February 20, Dwell featured the mahogany cabinets we created for the Oakview house, which was originally featured in the story “An Angular Futuristic House in Georgia” in 2013. (You can read more about that Dwell story on our blog and see a lot of great photos from the project in our gallery feature.)

Dwell’s introduction to the February feature sings the praises of mahogany:

Every variety of wood has its own personality. Rich yet restrained, mahogany is a soothing presence. Here’s how seven modern homes put it to use.

We share Dwell’s appreciation for mahogany (as you’ll see if you browse through our work), and we’re honored to be included in this gallery.

Bonus detail: The mahogany used for these cabinets — and all of the cabinetry in the Oakview home, including a cool Murphy bed — was rescued from the cancelled US Navy PT Boat program.

Spotlight on modern bathrooms

The second instance of Dwell admiring our work enough to mention it twice is also drawn from Dwell’s original feature article on the Oakview home.

This time around, it was eye-catching bathroom cabinetry that made it into a slideshow feature.

“Modern Bathroom Design, Remodeling, and Decor Ideas” opens this way:

Browse beautiful and innovative bathroom designs from the pages of Dwell and get inspiration for your own bath tile, toilet, bathtub, bath sink, and shower

Here’s the “slide” featuring one of the bright Oakview bathrooms:

(We do need to correct one important detail on this one: The brilliant-red floating vanity and powder-coated steel top are Dark Horse originals. The sink is made by Kohler.)

Thanks for the kudos, Dwell — feel free to feature our work any time!