Music Cabinet

Simple joinery and common materials can go a long way.

The day finally came when I decided to organize the bluegrass CDs and albums that had taken over virtually every horizontal surface in our living room. I searched local stores and the Internet and found a number of commercial CD racks on the market, but none that actually complemented our decor.

My wife and I knew what we wanted: Something refined but not too formal, and it had to store about 120 CDs and albums. While we like listening to our music, we don't get any particular pleasure from staring at rows of jewel cases while we entertain, so a door was a definite requirement.

The cabinet shown is our compromise. The CDs are stored in the upper section in nifty little spring-loaded CD racks that I ordered online. To eject a CD, just push it inward and it pops out into your hand. Albums are stored below, and I included a small cubby at the top for boxed sets, empty jewel cases and the rest of the stuff that tends to pile up around electronics equipment.

Design and Construction

The cabinet is fairly simple in appearance, so I took the time to make a hand-carved door pull. I like the way this small detail contrasts with the larger swooping curves of the corner posts.

And because the door pull literally needs to be grabbed onto, it is a great opportunity to involve the viewer with the piece in a more thoughtful way. Inevitably, people who see the cabinet for the first time step back and admire the whole thing, then they lean in and carefully touch the handle to appreciate it up close.

My schedule doesn't allow a lot of time for me to work on furniture for my own home (we're all familiar with the shoemaker's barefoot children), so I needed to build the cabinet in a simple and relatively quick way. Using birch plywood allowed the case to come together quickly, and the solid walnut corner posts can be quickly band-sawn into a dramatic curved shape (essentially an oversized corbel, for those familiar with Arts & Crafts design elements).

by Chris Gleason

Chris Gleason designs and builds contemporary furniture and cabinetry for homes and commercial spaces in Madison, Wisc. You can see more of his work at interestingfurniture.com.

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