Hammer & Hand’s custom windows & doors are featured in cottage, mansion, cabin & attic.
In yesterday’s post I wrote about master jointer Dan Palmer and his work creating precision custom windows and doors for everything from historic restorations to high concept modern homes. I promised more vignettes, so here are four more. Enjoy!
Memories of the Netherlands
One of the homeowners of this historic Portland cottage lived in the Netherlands when she was young and fell in love with the doors there. As part of a larger conversation about the Emerick Architects-designed home remodel, she showed Dan a 2″ by 3″ magazine clipping of a door design that they liked, and asked him to “build it like this one, out of vertical grain fir”. Dan designed and built the Dutch door from reclaimed wood using historic mortise-and-tenon jointery. The aim was to lighten and open up the kitchen space, so the door’s 6 panes of glass and operable upper panel bring in welcome light and fresh air.
“It was fun to build,” said Dan. “Dutch doors are unusual, and tricky to detail for weatherproofing. It was a good challenge, and the clients were super happy.”
Museum-Quality Restoration
Hammer & Hand was called upon to rehabilitate and replicate the damaged casement sashes on this beautiful, if neglected, 1927 Herman Brookman-designed home at the edge of Laurelhurst Park. Dan and his team set up shop in the 600 SF garage onsite for the better part of a year to carry out the work. He had custom shaper and moulding knives cut to enable the team to build historically-accurate replicas of both the sashes and a pair of doors. Meanwhile, we worked to address the root moisture problems that caused the windows and doors to degrade in the first place. The project was a blend of old and new, and balanced values of proper preservation and performance upgrading. While the client chose not to rebuild with thermal-pane glazing, we did add weather stripping to all window frames to create a better air seal. “The air sealing had very little visual impact,” Dan said. “When the windows are closed, you’d never know anything is different.”
Salvaged Timber Becomes Door
Our Rhododendron Cabin project, designed by Giulietti Schouten Architects, is a celebration of reclaimed wood that drew heavily on salvaged material from the deconstructed pre-existing cabin onsite as well as wood reclaimed from an old NW Portland warehouse. The cabin’s four screen doors were built by Dan from western red cedar logged on the property to clear space for the home’s footprint.
Poppies Will Make Them Sleep
For this attic addition and home energy upgrade Dan added 8 operable, air sealed, thermal pane windows and casement sashes, installed with modern, stainless steel, friction hinges. The saloon doors, designed by Alice Designs to create a partition separating bedroom from bath, are built with 3form paneling: recycled plastic with natural materials sandwiched within. In this case, the two panels of 3form contain reed grass and poppies, and were “pictured-framed” in Douglas fir by Dan.
Dan’s done a lot of beautiful work with windows and doors, so there’s still more to come! Please stay tuned.
– Zack
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