Mesquite Media Chest and a Happy New Year!

Wow! The end of the month and end of the year sure came quick! Where does all that time go? We had a really nice Christmas with Family and that is really what it should be all about.

Looking back on it we have had an interesting year. We have added several more talented artists into our friends and family fold, a few of which have been hard hit by the economic situation in this country. We began the year thinking the Economy had not really affected us but as we end the year we are seeing and feeling a few of the effects. Our plans are to weather the storm and stay firm in our belief that when you do what you love the money will come.  I honestly don't know what else we could or would be able to do.

Lou is finishing up the Ross Mesquite Media Chest a commissioned piece that will make it's way to a home in Dallas in the next few weeks.  It is now in the final finishing stage so I don't have any beauty shots of her yet but I will show some photos of the stages and progress. The photos are the type of photos that we share with our clients via email to update them on the progress of their piece.

The piece was designed similar to the Mesquite Night Stands from the Sanders Mesquite Bedroom Set. It is a design that is not based on the curves that are so much a part of Lou's other designs, but it does have the very sculptural live edge and a distinct Lou Quallenberg look.

Speaking of curves our nephew Matthew has found another use for some of Lou's laminated curves. He has found that they make great ramps and tracks for his Matchbox cars.

The client's requested a Signature Bow Tie even though the top did not require one.  They may even end up buying a new TV just to be sure it is visible!!

They also wanted the antler drawer pulls like the ones on the Mesquite Partners Desk.

We think they will be very happy with the final product a Mesquite Media Chest that was designed specifically for them.

Now as for New Years Resolutions I won't bore you with the usual losing weight, making better choices for food and clearing out the clutter. But we will make a resolution to try to include an instructional style video with each blog post next year. That will mean 12 clips on things like turquoise inlay, laminated curves and (well I guess) 10 other similar topics. We will do our best to make that happen. (Hey we actually kept our resolution to do a Blog post every month so it could actually happen.)

From our Home and Shop at Lou Quallenberg Studios to yours we wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!!!  Thank you for reading our blog.

Marching along to the beat of Mesquite

Well March has just marched right along and has been a month full of progress. The Mesquite Bedroom Furniture finally finished up and delivered safe and sound to it's new home. Where we hope it will provide it's owners many years (possibly generations) of sweet dreams and restful sleep.

Lou's unique designs sometimes require creative solutions. The typical brass bed bolt covers really were not an option for the mesquite bed. The idea of metal Texas stars was discussed but really did not fit the design style. So mesquite and purple heart buttons were finally designed and created with earth magnets (the REALLY strong ones) embedded in the back. The difficult choice of mesquite or purpleheart was left up to the client by providing 8 of each kind. He liked the purpleheart that matched the other smaller accents on the pieces and she preferred the mesquite for its subtle look. We are still not real sure who won that one.

This month Llano, Texas finally got it's first Chinese Food Restaurant. Whoa!!! Talk about progress!!! It has been the hot spot in town for the past few weeks and by the look and taste of things should be a success. Chinese food in Llano who would have dared to dream it?!

MeMaw now has her new nose and once the swelling goes down should be even better than ever. Just a friendly reminder: have a dermatologist give you the once over regularly. Ya just never know what might be lurking there right in front of your face.

Lou is now on Facebook. That is REAL progress since he can barely send email. We hope the account will help out in the networking department. Maybe we will actually stumble across our six degrees to Kevin Bacon cause I really think he would appreciate Lou's mesquite furniture designs.

On the homefront (or make that shopfront.) We finally made friends with the longhorns in the back field behind the shop. They are super friendly. We will have to watch to be sure they don't tear down the fence for some attention. They usually come out about 6:00ish that's pm if ya wanna stop by the shop for a visit. Lou has also made friends with the goats next door but they are early am visitors if you want to catch them. We named their leader Billy and he is a bossy one. Bring carrots or apples either way and make sure you schedule plenty of time to visit if PaPaw/Steve is in the shop he'll teach your ears off!!

As Lou learns the in's and out's of working with mesquite we notice that it's craggly character provides unique challenges along with smooth and subtle surprises and we just follow, marching along to the crazy beat of mesquite.