Sailing Takes Me Away

Some may remember that I mentioned some more twists I had planned-- well now the time has come to reveal one of them.

I've heard from a couple of people that the all-metal bathroom seemed a bit cold and sterile. I thought so too, but I always had a plan to warm it up a bit. The wood of the vanity helped, but there was one more piece I wanted to install to help it out. I really liked the way that Carlos Ferguson's metal heat shield looked against his wooden walls, and thought that the reverse might look cool as well. Of course, his was functional, while mine is purely decoration.

After making this piece from bendy birch, in my mind I began calling it "the sail" which I suppose is only appropriate for a Land Yacht.


There's still a little trimming and fitting to do, but it's almost there. The piece is made from 1/8" bendy birch, edged with automotive door trim molding, and then held onto the ceiling with 19 standoffs. The standoffs are made up of 1/4" bolts that were installed through the aluminum panel before it was riveted to the interior endcap.



Over the bolts, are 1"-long sections of 1/2" PVC and fender washers on the backside, and then the sail, which was topped with nut caps on the front side. It sits a little over an inch off the ceiling.

I shouldn't say the sail is entirely decorative, it does have some function, as it hides a 12' section of rope lights that sits behind it.

The rope light provides a nice, soft back-lighting behind the sail.


And the fixture I built from the African mahogany provides the direct down-lighting in the bathroom.


Overall, I think it's a really nice effect, warming up all of that metal.