The Monkey Box Revisited
You've likely seen the description of the "Monkey Box", and you may recall that I wasn't completely happy with the looks of it. With the help of opinions from the gang at Sawmill Creek, the Monkey Box has undergone quite a few changes, and I'm much more pleased with the look of it.
It was suggested (and I agreed) that the light-colored maple trim in the original version overwhelmed the nice red-colored padauk wood. Compare the before and after shots and see for yourself:
Before...
...and After...
This change involved three or four phases of cutting parts off, looking at the results, and either cutting more light-colored wood off, or adding some dark-colored wood on. In the end, the maple became more discrete, and overall it shows off the padauk much better.
The box still has the mirror on the inside of the lid, and the really wasn't a practical way to reduce the amount of maple surrounding it. (By the way, the reflection in the mirror is just a pillow we have on the couch.)
And the monkey face in the top survived the transformation, and in fact is shown off better because of the reduction in maple surrounding it.
And one last look...