Author name: hunter@hlwimmer.com

4.2 // Custom Furniture / Seating

The Lambda Stool (+ Lambda-XL)

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Update: I created the original stool in 2017. My kid used (and abused) it. It came time to pass it along to Stella, so I refreshed it and built a larger version for her mom, Courtney. You can check this out over at the Instagram page.

Screenshot 2025-06-14 at 9.53.55 AM

Aug 2024: The other day, my 4-year-old started to stand on a slick and rickety fiberglass shell chair in the attempts to reach something off of the shelves in his new room set up. I stopped him. He got a bit upset, and I told him the chair was unsafe and that he shouldn't stand on that. I reached quickly for one of the wire-based stool-tables I'd made, and he said, "Dada, you can't stand on a table"… "Ok, fine: I'll make something else…"

The next day, I made the prototype of the Lambda stool in the workshop (pictured here). He's quite happy, and it works well for him, but I already see some improvements for his particular set-up (desk-height step, congruous materials, etc.).

Stool_01

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3.0 // Furniture Restoration

Repairing a Herman Miller DCM

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Camila needed a repair on the shock mount of a Herman Miller DCM. She's a furniture stager and was working on a house that was on display in the next few days. Unfortunately, the movers were a bit rough and broke one of the chairs. The repair needed to be quick.

In most cases, I recommend new shock mounts. The old shock mounts often dry out and delaminate. Even when re-gluing, a dried-out mount is very likely to come delaminated again due to the brittle and dry substrate. And rehabilitating old materials is often more costly in the end than replacing. However, since time was of the essence, new parts were not possible. To make matters worse, this all of the mounts (on two chairs) had been repaired before and there was lots of bad glue residue that also needed to be removed. When we got the chairs into the workshop, the force of the mover's foible revealed itself with a bent frame that also needed to be straightened… All in a day's work in the workshop (well, a few hours — not a whole day): Two DCM's revitilized.

IMG_5165Ouch, movers… that hurt.

IMG_5160There's a lot of secret sauce and magic involved.

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2.0 // Renovation Services

Nicola and Wilson’s bath preview

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We've been on a roll lately with bathroom renovations… and I've one more still to photograph. This one is in Marin for a couple who requested a door a while back. It's been a fun project, but fitting everything in (including life with a 3-year-old) has been tough, especially when coupled with a commute across a busy 2-lane bridge.

However, having great* clients makes it worthwhile and the end result is also great… featuring a few neat touches that I'll detail with the full post after I complete the custom vanity (and bring my camera on-site). Until then, here are some preliminary pictures.

* What makes a great client? This is worthy of a blog post itself, but a combination of patience, understanding, trust-in-the-process, and positivity… it also helps that you're willing to take a chance on a few things along the way which I can detail here.

But first, the before photos, starting with the photo from the real estate listing and ending with the one after Nicola ripped out the vanity after she got sick of looking at it.

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5.0 // Custom Audio

New Adventures in Hi-fi: Stage-2

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After the test and prototypes for Stage-1, I progressed to a few more designs: Version-3, 4 and 5… each with their own unique qualities and something learned along the way. Sometimes this manifests in what to do and sometimes what not to do… or more specifically what takes too much time (or cost) in a production environment to be practical. In the case of the latter, the prototypes actually have more value in that some of the craft techniques are more involved than what will be incorporated into the final designs.

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5.0 // Custom Audio, 7.0 // News

New Adventures in Hi-fi

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We started a few years ago with the creation of the Integrated-CSSU — a storage unit with built-in speakers. Since then, we've been experimenting with audio here and there, and think we've found something worth sharing… and selling: speakers. Specifically, bookshelf speakers sized to pair with small desktop amplifiers like the newly popular tri-path amplifiers and a new generation of tube-based amplifiers — each putting out under 15-50W/channel… which, when paired with these speakers will fill a room with amazing sound while looking amazing.

Speaker-prototype_01

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1.0 // Welcome + About Us

Hello!

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NorCalMod is a design/build/how-to initiative. We design, make (and document) the creation of custom, modern furniture, and built-in storage solutions. This is our blog, website, and general portal to the world, but also check us out on Facebook and Instagram.

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… It is also the sibling of RedneckModern.com — a blog about the renovation of an Eichler-built home in Northern California. While both got their start over 10 years ago, the renovation project took over (as they tend to do) — and interest grew in what we were doing grew. The site and house got a bit of attention at spots like Dwell, DWR, ApartmentTherapy, DesignSponge and West Elm's Front+Main.

Since that project wrapped, more time has been dedicated to /your/ house (not /my/ house) — and the NorCalMod projects… from built-in cabinetry to bespoke storage units (with integrated audio!) began to flourish.

Welcome — let's get to work.

2.0 // Renovation Services

Vanessa and John’s Walnut Accented Bathroom

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This project marks the transition from Redneckmodern to Norcalmod … it's been a long time coming, but in short: Redneckmodern was always meant to be about our renovation, not yours…

However, as things grew, my efforts became yours. Then Norcalmod came along to house the custom furniture that I began to build. Earlier this year, I decided to separate the two a bit: Redneckmodern = me / Norcalmod = you… and Vanessa and John's bathroom remodel is the first project wrapped since that transition… I'll still be making furniture, but now taking on a good bit more under the Norcalmod nameplate.

Welcome to the newly expanded Norcalmod.

4077-before[The "before" shot. John handled the demolition. Busting out a 60-year-old cast shower pan was no easy task.]

4077-after[The "after" shot.]

Now, on to the project: What started off as a more modest renovation grew into something a bit more complex as we peeled back the layers of past renovations and discovered both issues and opportunities: some bad electrical, some opportunities for additional built-in storage, and a few other extras that followed the "while we're already there" idea. Vanessa and John made all of the right decisions along the way, balancing long-term quality with practicality. Of course, this pushed timelines, budgets, and patience… but everyone persevered, and the project turned out quite well.

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Vanessa and John’s Walnut Accented BathroomRead More »

3.0 // Furniture Restoration, 7.0 // News

New Category + New Service (Restoration Services)

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One of the things that's hard to do is define oneself as a craftsman, artist, designer, etc… and with multiple projects afoot (some personal, some commercial), it's hard to draw lines. The enterprise, as it is, started with the renovation of our own Eichler-built house which begat RedneckModern. It didn't take too long to find folks who needed things that I could do and their projects became my projects… then, the things I built for myself became things that others wanted to buy. The later notion created NorCalMod.

Over the past few years, in addition to designing and making furniture, I've also been restoring it. From simple cosmetic fixes to more structural bits, it's been something to keep the workshop dusty… so much that it now deserves it's own category and soft launch.

Hey, folks, I'm restoring old furniture. Hit me up!

Seriously, there's probably three times as many pieces that I've not documented, but I'll detail the ones I have documented here. Over the years, I've developed a few decent techniques specifically to bring new life back to original Eames/Herman Miller chairs — both fiberglass and DCMs and LCWs.

So, watch for a few new posts that I've carried over from RedneckModern as their more proper home is here at NorCalMod.

2.0 // Renovation Services, 7.0 // News

Meanwhile, outside of the workshop

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As many readers know, Norcalmod was born from Redneckmodern … and in time, it will likely be the entity that remains after the renovation that started *rnm is finished off. In the meantime, there are still quite a few projects to finish off and there's a good bit of overlap in the two worlds — namely in the world of materials.

One of the materials I've been using in the renovation is a wood-plastic composite from CaliBamboo called BamDeck. What first struck me about the products is that it is the only product of its type that is not grained to look like wood. It has always seemed odd to me that folks would take plastic and imprint a wood grain on it. The BamDeck material is striated like broom-finished concrete and is quite nice. It's also workable with Carbide-tipped tools and takes to machining fairly well.

So far, I've used it to mill a post stand-off for Mendi's door, topped a retaining wall and used it for its intended purpose: decking… all with fantastic results. I also expect to work it into a few furniture pieces as well and have plans to use it in the next rev of the ModKatBox since it is impervious to moisture.

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