If you have a mom, or a grandma, or maybe even a great-grandma, you're probably familiar with the Baker furniture brand.  For practically a century, they've been making those oh-so-proper dining chairs, tables, sofas, cabinets and other pieces of furniture that fit squarely in the category known as "traditional classics."  Baker is conservative, it's solid, it doesn't shout -- it's the kind of furniture you might see in a Four Seasons Hotel Lobby…or the home of a longtime Republican Senator.  Which is why we found the latest addition to their collection so utterly shocking, we just had to let you know about it.

It's called the Cristobal chest, and it would be just as at home in a modernist concrete and steel loft is it is in a Colonial manse.  Maybe even more at home.  The chest, designed by Jacques Garcia, is made of wood, but carved in a pillowy, tufted pattern that looks like quilted upholstery.  And instead of remaining a staid basic brown, the wood is layered with gold and then silver leaf until it positively glows – sort of like a rectangular cloud you can put stuff in.  Could this be the beginning of a wild new era for Baker?  Stay tuned…and don't tell your grandma.