The goal here was to make a rustic table with a lovely design that would feel at home in a beach house as a breakfast nook table or game table. There is not-much-left-of many layers of paint, and the wood is eroded to suggest great age and wear outdoors. A living finish protects the exposed wood so that it is not necessary to live in fear of rings or stains – instead, as the place right off the kitchen, where the husband and wife and grandchildren go to eat and drink coffee and talk and color and paint pictures, it is nice that it is so easy-care. This one is 40 inches round, and the style can be made in any wood or finish.

Pricing:

Here is a nice example of why you should never wait until your family is grown or you are in your dream house to order a nice piece of furniture from us. This family, who lives in New Jersey, are like many of us who cannot know for sure where we will be living 5 or 10 years from today. In fact, they are fairly certain that they will move from their current home, which has a rather small dining room. They wanted a nice table anyway, and provided us a magazine clipping of a very rustic antique that looked like it had sat outside for about forty years. We designed this table to not only fit into their existing dining room perfectly but also to expand with leaves AND to be a very comfortable place to sit at the ends with laptop and your feet propped on the stretcher. There are three leaves per side – (a total of six), and fully opened the table measures 133 inches and will seat 10. It is very versatile in that you can place one, two, or all three leaves in either side. And there is no way young children or anyone else can mess it up, because we already did that!

Pricing:

Our client loved the classic round pedestal table and wanted one that accepted three leaves. It is a 54 inch round which will comfortably seat six, and with all three 12 inch leaves in place it will seat 8 to 10 people. Each half round unlatches at the center and each half pulls out on equalizer slides. The finish is a nice rich neutral brown in a distressed farmhouse look. It is of course a living finish which will be expected to age very well and resist rings and stains.

Pricing:

This mirror was built by our colleague Don Hartwig locally and has a new mirror inside which has been chemically antiqued.  A multiple-layer distressed painted finish and distressed gold leaf details give it the look of an antique piece with a European feel.   Since details of a well-done distressed finish are best appreciated up close, be sure to look at these full resolution photos on flick’r.

[SinglePic not found]

Our clients in Scottsdale showed us a picture of two genuine old farmhouse tables – one with a cutting board – and asked us to design a small one with leaves for their kitchen. This was a bit of a mechanical challenge, but we solved the problem by making the cutting board slide out on sturdy arms and making the leaves to fit over the cutting board on that end (see pictures below). The leaves will also conveniently store inside the table at the opposite end, which saves space and is very convenient.

Our newest bespoke design, made for an Oregon client who loves our furniture and owns three of our pieces.  This is a small media cabinet designed to store TV, VCR, DVD, and other media components behind natural woven cane cabinet doors. The woven cane mesh or webbing in the door panels masks the appearance of the electronics, but will easily allow the IR or infra red signal from the remote control unit to pass through to the components inside the cabinet. While mocking up for this cabinet, we found that the remote would work perfectly well though this woven cane and also through metal brass or bronze chicken wire plus a layer of gingham fabric, making it unnecessary to buy an IR extender or a RF converter. Our customer chose the look of the woven cane plus had us mark discreet X patterns in white on the cane. This cabinet is made from the fast growing and plentiful Northwest native Alder wood. The new wood is hand-distressed to evoke age and an antique, worm-eaten old world antique look. Multiple coats of durable casein, or milk, paint give this cabinet a hard-wearing exterior surface that does not need to be protected from tea cups or wine glasses. As always, our furniture can be built to your specifications including custom sizes, colors, and many other options. The inspiration for this one started with a magazine picture of a similar antique cabinet which had drawers. We can substitute brass or bronze chicken wire in two sizes, and / or fabric for the door panels. For close up full resolution photos of this outstanding distressed finish please visit this link to photos on flick’r. When viewing flick’r images, be sure to click the image until the background goes black, then click “view all sizes” and “original” in the top right, for the full resolution file. The magic of this finish is in the subtle details which can only be appreciated up close.

Size: This one 46 x 70 x 30.75 with two 10 inch leaves
(custom sizes gladly).  Contact us for shipping quote (include your zip)
Price: Starts at $3289 (no leaves) in ash // $3589 solid walnut
With leaves at this size and in ash: $3889 // $4189 solid walnut

This is a nice solid rectangular double pedestal dining table at 70 x 46 x 30.75(h), designed and built by us in solid ash.  Pullout breadboard ends accept two 10 inch wide leaves, which expand the table to 90 inches long. The table will generously seat 6 without leaves, and 8 to 10 people with the two leaves in place.

The design challenge here was to get as small a profile at the floor and yet get as much tilt resistance as possible.  Our client and designer loved the white painted pedestal table bases from the table that went to Wisconsin, but wanted a dark brunette, masculine, refined variation, and the shape was derived from first turning the white ones upside down, then working with the shape.  A solid pedestal with ash floor plate was planned, but the floor plate looked funny (like an alien hovercraft, seriously).  I thought the pedestals had the look of old lanterns, and substituting a plain steel base for the hovercraft seemed like the thing to do.   We turned to our friend and colleague Eric Sands to fabricate smaller diameter steel bases with solid centers, each weighing in at about 100 pounds and greatly adding to the much-needed counterweight.  To these we added a rusty rich patina.    Eric also built us eight leaf-arm brackets which keep the sturdy breadboard ends in place.

This has a hand planed and distressed surface.  It wears a rich, dark, neutral brown color which is really harmonious in many interior schemes and just goes with everything.  See close views below.  Individual boards in the top are slightly offset in a deliberate manner in order to add to the texture and distressed nature of the piece.  The table will be placed in a large kitchen and will be used A LOT. The finish is a durable, distressed, water, wine and food resistant “living” finish.  It is a wearable surface that will not develop rings or stains but will instead look better and better over time as a dining surface.  While we avoid putting pans directly from the stove on such a surface,  is not necessary to protect the finish with placemats or coasters for normal dining. 

The failing yellow latex paint on this cabinet needed to be completely removed and a fresh coat of red milk paint (as “bole”) and three more layers of subtly crackled and chemically aged soft greys were applied to give it a dry and chalky old antique Swedish finish.  We used a candle holder that served as color inspiration.  A white stripe adds interest and a few molecules of silver leaf add some sparkle around the glass moldings.  The way I work is this:  the client finds a portable inspiration piece to guide the finishing – could be a chair, box, drawer, or lacking this, maybe a few paint chips from the paint center.  I then make one or more finish samples in the studio and the client takes these home to view in the home’s particular lighting conditions in the room where the piece will be.  When approved I then use the finish sample to guide the finishing of the piece, and the client can come to the studio to approve and give suggestions or feedback.   Take a look at these cloooooose up pictures on Flick’r (and be sure to click “view all sizes” and then “original” to really zoom in, because the real beauty of this finish is in the fine detail.

click pictures to enlarge

Size:  46 x 96 x 30(h)

Price: $3185 (this size and options)  Contact us for all custom options including shipping quote to your location — please include your zip.

Here is another dining table designed and built for a Wisconsin client.  The form needed to be massive in order to seat a large family and to compete with a large granite topped island in the kitchen.  The finish was to be a multi layered painted crackled distressed finish that would be durable, and our clients liked natural wood and wanted to see a large percentage of the alder showing through on the top.  It was to look eroded and old and time worn.

Size: 34 x 82 x 30.5(h)
Price: $2975 (this size and options).  Contact us and include your zip for shipping quote.
NOTE:  A twin of this table is now available at Thea’s interiors in the pearl.

Details: Custom sizes and colors gladly provided.  Our customer, calling from Wisconsin, had been looking all over the place for a table in this style.  For several years she had stashed away a tiny image clipped from a magazine and was unable to find that table (or anything similar) on the market.   In addition, she found that all the reproduction pieces she encountered left her flat, having less-than-inspiring design, construction or finish details.  We wanted to nail the look and make it feel like an antique, but the magazine clipping showed us only about 3 pixels of information about the top.  Fortunately we found the book The Wild Table showing a beautiful aged wood top on its cover for inspiration.  Finish experimentation led us to use reclaimed Oregon barn wood for the top and new poplar for the base, both distressed and finished to look antique. I used a durable multi-layered crackled non-toxic milk paint finish on the base; top has our popular living finish – a cleanable, smooth, wipe-able, durable surface that will not show rings or stains.  In all cases, whether for an out of town or local client, it is essential to see a finish example in the room where it is to be placed, in that room’s lighting. Color is just incident light bouncing off a tinted surface – the majority of the effect has to do with the character of that incident light.