We had the opportunity to build some furniture for Jeremiah Brent Design that was showcased on Architectural Digest last week. After the excitement of being mentioned in AD subsided I realized this was a really good project to demonstrate the behind-the-scenes magic of Buildlane.
Let’s Start From the Beginning
Those lounges were fun to make. However, aside from an interesting conversation about how to attach the cushions to the frame the dining table from this project is what I’d like to talk about.
If you scroll back up int he article a bit you’ll find it. Sadly, we got Perennials-style dissed with the no credit on this one.
I will give a lot of credit to JBD’s team – they came to us with a pretty complete shop drawing and a 3d rendering of how they wanted this table to look. They even included a photo of their finish sample in the initial Request For Quote – they were very prepared for this fourteen and a half by six foot table. Yes, you read that right – look at the photo, there are five chairs on either side!
Getting Into the Details
At the start of any project the Buildlane Design Team, led by Stephen Coombs, works with the Builder to create a production-ready technical drawing for the furniture.
It is hard to highlight in our marketing this part of our process – but it is basically product development… for every single order. You get the minds of many craftspeople and furniture designers working to make your concept a reality.
In this case the design was straightforward enough – a giant table made from solid wood planks. However there were a couple of interesting challenges.
The first challenge was easy enough. JMB’s client was concerned with leg space and the column legs. Using the information of what chairs they were using we were able to position the legs on the drawing to have enough space for everyone.
The second challenge was the tough one, this table was extremely large and in solid wood, which meant it was also going to be extremely heavy and prone to bowing. How do you keep solid wood from moving over the years? Reenforce it with metal.
The Secret Metal Subtop
The shop drawing pretty much speaks for itself. But we also did a 3d rendering to make sure this idea was conveyed to all stakeholders. We’d also need to build the table in two parts for transport and the size of the lumber. Without further adieu here is the drawing (or at least the top view)…
Finish / Wood Species
We also ended up doing multiple rounds of finish samples for this one too. Their original sample I believe was white oak with an oil treatment. But the sample was many years old so even after applying the same exact process used to make the initial sample it didn’t match the intended tone of what they wanted. We tried a few different wood species with different finishes to see how close we could get. And in the end this “white oak” table was made in ash with a dead flat oil.
Come to think of it, if you ask the finisher this was the toughest part of the project.
Install
Because the install was in Los Angeles the Builder (Andrew!) was available to deliver the table himself. Quite the feat to move this big table. And if I remember correctly it was installed early in the build process as the rest of the room was built around it.
So there you have it. The magic of Buildlane is that you share your design and the install location and a few months later the furniture is there. But behind the scenes we do have quite an obsessive team geeking out over building furniture that are there to ensure your vision is executed to perfection!
