the 'basque style' chestnut table

 1/30/2014 .. we delivered the basque style table to its new home yesterday.  it's got a wonderful, up close view of magic mountain, a local ski resort, out the windows to the left.  the home has dramatic soaring ceilings, lots of light and an open barn like, yet cozy and comfortable feel.  it's a lucky table.

see the full story below

well, this one started back in august.  the clients sent me photos of 'an early 18th century "basque style" farmhouse table and a link to hastings antiques where there were pictures and descriptions, and the 'sold' price, $18,000.  not worrying to much about design copyrights, we set out and made the chestnut model above, based on the clients' desired dimensions and photos from the hastings antiques website.

click the photos to enlarge them ...

 

the photos showed a framed top with angled trestle supports and some diagonal bracing, not too 

unlike a reclaimed chestnut table we made back in the spring of 2011. 

our next step was the cad drawing below

then with some fine reclaimed chestnut from our friend jef harris in west virginia

 

we set to work

we mocked up the base, and, since the clients were local, we had them come by and check it out.  we added some spokeshaved softening and detailing to the top and base elements to add to the antique effect.

after some back and forth discussion, we agreed to fabricate the top with the solid wood frame around the solid wood center section, which was a concern to me because of the typical expansion and contraction of wood that happens during seasonal humidity swings in a vermont home.

we made the top up with the boards tight together and pocket screwed the parts temporarily.  and then before gluing the outside frame, we created a total of about 1/8th" of overall clearance between the boards in the center section for the projected summer expansion, based on 'the coefficient of expansion' (a technical term) of chestnut.  it's really an attractive design, and after our research, we're pretty confidant it's structurally sound, and will remain so over time .. after all, the original is 300 or so years old, and looks fine in the photos.

 we're in the finish process now

home stretch .. some sanding on the bench tops, and they are off to the finish room too.

 delivery later this week i hope ..

fun with lighting

i've always been fascinated with light and lighting. the way it glows at night; the way it falls on wood to illuminate the figure and color ... it's all good. we've done a few things with it here and there .. hanging lamps over a dining table, pool table lights, (scroll down), free hanging chandeliers ... mostly kind of little stuff. recently though we have been talking with the contractor on the job where we did the reclaimed chestnut cabinets and it seems there is a distinct lack of light over the couches ... what to do? a hanging chandelier? there's a wire up there, but it's a loooong way to the ceiling.as you can see in the photo below. it seemed to sam and me that the next best choice was to make something between the beams about 9' up that would mainly light the couch and coffee table area, in other words, where you need the light. click the photos to enlarge them ...
sam had the idea of using square steel tubing to support the custom glass shades from our friend andrew at manchester hot glass that we could use to direct the light downward and mostly eliminate seeing the bulbs up there. we discussed dimmers...
we scratched it out on paper, did a little cad drawing roughly to scale, but none of our workings seemed to come across as something as exciting as we thought it could be ... i decided to get out of the office and make a model. we got the measurements from beam to beam and wall to wall from matthew, the contractor and we reduced it all to 1/8th scale. the 8 x 8s became 1" x 1"s, (convenient), and the 3 x 3 steel tubing became 3/8ths by 3/8ths, and the 2.5 square tube connectors became 5/16ths square ... nice round numbers.
we divided the 6' space into 5ths, subtracted the thicknesses of the tubing and arrived at a spacing of roughly 12" between the horizontals .. also convenient. i dotted them with yellow glue and nailed them carefully with the micropinner .. a few pins poked out but i trimmed them off or pulled them through .. we then sprayed the grid with flat black and constructed the half lapped 1 x 1 frame ... it was about at this point that we realized we woudl have to create access in the tubing frame to make the electrical connections and rout the wires from shade to shade. adding the wood 'caps' on top after the fact seemed like a logical option that would also add interest to the fixture ... i had to mockup the shades so i spun a dowel on and angle on the edge sander, cut it to length, drilled it and the frame on the drill press and hammered them home with 1.25 x 17 brads ... pretty slick...
i added the 8' foot posts, but it was still kind of hard to visualize the full effect.
well, there's always photoshop ... the first step was to get rid of the open area above the model by photographing it against a piece of black foam core ... that was a start.then i realized i could put it near the edge of the counter and photograph it looking up with the foam core on top .. viola .. now we're getting there.
then i robbed the shade image from andrew's website at manchester hot glass and dotted them onto the photo over the wood cones ... now we're talkin' ... i sent the two images above and the shade photo at the top of the post off to the clients and we're going to get together on it soon ... models and mockups and photoshop to the rescue again ...
these clients are used to my photoshopping from the last couple projects we did together. above is the before image, created by photoshopping a cabinet from my website into their space, and then, below,executing the photoshopped image ... visualization ... graphic communication ... it's not overrated.
more model posts here