Going from Idea to Fine Handcrafted Furniture
A customer in Boston was looking for an outdoor dining table for their back patio. All the tables they were finding in commercial retail stores were going to be too large for the space they had available - so they reached out to see if I could build their custom furniture.
Working with me is as easy as 1-2-3. See the approach I take with each customer below.
Step 1: Identifying the Project: Outdoor dining table
The first step in any project is to design what the customer has in mind - so I always start with discussing what they want their custom furniture to look like. With this project, some of the pieces were easy to identify. Knowing where it was going to be placed, that immediately identified the overall size.
I asked about the customer's desire for how many people could be seated at the table, and also how they intended to store it for the winter months. Knowing they had been looking for a table without any luck, I also asked if they had seen tables that they liked the look of - as that helps me hone in on the customer's design preferences.
Once I have those details, I create a 3D rendering in a software program that can help the customer visualize what the finished piece would look like - and at that point, we can make any desired changes to the piece.
Step 2: Picking the Finish
When it comes to handcrafted furniture, the material is as important as the design. I knew I was recommending building the table from Iroko - a wood species that would be durable to withstand New England weather - and all woods have variations in how the color of the wood appear. I also was planning to use a finish that would be low maintenance for the customer and would be easy to refinish in the future, if needed - but I still needed to determine what tint to use. How a finish appears can have variation within a piece, given the nature of wood.
So, I created a sample board to display 8 options of finish. I selected pieces of the Iroko that represented the light to dark spectrum of the wood and shared the sample board with the customer for their review and selection.
Step 3: Build and Deliver
The customer had approved the custom furniture design, the material, and the finish. Last came the build and delivery.
Navigating the narrow streets of Boston was a bit tricky, but I got it delivered no problem, and customer could not have been happier with the finished project.
