One of Park City’s largest home builders came to me with a request for his personal home that was being finished. We met and had spoken through social media, so I was truly excited to meet him and his wife and design a wood dining table with two benches and a one-of-a-kind live edge coat rack for their home.
Dining tables and benches are pretty common requests that I get from clients, but the coat rack was a final addition to a reading nook for their many beautiful grandchildren and a fun extra on an already big project.
Here’s what happened behind the scenes of the creation of this client’s wood dining table, matching benches, and coat rack.
Selecting the Perfect Slabs to Compliment the Space
Entering their space, I knew these pieces had to be my best, so I brought along images of several slabs worthy for their new forever home. They were drawn immediately to my first choice — one of our private reserves brought out for special projects.
The slab we chose for the wood dining table was solid, didn’t have a lot of checking to fill, and had an incredible amount of color and figure. It also had a noticeable hole along the edge, which had most likely been home to a squirrel at one point.
The clients loved the checking in the large branches toward the top, which I planned to fill with black epoxy. The colors of red and purple are offset by the light sapwood and dark heartwood — characteristics known only to the beautiful black walnut of Oregon.
Bringing some of these slabs to life is truly an honor. I showed the clients photos of the well-over-100-year-old tree where it had stood, next to an almond grove near Portland that the owner wanted to expand. We had convinced him that we could give the huge tree a second life as the center was dying out and it needed to come down — luckily, he agreed.
Building the Wood Dining Table & Matching Benches
I was so excited that the clients wanted benches for the table and entryway. We went with rectangular tubing for the legs to match the table and add more weight to the benches so the small grandchildren couldn’t tip them over with ease.
Because of its location next to the back door and windows, the dining table bench needed to scoot under and in between the legs of the wood dining table for easy access to the back yard and pool.
Designing the One-of-a-Kind Coat Rack
After the wood dining table and matching benches, I had to create a coat rack worthy of their space. That meant it had to be able to hold a lot of coats for when the entire family gathered together. The clients envisioned that walking through the mount of coats into the reading nook under the stairs would feel like walking through the wardrobe into Narnia.
Because the family all lives within a half mile of each other and planned to visit all the time, the coat rack also had to be mobile. We outfitted the bottom with felt pads so it could easily be pulled out from the reading nook as needed.
Revealing the Final Product
One of my favorite parts about working on big projects like this wood dining table is being able to jump on top and hand scrape the slabs flat and smooth using card scrapers. This particular slab was so wide that I had to be on top of it to reach the middle.
Because of their size and weight, moving these massive heavy slabs can be tricky — but it can also be hilarious. The clients had a few laughs watching us maneuver the big pieces through the entryway into the home but were ultimately elated and relieved to get everything in safely.
With the wood dining table, benches, and coat rack in place, I helped the clients set up new lighting over the table and move everything into place for their weekend family party. They were so excited and loved it all so much that we’re already talking about adding some unique shelving next to the dining area.
Contact me today to discuss the project you’ve been dreaming of.
