As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my design process usually begins with the material and evolves from there. Sometimes I make detailed drawings with dimensions and plan accordingly with a cutting list, and other times I just sort of “wing it”. Although the first method is much more efficient, I find the latter to lend itself more to serendipity and the evolution of a unique piece.
For this coffee table, I placed the emphasis on efficiency. In woodworking, an efficient way to do things is in a production run. When you set the tools for your specific cutting dimensions, you can run all of the pieces at once saving a ton of time. The trick to this is to have a cutting list of all the pieces you will need, and a plan of attack or list of steps to create the piece.
I did a series of 3 of these, because there was a small mountain of off-cuts of this beautiful Hakwood flooring (which is a European white oak engineered hardwood), in a pre-finished color that is spot-on-trend in the design world right now. Conveniently, the colors of wood I have available are usually a by-product of high-end designers working in high end homes, therefore almost always in line with what’s trending 🙂
In the end, I was able to list them with a very reasonable price tag (only $160 per custom made, high end piece of furniture :0) because I kept my labour time down with good planning and efficient practices. I generally don’t mark up my materials (since I don’t really pay for them), and because I like to promote the use of salvaged material I pass that value on to my clients.
If anybody wants some advice on designing a piece or would like a piece custom built from their own construction waste, please feel free to drop me a line!
Signing out,
WoodshopGirl
Do you LIKE what you see?
Amy is always designing & building new furniture pieces. If you are interested in seeing more of her work, you can check out the gallery of her pieces. If you are wanting something custom built, get in touch with Amy today and see if you can work together.
