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I had never built two identical pieces before, so when it came time to make a coffee table for our great room, I thought why not make two smaller tables instead? It makes the room much more flexible.

I've always been a fan of both Charles Limbert and the Roycrofters, and I knew that both had produced tabouret tables back in the day, so I drew on them as inspiration. Both tables have been reissued by Stickley. Click the links to see.

Limbert's tabouret is square and boxy, with large holes carved in the sides. Those holes are acknowledged in the small 4-square pattern in the top stringers.

The Roycroft tabouret gave me the inspiration for the sturdy angles. There's a hefty influence from antique Japanese furniture as well.

My tables stand about 18 inches tall; the tops are 16 inches square. The legs are angled at about seven degrees on all four sides. One design detail that I'm particularly proud of is that the tops and bottoms of the stringers on my piece run parallel to the floor. It made it much trickier to make, but gives the final work a smarter look. All tenons are doweled for added strength.

Both tops are cut from the same long piece of quartersawn, spliced right down the middle, and configured in such a way as to read as one piece when the tables are placed end-to-end. I was lucky enough to have a piece that had beautiful figure.

Finish is the same Jeff Jewitt recipe that I've used before-why mess with success, right? Follow the link, then click on Stickley Mission Finish (pdf download) to get the instructions. I haven't been able to photograph the color with much success, but first picture is pretty true.

These are the first pieces I was able to brand using the iron my wife bought me for Christmas in 2010. I designed the mark myself, which is also an homage to the Roycrofters. The brand is in the middle of the underside of the tops.

Gallery

Comments

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I love your tables. Great craftsmanship. My wife had a similar idea and I couldn't quite picture it. I can now see what she had in mind. This just got added to my to-do list.
 

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you've done a really super job on the tables. The wood is just beautiful and the construction is flawless
 

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Thanks for sharing the project and the photos.
 

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I really like these tabourets ,very nice work ,I'm a fan of the Limbert and roycrafters too.
 

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Both of them came out very nice, I see in the pictures about what you wrote how the tops flow when put together, absolutely gorgeous.
 

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Very cool! I followed some of these design elements in a chest of drawers, dresser and two nightstands. I love the Arts and Crafts look… very nice.
 

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Magnificent! Excellent hybrid design & execution. I've been wanting to try Jewitt's recipe. Thanks for the inspiration. I wouldn't mind a better shot of your brand. I've been thinking about getting one made.
 

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Thanks for the compliments, everybody! If I ever master SketchUp, I'll make a retroactive plan and post it here (but I wouldn't hold my breath … this was drawn up on a scrap of paper). CaptainS, I hope to make a blog post about the brand … it's really added to the heirloom notion of my furniture. Stay tuned!
 

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I'm such a sucker for arts and crafts style… I LOVE IT… excellent job.
 

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Very nice, kordwood.
You should check out some of Rennie Mackintosh's furniture. He's a Scottish architect and furniture designer that pre-dates the American Arts and Crafts movement by a few years.
The finish on those tabourets knocks me out. I'm an old-school white oak fumer myself, but this gets me to thinking about Jewitt's method.

Keep it up.
 

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Thanks for the suggestion, tbone … familiar with Mackintosh, although he does bear further study. In fact, we were about a foot away from a small chair of his at a recent trip to MoMA! That was pretty sweet.

The other guy I have a real admiration for is Harvey Ellis, architect and designer for Gustav Stickley. He died in 1904 after only about 9 months at the company, but his light and elegant design touch was very much in the spirit of Mackintosh. I think had he lived, Gustav's stuff (and American A&C in general) would have been a little less blocky.
 

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Nice! I like the mission/craftsman look! Finish came out great too. Not to dark
 
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