Project Information
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.
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.