I made these finials to go on top of the farm rollers I’ve mentioned before. The oak body of the finial is turned from a solid piece of wood. I like the checking (cracks) you can achieve with a solid piece of wood….the outside surface drys more quickly than the inside core of the wood so it cracks. If you were to laminate several smaller pieces of wood together and than turn the piece you would get little or no checking which is generally the most desired affect but not for me, I like to see the grain and nature of a single block of wood. The shape of the finial was inspired by a classical urn shape, often fashioned in metal and seen on old European entry gates, in stone on the roof of 18th century Palladian styled manor house or furniture…they’re everywhere. The zinc leaves are cut from salvaged roofing material. I just cut random size leaves, gathered them together in a pattern designed to represent the agave plant…..drilled the top of the urn and forced them in. You can use these in pairs to create symmetry or singly in another composition. Outside, a pair of these on the turned oak columns could give a garden path a little zest.

The agave plant was the inspiration for the zinc leaves.

This drafting table was probably one of my favorite pieces I ever came across. I speak of it in the past tense because someone gave me enough money for me to let it go… I had it in my house for many years…time to let it go.  It originally had a large wooden top that was attached to the cast iron base, it tilted back and forth as well as up and down to suit the draftsman’s fancy. I switched out the wood top for a found piece of glass that is nearly 3/4″ thick and added the wheels. The thing I  was most “drawn” to by the table was how versatile it is. It can be cranked up to bar height down to dining height or used as a counter. It was a great table for parties. It did double duty as buffet, dining and console table…and could be rolled around.The glass top let’s one appreciate the beautiful workings of the table and your friends shoes.

Trade Show Set up. We always know how much space we have to work with for a show…mapping out the large scale pieces and staging the booth in a way that leads the buyers into the booth is important…there is so much to show our customers but not everything makes the cut. Here we used a monochromatic color palette to soothe the eye as there is dangerously too much in the booth.

Here is another shot of the booth in Atlanta at the Gift Show. There I
am peeking around the corner. Look at the clear plastic award for best
display on the table!

Earlier I had shared the stack of chalkboard panels I had salvaged here> Here is an example of what can be done with them.

Simple oak blocks cut from an old barn beam make these great seats or even end tables. The antique mantel gives the space a focal point to work off of, not unlike the console on the other side of the booth. The X base round table is a very successful table of ours. The top and base can be made in any dimension and with many kind of material and color options.

Look at the ware of this 18th century barn floor board…there is even an old nail head still in the floor.