SOLVING THE ‘…ALMOST THERE’ HEADACHE

You Mean… Not Everyone Likes Yellow?

Window shopping for clothes, furniture, rugs, and paintings for your walls always yields something unexpected—especially when you’re with other people.  That’s not to say you’re sure to find something that will wow and amaze you every time you duck into an outlet to see what’s there.  The unexpected comes in the form of perspective.

There have been many times I’ve passed through some or other emporium of chairs and seen one that I just had to sit in.  It’s usually one that I can imagine placed in a very specific spot in my house, too… others are neat, sure, but they don’t inspire me enough to get me out of my comfortable standing and browsing position.  Of the ones that do, some beg a little more consideration.  They’re the ones I start bugging other people about; “wouldn’t that look nice next to the end table we have from your mother?”

Sadly, my chair choices don’t always get great reviews.  “Ugly” is an ugly word, but the unavoidable truth is that it’s sometimes sprung on you when you’re most excited about something.  Not everyone sees the same shirt on their spouse, frame around their children, or lamp in the corner with the same enthusiasm.  This is why people hire interior designers.  Not everyone agrees on style, but there is an art to making a space appear and feel successfully laid out, even to the most critical eye.

Lend Your House The Touch It Deserves

If you have a house, apartment, or condo, and want to see it’s potential reached, it’s a good idea not to start at the first local furniture warehouse within reach.  It’s quite likely you’ll come across some pieces you like, but will they like the space?  Will they like each other?  Will your friends and family like them?  What you absolutely do not want to do is spend a month dragging things around like pieces of a massive, interlocking jigsaw puzzle, live with your compromise for a while, then have someone walk in and tell you exactly what they’d change about everything (if only with their eyes).

For your home to be just right, your furniture has to become an extension of the walls, floors, sills, and windows.  Nothing should look well placed—it should look like it grew there.  In my experience, there is no substitute for custom made furniture. With wood, in particular, it goes beyond helping to have your grains, stains, edges, dimensions, and textures flow from piece to piece to wall to floor with grace and precision. Precision like that can’t be accomplished with a little luck and an afternoon chasing through the yellow pages’ furniture entries.

No Substitute For Perfection

Having been commissioned many times to build something specific, I know firsthand how necessary it is to see where it will go and what it will work with, from as many angles as possible.

Once you know each detail of the preordained placement to the tiniest tee, you can set about discovering which details will best be carried over directly into the furniture, and which details should contrast. Everything matters; the length and type of routing of beveled edges, the exact size, shape, and tone of any metal, the shape volume of a chair seat, and of course, the wood itself.

One of the coolest things about the process of selecting custom made wood furniture is that it starts with the wood. Just the wood, the whole wood, and nothing but the wood. Start off with an excellent chunk of an excellent tree, and the world (or at least your flat) is your oyster.