Table Install

Now that the two pieces of the table were complete, I could finish the pieces and install in the shop.

Finishing the table frames entailed a chemical process with EPI Solutions Insta-Blak and waxing with butcher's wax. The tabletops needed plenty of sanding and waxing with two types of wax.

Here's some photos from the install:

Note the before and after tabletops.

Tabletops

Before the frames were made, Don, a carpenter based in Franklin Lakes, NJ and I got together and built the tabletops and bench seats. I chose roasted poplar because of it's color and workability. It's a really soft wood, so it's really easy to work with.

Raw lumber

Don, planing

All glued up.

Raw tabletops.

Tables, Tables and More Tables!

I never thought the tables would end! We decided to keep five small, private tables for one side of the store, while transforming the other seating into two, larger communal tables.

If you've ever looked for a decent table- meaning, one with style while still maintaining it's durability- you'd know that a decent table costs a pretty penny. And you can never find EXACTLY what you want.

It's like shopping for a couch. You find one with a tufted back, but it doesn't come in the right color. And then you find one in the right color, but it's the wrong fabric and your dog's nails will create pulls. Besides, it has a tufted seat, which reminds you of the many times you sat on your old couch with open pens in your back pocket and they bled all over the couch. It will just NEVER turn out well, and if you want something done right? Do it yourself.

1) The kind people over at Taconic Design Group in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn rented me use of their shop for a morning to cut up raw material for the table frames.

2) I spent a few days up in Warwick, NY- about a hundred miles NW of New York City- which is really the longest amount of time I could spend up there, being a city bird and all. The purpose? A welder and a barn to fabricate the tables in peace & quiet!

Me!

Table parts.

Table leg.

Finished table frame.

First Install, Bus station

Quick fix for the "situation" that was there. Note clever use of wall space for a magazine and newspaper rack.

"The Situation" (Before):

Result (After):

First Post

I should mention a little about myself as a first post. Just a little background.

My name is SD.

I live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, a block away from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

<-- That's my apartment.

So, about a month ago, Joe Coffee asked me to do some minor renovation work for them in their Waverly Place store. The following blog posts are proof of what happens when an unemployed architectural metalworker (raised by a carpenter) turns into an employed designer/builder.