Coffee Table Commission
Creating a cosy and relaxing living space can bring joy and connect us to our environment, providing a sense of what it means to be home.
We discovered this when undertaking our latest commission. Lyle has created this piece using factors connected to our clients’ current furniture and their future needs. Here I have asked him more about the project for our latest Q&A…
ALL IMAGES BY WHAT KRISTEN SAW
Can you tell us a bit about this commission?
I was asked to design and build a coffee table for a friend’s home in Edinburgh. Colin & Pamela are about to have their first child and wanted to push forward with getting a piece made before the madness of parenthood descended upon them.
What materials have you used and why?
The clients had some other beautiful oak pieces in their house already. Pamela’s step father is a talented carpenter (you can find his work here: Denny Oak) and had made them a beautiful dining table in European oak so it seemed fitting to use the same material for the main body of the piece. It’s nice to have a contrasting timber in furniture design and American black walnut (FSC regulated and supplied by toolsandtimber.com) seemed like the natural choice. Over time the contrast lessens as oak darkens with exposure to UV light and American black walnut becomes lighter.
This coffee table design is low and grounded with a sense of warmth, what inspired this?
The low design came from the clients having a specific brief in terms of the size and design aesthetic. They had an old coffee table in its place which they liked the dimensions of, however, they were looking for some kind of built in storage (his and her’s drawers) as the last one didn’t have any. I wanted to create warmth with the use of materials as well as all the gently softened edges and use of dowles, giving the whole piece a mid-century look which was also soft and tactlie. It’s especially good to have softened edges with a little baby/toddler around who uses the coffee tables as a training tool for walking and playing!
What were the challenges when creating this table?
The detail of the way the legs stick up through the top had to be executed very carefully. There Is no margin for error as it needed an equal gap all the way around each leg. It involved some accurate jig making to get it just right but I think it looks fantastic. I also wanted the drawers to ‘hang’ from the underside of the table. Moving parts are always a little tricky in carpentry but with the use of good quality hardware it always makes life easier, never scrimp on hardware and components, that’s my philosophy! Here I used GRASS DYNAPRO full extending drawer slides with soft close to give the clients a lifetime of continued use. They also undermount on the drawers so you never see them in action which is a nice touch.
What do you feel has worked well here?
I am pleased with the overall aesthetic of the table. I particularly like the one slab of walnut for the drawer fronts as the grain runs seamlessly from one drawer to the other. As mentioned above I am pleased with how the leg detail came through. Creating two layers of storage (magazine rack at bottom and drawers) really worked to fulfil the client’s brief.
What did the clients think?
"We’ve admired Lyle’s craftsmanship for years and we wanted him to make our own unique coffee table with ample storage to fit in our main living space. And we're really happy with the result. During the design phase Lyle kept us up to date with drawings and wood samples as the design evolved. The table is beautifully crafted and something that will last a life time. We're really impressed by the attention to detail - the perfectly rounded edges, the tactile finger grips on the walnut drawer faces and the felt drawer inserts. Absolutely delighted!”
Colin and Pamela, Edinburgh
