The Teak and Glass Coffee Table Details
 The Teak and Glass Coffee Table Completed |
We worked on a simple design. Simple designs when successful appear simple. Accomplishing such is not simple. We played with quite a few ideas and sketched out some ideas until modifications made us both happy. The end product does look quite simple and just plain "fits" the home. Some extra effort and hidden techniques lead to the end product satisfying the "simple" Frank Lloyd Wright style.
To begin with, I toured the home. Noting the style and use of teak as well as the cross membranes in the windows, all of which were elements to incorporate into this table.
The client had some specific wishes also. It was to be an extremely low table, about 10-12" off the floor. A large surface area was desired also as per the space in which the table was to be used.
After numerous drawings and a couple of meetings, we were finally pretty close on some ideas. However, there were variables which the client and myself were not sure of the best way to go, so we decided to make a prototype. The prototype was to firm up how I would join the various pieces and allow some decisions on leg height, cross-member placements and leg placements.
For the leg height and cross-member placements, I just took my best shot at matters once I had the general pieces cut to rough size and looked at them. That went great with both myself and the client happy with all choices.
The leg placements, that was the topic neither of us was sure about. All legs in center? All the legs shifted to the right or left equal distance? Two near each corner? We just did not really know and that was why a prototype was made. I made each of the four leg placements on the prototype different so that one could look at the table from one side or the other and choose which set up one preferred. I saw it all before the client of course and had a favorite of my own, but it was not my table or decision. So, I took the prototype to the client's home and we put it in place where the final table would eventually be. Well, I would have never guessed it - the client liked the prototype - all legs in different, non-geometrically related positions. I never thought of that, but upon contemplating such and seeing such in that room - it was great! So that settled that.
Now, we drove to the client's way out back storage building to look at the teak wood which would be used to make this table. When the client bought the home, there was teak decking in the house with a water feature which had been removed. The wood was saved and stored with the eventual concept of re-use for something else at sometime in the future. That was now.
I gathered up enough of the wood for this table (plus a little extra in case) and went back to my shop to make the teak table.
The old wood first had to be planed smooth as the surface areas were finished and dinged up a bit. That showed the fine wood which lie beneath. But, there was some oil surfacing which worried me. I sanded it a bit and waited a few days to see if it held steady or spread and appeared all over the teak surface. It held up well and only showed in a few areas. I thus planned my cuts and usable areas accordingly.
Another factor which need to be incorporated into the table was the fact that these previously used boards had screw holes in them from their previous attachment to supports when they were deck planks. The holes were in one side only so I was able to design the "sandwich" of the top two layers of teak with the holes facing each other and thus not seen in the end product. The legs were made of the previous support pieces of the decking. They had screw holes also but were far enough apart that I could cut out "clean" sections the length I needed for the legs.
Production was not fast, but no big surprises occurred. The leg cross braces were adhered with glue and dowels to make the joining invisible. The top of the table which is two layers was joined with stainless steel screws from the underside and biscuits at the corners. As a very low table, this made those joining methods pretty much invisible also.
As for finishing the piece, the desire was to match various other teak finished in the home. Prior to an early visit I had made sample teak pieces and applied all the "natural" finishes I have to them. Teak oil, poly urethane, marine varnish, etc. Looking at all of them next to the ones in the home, none matched. There was a much lighter appearance to the existing teak finish but I have no idea how it was achieved. We don't know what was used or when and it's possible time and sunlight has changed the shade. We simply found out none of them matched and I could not match it. So, looking at the samples under that premises, it produced another surprise. The client liked one sample over all the others - the one I did not finish - just sanded. Normally, not a good concept, but in this case, seemed pretty good. There are no children in the house, the teak table is covered by glass with a 6" glass overhang - thus, unprotected, just sanded teak should be fine and that's how it was handled. If there is ever a problem with an area - simply sanding it a little bit would bring it right back to it's original state.
I love this table. I enjoyed making the table, the design and production are very good. It looks wonderful in the space it was meant to be.
