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Thread: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    Oklahoma
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    Default John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Please excuse the low quality of the photos and the dust on the furniture. The photos were taken immediately after the three pieces were just removed from the shipping crates.

    The furniture that I had John built is a more contemporary style. Many of the design elements I choose were from “borrowed” from pieces built in the 1800’s and from contemporary furniture.

    The coffee table has a figured cherry top and a black lacquer finish applied to the base. John also painted the lower bead on the apron gold and found some cast brass rosettes to affix to the top of the leg. Even though we never spoke with John and he worked from a few pictures and brief descriptions of what elements we liked in each picture; he was able to created exactly what we envisioned.

    The end table is tiger maple and we had John finish it several shades darker than he normally finishes tiger maple. It is hard to tell from the pictures but John’s custom finish is almost an exact match to a predominant color in the rug.

    The Demi-Lune is a true masterpiece. There is no paper thin commercial veneer, no laminated wood doors, and no vacuum bags used to build this demi-lune. John is an old school craftsman so all of the veneer on the demi-lune is 3/32 thick, it was either purchased from a high end piano manufacturer or was hand cut from a walnut plank, and only clamps and forms were used during construction.

    As beautiful as the furniture looks in person, for me, what is equally important was having the privilege of meeting John and listening as he explained how he built each piece of furniture. He is an extraordinary individual.

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  2. #2
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Oh, my heavens. These are beautiful.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    It was enjoyable helping with this room decor project with H&M and John Buchanan. And Kevin, you have that faith in relying on suggestions which a lot of folks can't do. That makes it really easy to work with you on creating all these pieces and I thank you for the opportunity to do that. And the openness of your specifications gave John leeway to create true masterpieces, rather than constraining him to work within tight specifications. And that is the secret to commissioning a piece - or pieces. Give the master cabinetmaker enough criteria to communicate what the design should be, but not overly spec the creation to lock them into every detail. Only then you get an artful creation. Freedom in the form and trusting to the skills of the maker and you get the very best pieces, every time.

    John and I talked about your projects halfway through the build and for the first time in a long time I heard him say "I'm having fun making these", which means there was challenge in the build, and he had that permission to put his thoughts and skill into the pieces.

    Well done! And glad you are pleased with the results. When you get a chance, I'd like to see the whole room photo! Thanks for the opportunity to create all these, and the confidence they would meet your expectations!
    Last edited by drcollie; 02-14-2016 at 11:55 PM.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    Oklahoma
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Duane,

    I really appreciate all of your advice and assistance. John and I chuckled about people thinking it was odd to drive half way across the country to pick up and bring back a load of furniture. It may be because we both spent several years in the rural areas of the Pacific Northwest where long distant drives are normal day-to-day activities.

    For me, the best news is that after I unloaded the pieces last night, my wife now wants to commission a few more John Buchanan pieces.

    If I can add one more piece of advice for someone considering commissioning a piece.

    The following is based upon three decades of working with engineers and master craftsmen across the trades to build one of a kind equipment, I have found that if you:
    * do your homework (know what you want and need),
    * ask lots of questions,
    * value all advice and suggestions (you do not have to agree or follow every one),
    * spend the time to build cardboard mockups to understand the shape, mass, and function of a piece,
    * develop a final set of design constraints, and
    * acknowledge there are an infinite number of correct designs within any given set of constraints.

    As you stated, by giving a master craftsmen a lot of room to be able to create a work of art (or a one-of-a-kind piece of equipment), rarely will one be disappointed with a final product.

    It is ironic that you also mentioned trust. After I thanked John for agreeing to build my pieces, he thanked me for giving him the opportunity to build furniture for me and he told me about the level fo trust that is necessary on both sides when commissioning furniture.

    I am paraphrasing what was discussed. The client has to trust the cabinetmaker to not only create a piece that from a woodworking perspective is technically correct but also to allow the cabinetmaker the freedom to create/modify certain artistic lines and change small details when necessary. I had heard this described as giving the an artist the freedom to give a work of art its “soul”. John said that the cabinetmaker has to trust that the client communicated their desires, will like the final piece, and will be happy with their creation.

    I think the whole room is about 85% - 90% finished…John Buchanan’s tables and the statement piece, the H&M furniture, a few of colorful woodblock prints by Pham Quoc Hung, and a nice bright rug have provided a great start…definitely an eclectic mix of styles. I am beginning to think the difficult part will be finishing the room. The $64,000 question is “how to place the final touches on the room without distracting from what I already have and keeping the room livable”.

    In the near future, I will post a photo or two of the room and ask the members of the myfurnitureforum community for advice or suggestions.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Most definitely. There is a Ying and Yang to commissioning a custom built piece from a concept, and Trust / Faith is the cornerstone of it all. That is hard to do when you are putting YOUR money on the line, I know that. You know I like to tell stories, and here's how one of these go bad....this happened probably fifteen years ago.

    I had a very strong-willed woman as a customer that ran her own corporation and she was a regular customer. She knew what she wanted and I don't think she particularly liked advice from men. One day she brought in photos of a period-style bed, one that belonged to her late mother and her sister got the bed when the estate was settled many years ago and she had not seen it for some time. She wanted me to make a copy of this bed and had several photos of it in great detail. It was a complex bed with numerous carvings and expensive design features that would be costly to reproduce. Money was not an object, but the problem was her mother had poor taste and this bed was a design nightmare. It was obviously built by someone who did not know period bed form. It was out of balance visually, the proportions wrong on almost every component, and quite honestly - a hack. Realizing this was a family heirloom kind of piece, I did not want to be abrupt, but I gently told her that it was going to be costly to do a one-off, and the bed was a poor design, she should not do it. Her reply to me was "I did not ask you for your opinion, just to price and build it. When I want your advice I will solicit it, just tell me how much it will cost to make it and when it can be ready". What can you say to that? So I sent the photos up to my best bed maker, Stephen Plaud of Rhode Island and he called me up once he got them and said "Duane, this bed is awful, it's all wrong didn't you tell her that? I can reproduce this exactly, but it's going to look like terrible, and with all this carving on it will not be inexpensive." I told him to price it, and it came in at $ 9,000.

    When I gave her that price, she said "That will be fine if it's made just as in the photos, no interpretations." Once again I said "I am going to strongly advise you to not contract for this bed. Not only do I think the design is poor, but so does the bedmaker." And she said "That's not your concern, its mine - how much deposit do you need on it?" Well, for this nightmare build I said "Because this bed will be unsaleable should you not take delivery for any reason, it has to be 100% paid up front and I will require a contract that I write up for you to sign saying you accept full responsibility for the design parameters and we are responsible for structural and workmanship defects only." She agreed to that and paid for it in full at time of order. The bed was then built in a timely manner and my delivery team took it out to her house and set it up in her room. I told my delivery team to take accurate photos of the bed when it was set up as well.

    Three days later she stormed into my store and demanded I take the bed back, claiming it was terrible. I pulled out her original photos and the ones my delivery guys had taken and asked her if the copy was accurate to the photos she submitted. She agreed they were. I produced the signed contract that stated the bed was not returnable for any reason and let her re-read it, and her reply was "I don't care what that piece of paper says - you take this bed back or you will never see me in this store again." I reminded her that on two occasions I advised her to not build this bed and her reply was "Then why did you accept the order?" And of course I said "You told me too, and since you have been coming here a long time I did what you asked". And that was that - I never saw her again and she did not have legal grounds to pursue in court over it as the bed was made exactly to her specifications.

    That was a case of a customer not listening to not one, but two experts on bed design and not allowing us to make her the CORRECT version of the bed her mother was attempting to get to many years prior. Had she said "Make me a bed similar to this" she would have had a beautiful creation, but when she said "Make it exactly like this and do not deviate from the photos", she tied all our hands and we could easily see the nightmare. That's why it's so important to allow the people that know how to build it right the leeway to do so. And you find the right person to do that by doing your homework ahead of time, then trusting them to create that art. Kevin, you get that. Nowdays If I see a customer headed the wrong direction on a custom build and they won't relent on what they want (my favorite is the 9' round dining table which at least two people a year say they want and I say "no", every time). it's better to just let the order go and someone else can try to build it for them.

    The cool part about a custom commission is they almost always meet or exceed expectations and you have a true one-of-a-kind masterpiece, made just for you and unlikely to be seen anywhere else.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2010
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    Columbus, OH
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Good story Duane, it sucks that you lost a good customer over her obstinance.

    I'm curious, what is the reasoning behind saying no to the 9' round table? Just the impracticality of it? It is hard to make the top look good?

  7. #7
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    The 9-foot round dining table people think think they want but can't find anywhere?

    1) Doorways are 7' high in most homes. First thing is it won't fit in the house unless made in knock down components, including the top itself.

    2) The maximum reach people can pass food across the table means the diameter of the table can be no more than 60" (5') if they are all tall with long arms, and 54" is really better. If you build a round table any larger, all the space in the middle is the dead zone. So a 9' diameter table means a big Lazy Susan in the middle. to pivot dishes on.

    D
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Thanks for the reply, I know it is totally impractical, I was just wondering if there was some other factor I wasn't considering.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    Duane,

    Attached is a clearer picture of the John Buchanan demi-lune and a few whole room photos that were taken from different perspectives ( I had to use a wide angle lens to capture the entire room so some of the furniture looks odd. The second picture is entering the living room from the foyer, the third picture is a view from the backdoor, the fourth picture is from the back of the room, and the last picture is looking into the living room from the kitchen.

    I am planning on placing a 12" - 14" diameter fluted, shallow blown glass bowl on the coffee table. The shape and colors of the bowl will complement the shape of the designs in the rug. I think my wife has plans for the mantel, wedding picture and album. We already learned that my daughter's cat thinks the only good figurines are the ones she knocks onto the floor and any group of small figurines means "batting practice".

    I am trying to decide between a table lamp on the occasional table, a floor lamp between the brown chairs, or no lamp and a couple of small vases on the table. In a perfect world, any lamp I select would have a rechargable battery so that I will not have to construct and finish an oak cover to protect power cord running to the wall outlet.

    A this point, there are two areas that are driving me nuts.

    1) The two blue chairs and the demi-lune look like they are floating on the hardwood due to a lack of a rug. On one hand, I think I need some type of rug at that end of the room. However, it would be a weird size, 4' x 10', or maybe 4' x 8' and it will be a chore to find something to compliment the larger rug. One the other hand, if you view the room while looking at the fireplace, there is hard wood at both ends of the room so there is symmetry.

    2) The empty corner behind the brown chair (32" x 43") chair and the empty corner next to the blue chair (28" x 38"). I am not sure if it is Okay to keep these are empty spaces and if something needs to fill the empty spaces, I am open to suggestions. A major constraint is we open and close the plantain shutters through the day.

    Any and all suggestions for these two problem areas will be greatly appreciated.
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  10. #10
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    Default Re: John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

    The room looks great! I think the Demi-Lume fills that space by the flat screen just as we imagined it would.

    To my eye....

    1) Your existing rug is the wrong size, sorry to tell you that. but it should be 4' to 6' wider, that's what is throwing you off spatially. You have what is essentially (I think) is a mostly square rug when you need a rectangular. In a room like yours, the rug 'drives' the whole presence of the room so it's a key component, the furniture is the accessory to the rug. If that is a handmade rug you bought from a local dealer, believe it or not you can have it added to. They can make it wider, though it would probably have to be shipped back to the country of origin and be gone about a year. I've seen that done before.

    2) You have enough furniture in the room. What will fill those corners and give you more depth and presence would be a chair rail with shadow box under the rail, and painted all white. It's a visual trick you can do to a room that is very inexpensive to do. Here's a photo of my dining room that I just took, I installed this and painted it in a weekend doing it myself and total cost was under $ 250 in materials. Just a thought....

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    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

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