John Buchanan Custom Tables and Demi-Lune

[Kevin]

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.