Custom dining tables: can yours be made from a photo?

Yes. Architexture’s craftsmen have made dining room tables from photographs, in the hardwood and finish the client chooses, and they will make a finish sample for you to approve before the finish goes on the table. You start in the Woodland Hills showroom, with the photo you love and the tables on the floor.

Here is how it works, and what to decide before you order.

What kind of photo can you bring?

A picture from a magazine, a catalog or the internet can be reproduced exactly as seen, or modified, keeping the elements you love and changing the rest. The craftsmen have also taken design elements from several different tables that clients admired and combined them into one original piece, and they have combined different materials to make something unique.

If you do not have a photo yet, that is fine too. Start with the dining tables on display in the showroom, or with designs you find online.

Which wood and finish should you choose?

The craftsmen work in all types of hardwood, including alder, oak, walnut and mahogany, and can do any finish, stained or painted.

Finish is hard to judge from a photo, because the same stain can look different on different woods and under different light. So you do not have to decide from a screen. A selection of dining tables is on display in the showroom, so you can see what the wood looks like and how it relates to other pieces you own or are considering. And before the finish goes on your table, a finish sample can be made for you to approve.

How big should the table be?

A custom table is made to the size you specify, so this is your decision to make on purpose. Before you order, it helps to know:

• How many people you seat on an ordinary night, and how many when you entertain.
• The room around the table: space to pull chairs out and to walk behind them, and where the buffet, doorways and windows sit.
• The shape that suits the room, round, oval or rectangular.
• The way in: doorways, hallways and stairs.

If the layout of the room is the real question, space planning is part of Architexture’s residential design services: Abby will come to the house to look at the shape and flow of the room, or work from floor plans if it is still under construction.

What about the chairs and the buffet?

The same craftsmen make chairs and buffets, as well as armoires and nightstands, so the dining room can be designed as a whole. The showroom also has dining chairs to sit on, because how a dining chair sits matters for comfort, and that is something you can only learn by sitting in it.

You can see the full range of wood pieces on the custom hardwood furniture page and how custom orders work on the custom-made furniture page.

Why decide before you order?

Custom pieces are made for you, so they are final sale. That is the reason to settle the size, the wood and the finish sample in the showroom, before the table is built. Once it is finished, Architexture has a local delivery service for anywhere in the Los Angeles area, and other blanket wrap delivery services that can deliver custom furniture anywhere in the country.

Bring your photo to Woodland Hills

Visit the Architexture showroom at 21410 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 AM to 4 PM, or call 818-760-3399 to talk through a custom dining table.