Any Furniture Builders? Wife wants a Farmhouse Table

Jerzsubbie

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My wife wants a trestle-base farmhouse table, has wanted it since we bought our house a few years ago, and I’ve decided I really don’t want to build it myself. I’m not a finish work guy, don’t have a planer, and would rather pay someone to do it than risk wasting money on a failed project.

I see plenty of guys on fb and CL who do custom builds but figured I’d ask here before going with some random guy.
 
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What's a reasonable budget for something like that? Prices online are ALL OVER the place...
 
What's a reasonable budget for something like that? Prices online are ALL OVER the place...
I’m finding guys quoting $650 for 8’ table and 2 benches up to $850 for table and 1 bench. All painted base and stained/poly top.
 
I have a buddy that is getting into making furniture and is in Charlotte. I’ll pm you his name and number.
 
Go to Home Depot, buy some 2x4's and a sheet of plywood. Simple.
Unless what she really wants is a yuppy pretend farmers table that is actually a custom made piece of fine furniture. Ha!

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I’m finding guys quoting $650 for 8’ table and 2 benches up to $850 for table and 1 bench. All painted base and stained/poly top.
Sounds about right. You are paying for the artists time too.
If it took you 40 hours to make something, would you sell it for $300 if it was a one off?

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Sounds about right. You are paying for the artists time too.
If it took you 40 hours to make something, would you sell it for $300 if it was a one off?

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Agreed, I think those are very fair prices. I priced everything out already as I considered building it myself.
It’s just a bit of a crapshoot as to the quality of the product when buying from a person vs an established business. Of course you have to consider the materials used, pine vs hardwood, big box vs lumber yard, type of joinery, brushed vs sprayed finish, etc.
 
Go to Home Depot, buy some 2x4's and a sheet of plywood. Simple.
Unless what she really wants is a yuppy pretend farmers table that is actually a custom made piece of fine furniture. Ha!

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Lol I don’t think 2x4s and plywood will fly in my house. The “farmhouse” style craze is certainly “yuppy”. At least I’m not buying it from Pottery Barn.
 
Agreed, I think those are very fair prices. I priced everything out already as I considered building it myself.
It’s just a bit of a crapshoot as to the quality of the product when buying from a person vs an established business. Of course you have to consider the materials used, pine vs hardwood, big box vs lumber yard, type of joinery, brushed vs sprayed finish, etc.
Totally.
Sometimes my wife asks me to build her something that is far beyond my basic skills. I can make boxes and brush paint them. But I don't have the requisite skill for finished carpentry.
I can build a shop table but not a kitchen table.

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I would like to get back into making some furniture but I don't currently have a shop. Someday though.

This guy is a friend of mine. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=@ Blue Hills Woodworks

He does rustic type furniture and lives in Iredell county. Thanksgiving would be near impossible for any quality work but he may have something completed.
 
I have built them in the past. About three days by myself and all the tools already set up. These can be very pricey, depending upon your style and attention to detail. There used to be a furniture guild out near Graham that would do custom work, but I do not remember the name of it. Best of luck.
 
I would like to get back into making some furniture but I don't currently have a shop. Someday though.

This guy is a friend of mine. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=@ Blue Hills Woodworks

He does rustic type furniture and lives in Iredell county. Thanksgiving would be near impossible for any quality work but he may have something completed.

He built a custom desk for my new house turned out unbelievable!

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https://imgur.com/a/RAWgIGi
 
It took him about 2-3 weeks to build it. I'll tell you Scott is a salt of the earth type guy. I would honestly have him build anything I'm looking for because he did that good a job. My wife is very particular and was really worried when it took him 3 weeks because of a delay getting the coating for the top. But she has been estatic with the entire thing. It truly is a beautiful piece of art that is functional. The price was very good as well for such a great piece.
 
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You may wish to take a day trip along Hwy 321 between Hickory and Lenior, plenty of furniture stores for various tastes.
 
@Slacker I looked at CL in CLT but nothing jumped out at me. It was all still in the same range as above. I saw one person selling a set for 200 but it really looked like $200.
 
Well one of the guys I found on fb lives 20min from me, in Kannapolis, and can build it in time for thanksgiving, so I’m going over there tonight to see some of his work and discuss details of what I want.
If it doesn’t pan out, my wife will wait and I’ll buy when things cool down after the holidays.
 
Keep us posted with pics etc
 
If your Kannapolis guy does not work out let me know. I have some customers that build these professionally.
 
So I pulled the trigger... getting an 8ft farmhouse table, 4x4 pine trestle base, breadboard ends, 2 matching benches. Top will be cherry, stained and poly'ed. Base will be painted white.

Really nice, down to earth guy who began building furniture a couple years ago and is on his way to doing it full time. He was only able to squeeze my job in because his next piece isn't due until 12/1. I noticed an oddly familiar bulge on his hip too, so he can't be a terrible person. :)

I'll certainly share progress pics and the finished product with you guys, as well as his info if all goes as planned.

EDIT: Minor mixup on his end, misquoted price for cherry, so we ended up agreeing on red oak. Honesty, I thought the price was too low for cherry and wanted oak or ash for the good mix of hardness, grain, and price.
 
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Forgot all about posting pics. Yes I got it the evening before thanksgiving, as promised.
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My wife is very happy with it as am I. I’m a little knit-picky so I’m going to take him up on his offer to fix anything I don’t like.

I noticed 2 issues:
1) his brush must have been falling apart as there are a dozen little pieces of brush in the poly
2) I don’t like the stacked 1x4 feet on the benches or the 1x4 spacer in the middle. I specified 4x4, same as the table.

The top will have to be sanded, the pieces of brush picked out, and re-coated. The bench bases will have to be partially disassembled and repainted.

I don’t see these as huge issues and they’re MUCH better than the issues my neighbor had with their Facebook table!
 
My son does some of these. But he sold his place & doesn't have a shop right now. He built one for my daughter from wood I had stashed. Wormy Chestnut top & Wormy Maple base. I had about a grand in the wood alone. It's a knockout. I have some of the Wormy Chestnut that I intend for him to build me a desk with.
 
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