Good to be the King

The owner of my company has a birthday that falls on December 21. We don't buy him a Christmas gift, but we do chip in company wide for a birthday present. As a successful business owner with great taste, he's extremely hard to buy for.

His desk is an antique Baker dining table. It's beautiful with the rest of his contemporary office furniture, but after about 18 years in service and multiple moves and modifications, it's falling apart. My boss Mike heads up the gift selection each year and decided it was time for a new one.

I assisted with sketching ideas and finding photos of furniture features we liked. Mike came up with the final design and selected the wood species. It was fabricated by a local furniture studio. Simple, contemporary lines in walnut, zebrawood, and what I believe is madagascar rosewood.

There were a couple production delays so we just presented him with it today. We threw a couple tablecloths over it and set out the puppy carrier, bowls, and dog toys I picked up over lunch. I think he really thought he was getting a baby until Mike started to grab the carrier and things and asked him to pull off the linens.

It came out great, and he was very pleased. The guys from the studio are coming back late this week to move it up to his office and if possible I'll try to get a shot of it in place.

10 comments:

Mrs. Blandings said...

Wowee - he must be an incredibly nice guy. Great work.

Toad said...

Now, if only you could work your magic on the old table,eh?

Raina Cox said...

That is GLORIOUS.

Well done you!

Anonymous said...

Lucky guy! Love it!!

Would also LOVE your support on the ELLE DECOR window I did for the Big Window Challenge this year with Apartment Therapy. Check it out at - http://www.bigwindowchallenge com. As we all know, AT doesn’t make it easy, but you can vote TWICE a day, once online and the other by texting “1” to 89800.

Your support means the world to me!!

Xo
Eddie

Decorina said...

Gorgeous table. Coule that other wood be macassar ebony? It is just wonderful.

Eddie you have my vote. Saw the info on Joni's blog. Your window was the best.

David said...

He's pretty good to us Mrs. B, it's fun to be able to give a little something back. (and yes, I'm still lusting after the RL deco engine turned chrome lamps he got a couple years ago.)

Toad, Mike and I are trying to figure out exactly that. It's too good to just get rid of, but it's going to need a lot of love, and then what to do with it?

His office is gorgeous Raina, hopefully I can sneak a few phone pics of the desk and everything else. And you'll see my idea of the perfect sofa - Barbara Barry's reeded base sofa for Baker.

Voting now Eddie, good luck!

Decorina, it might be. Mike just said "Madagascar" so it kind of left me unsure. It's beautiful whatever it is. I'm dying to use it for cabinetry, running the grain horizontally. (but doubting that happens...)

ArchitectDesign™ said...

Now thats a great gift -what a beautiful table! I love the idea of an office with modern furniture and one statement piece -an antique though. Beats my built in desk in the office, same as everyone elses -but i've added quite a bit of 'useful' but beautiful items to make it mine. I might not have an amazingdesk, but I'm proud not to hold pens, pencils and paperclips in plastic containers from office depot like everyone else! We're architects -we really should know better!

home before dark said...

Wow! I hope your boss was is as impressive as this desk! So nice to see a workplace where people are appreciated. It would take a wonderful boss to create this kind of response in his workers. Kudos all around.

Russ Manley said...

Beautiful table, David. But you must have little feet. It would drive me out of my flipping mind to have my size 13's always and forever bumping against those crosspieces underneath, and never being able to stretch my long legs out without my bootheels getting caught on something.

But I hope your boss has little feet too. Grin. And an appreciation for a lovely gift.

Karena said...

Turned out beautifully, and I bet he was thrilled! A very special gift indeed!