Ask A Craftsman

About Ask A Craftsman

Join Brian Benham in his art studio. Brian is a mixed media artist, who uses wood, stone, glass, and metals to create unique pieces of bespoke furniture and architectural elements that resemble art. You can find more about Brian at Benham Design Concepts.

Publisher

Brian Benham

Category

arts · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Sept 2023

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

18 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026

   Furniture That Fits the Room

   Photo from Speas Interior Design I’ve walked into a lot of houses over the years, and I can usually tell within a few seconds if the furniture fits the room well or if it was an afterthought. A dresser that’s two inches too wide for the wall it sits against and encroaches on the door trim around the closet. A sofa that blocks a window seat nobody uses anymore. A dining table that leaves no room to walk around without having to push the chairs all the way in while you scooch along the wall. None of that is really anyone’s fault. Most furniture is built to standard sizes or sizes that are trendy for the new McMansions. Because that’s how trends and large-scale manufacturing work. Furniture manufacturers have forgotten about all the homes built before the McMansion days, and a factory somewhere doesn’t know what your entryway looks like. It builds one size, ships it everywhere, and hopes it fits close enough. When I take on a project, I’m not starting from a standard size chart. I’m starting with your actual room, its actual angles, its actual ceiling height, and whatever quirks come with it. A room that has items that are collected is a room that feels welcoming.  That’s a big part of what I mean by design flexibility in my post about the Denver Design Center. The Problem With Standard Sizes Most houses aren’t perfectly square, and most rooms weren’t designed around a specific piece of furniture. You end up with a wall that’s nine inches shorter than the sideboard you had your eye on, a stair landing that could hold a bench if the bench were the right depth, or a bedroom with a sloped ceiling that eats into where a headboard would normally sit. Off-the-shelf furniture can’t account for any of that. You’re stuck either forcing something into a space it wasn’t made for, or giving up on the idea altogether. That’s the whole reason we have a size discussion before I start designing a custom piece of furniture. Why I Start With the Space, Not the Furniture I look at the room itself, the light, the wood tones already in play, and how you actually move through the space day to day. We can do this over a video call or with room photos you send me. Either way, the piece gets designed around the room, the architecture of the house, and the treasures you have collected for your home, not the other way around. From there, I draw a detailed 3D model so you can see exactly how the piece will sit in your space. You can look at it from every angle, check the clearances, and tell me if something needs to move half an inch one way or the other. That back and forth is how problems get caught on a screen, not after delivery. What This Looks Like in Real Projects A lot of my entry and side tables get designed this way. A narrow foyer with a door that swings a certain direction has limits on depth and placement, and a table that looks perfectly reasonable in a showroom can still block that door by an inch. I design around the actual swing, the actual sightline from the front door, and the actual traffic pattern people use every day. The same goes for sideboards. I’ve sized pieces down to a fraction of an inch to fit exactly between two doorways, and I’ve stretched a design a few extra inches so it fills a wall properly instead of looking stranded in the middle of it. Beds are another good example. A custom bed has to work with a room’s ceiling height, window placement, and sometimes a sloped wall or dormer that a standard headboard height would run straight into. I design the footboard and headboard height around the room you actually have, not a catalog spec. Sometimes the constraint isn’t the room at all; it’s something the client wants to keep in the room. I built a bench around a piece of local granite a client wanted incorporated into the design instead of hidden away. The mahogany top was hand-carved to fit around the

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Working With the Maker is Not the Same as a Sales Rep

   The Person Selling You Furniture Has Never Touched It If you walk into most high-end furniture showrooms, most likely the person helping you has never once picked up a chisel, selected the perfect board for its grain quality, or sanded a finish by hand to be sure it is just right. They’re a sales rep. A good one, probably. They know the product lines, they know the lead times, and they can talk to you about fabric types all day. But they didn’t build anything you’re looking at, and if something goes wrong, they are at the mercy of the manufacturer to do anything about it. That’s not a knock on sales reps. It’s just how the showroom model works. You’re buying from a manufacturer somewhere else, through a person standing between you and that manufacturer. If your piece comes in scratched, or the stain doesn’t match the sample, or it’s backordered for four months, that rep has to advocate for you with a company they don’t control. Sometimes that works out fine. Sometimes you’re stuck waiting on an answer nobody seems to have. I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and I can tell you the alternative is pretty simple. When you commission a piece from me, you’re talking to the person who is going to build it. Not a representative of the person who builds it. Me. If you mention a detail you want changed, I’m the one adjusting the design, and I’m the one at the bench making sure it happens. Nothing gets lost in translation because there’s no translation happening. There’s just a conversation between you and the guy crafting your piece. If that sounds like a small difference, it isn’t. It changes what the whole process feels like, and I think it’s worth walking through exactly what that process looks like so it’s not a mystery. What Actually Happens When You Commission a Piece We start with a conversation. Not a form, not a catalog. Tell me what you’re picturing, what the space needs to do, and what’s not working with what you have now. This can happen over email, a phone call, or a Zoom, whatever’s easiest for you. I put together a budget. Once I understand the project, I’ll give you a number. From there, you decide if you want to move forward or adjust the scope to fit what you’re comfortable spending. There’s no pressure to commit before you know what you’re getting into. A design deposit gets us into the design phase. This covers me sitting down and actually drawing your piece: sketches, stain samples, and the start of a 3D model. Then we collaborate on the design. I build a detailed 3D rendering so you can see the piece before I cut a single board. Two to three rounds of revisions are normal here. Maybe the legs need to be heavier, maybe you want to see it in walnut instead of white oak. This is the stage where we nail down materials, finish, and hardware too, so there aren’t surprises later. I’ll give you an example. I’m working on a trestle dining table design study right now where the whole point of the design is that the base is the star of the show. No skirt hiding the joinery, exposed through tenons at the stretcher, a chamfered foot that pulls your eye down to the floor. Decisions like that with straight grain on the top so it doesn’t compete with the base, and how to treat the knots in the wood, those come out of exactly this kind of back and forth. A showroom can’t offer you that conversation because there’s no one on the other end who actually shapes the wood. A second deposit gets the build started. Once the design is locked in, I move into the shop and build your piece, paying attention to all the details we talked about. This is where decades of trades experience comes to life in the final product. Delivery and installation, done personally. I place and install the piece myself. If you’re outside my Colorado delivery area, I&#

3. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Mixed Media Furniture: What Happens When You Combine Wood, Steel, and Stone

   People ask me a version of the same question almost every time they see a piece that mixes materials. Something like, “How did you even think to put those two things together?” Wood, steel, and stone don’t have much in common on the surface. They come from different worlds, they behave differently when fabricated, and they don’t always want to cooperate with each other. But that’s exactly why I like working this way. I call myself a mixed media artist for a reason. Most of my pieces start with wood, since that’s where I built my foundation as a craftsman, but I rarely stop there. Once you start bringing in steel, stone, or glass, you open up a much bigger design space. You’re no longer limited to what one material can do on its own. Why Bother Mixing Materials at All It makes the piece more interesting, both to look at and to build. Every material has its own personality. Wood has grain, warmth, and movement. Steel can be sharp and industrial, or it can be treated to look aged and organic. Stone brings something raw and organic into a piece that’s otherwise very deliberate. When you put them together well, none of them fight for attention. They set each other off. The steel makes the wood grain look richer. The stone makes the joinery look more precise by comparison. That contrast is part of what I love about the combination. This is part of what I mean when I talk about furniture as art rather than just furniture. It’s one of the ideas I get into in my post on why Benham Design Concepts is worth considering as an alternative to the Denver Design Center, where I talk about pieces that combine materials in ways you won’t find on a showroom floor. A manufacturer working from a standard product line isn’t set up to do this kind of thing. It takes a level of custom fabrication that just doesn’t exist in that world. Wood and Steel: The Porthole Entry Table A good example of this is a hall table I built with a steel disc suspended between two wenge wood trestles. I treated the steel with a blend of chemicals to give it a patina, so instead of looking flat and modern, it develops these warm, coppery, aged tones. That disc sits inside a segmented ring made of wenge and padauk, and the whole thing is topped with a live-edge mahogany slab with hand-cut bowtie inlays. None of that happens by accident. The dark espresso tone of the wenge needed something to play off of, and the warm copper in the steel gave it that. You can see the full piece and read more about how it came together on the Porthole Entry Table page. I’ve done something similar with a bar-height wine tasting table, where a copper-plated and patinated steel base supports a wenge top. Same idea, different application. The steel does the structural work and adds visual weight at the base, while the wood carries the warmth up top. You can see that one on the Bar-Height Wine Tasting Table page. Wood and Stone: The Stone Meditation Bench Stone is a different animal entirely, mostly because you can’t shape it the way you can shape wood or steel. You have to design around it instead of forcing it into your plan. The clearest example of this in my portfolio is a meditation bench where one leg is a hollowed piece of local Colorado granite, ground down by hand to make it manageable. I hand-carved the mahogany seat so it fits around the stone instead of covering it up, which lets you actually see the granite from above. A walnut arch spans from the stone leg to the underside of the seat, all joined with hand-cut mortises and no nails or screws. The idea for that piece actually came from a conversation with an architect friend about craning a boulder through a roof to build a fireplace around it. That got me thinking about how to bring something that raw and unshaped into a piece of furniture without losing the craftsmanship side of things. You can read the full story and see the detail shots

4. 

   25 Sept 2026

   What is the Best Finish for a Dining Table?

   Selecting a good finish for your dining table is just as important as wood selection.  So when a customer wants a durable finish for their dining or kitchen table, my recommendation is a 2K polyurethane. Why 2K Polyurethane Is My Recommendation A dining table is where people set down hot dishes, spill wine, leave a sweating glass of iced tea overnight, and let their kids do homework with markers that bleed through the paper. Whatever finish goes on that surface has to survive real life, not just look good in a photo. 2K poly is a catalyzed finish, meaning you mix a hardener into the base right before spraying. That chemical reaction cross-links the film and gives you something far tougher than lacquer, shellac, or a wiping oil could ever manage.  Here are my top reasons why I use it for tables that get daily use. It’s unaffected by heat and water. No white rings from a hot coffee cup or a sweating glass, which is the number one complaint I hear about shellac and wax finishes. It resists chemicals. Wine, citrus, or alcohol are all the stuff that a dining table sees, and those things don’t eat into the film when cleaned up within a reasonable time. It comes in more sheens than most. Depending on what look the client is looking for, I can get it in a gloss, semi-gloss, satin, and even a matte finish for that close-to-wood feel. It cures fast. Compared to an oil-based varnish, I’m not waiting a day before I can recoat; it’s ready for the next coat within a few hours. The trade-off is that it’s less forgiving to repair. While it is an incredibly durable finish and it takes a lot to damage it, a scratch in a 2K poly usually means recoating the whole thing rather than a quick spot touch-up. However, for a finish on a piece that’s going to get used hard, I think that trade is worth it. The Worst Finish for a Dining Table: Hard Wax Oil I take a lot of pride in the furniture I build, so I would be hard-pressed to send a kitchen table out with a hard wax oil finish on it.  To say it plainly: hard wax oil is the worst finish you can put on a dining table.  The Wood Whisperer did a test of the top leading brands of hard wax oil finishes, and they all failed the durability tests. I understand the appeal as to why it is popular with hobby woodworkers.  It’s really simple to apply. Wipe it on, let it sit, buff it, and you’re done. No spray gun, no respirator, no catalyzed chemistry to manage. For beginner woodworkers, that ease of use reduces the barrier to entry and gives you a nice finish on your piece.  That is, until it’s not. But a dining table isn’t a bookshelf or a side table that gets dusted once a week. It’s in constant contact with hands, dishes, and elbows every single day, and hard wax oil simply doesn’t stand up to that kind of wear. Within months, you start seeing dull patches where people set their plates, water marks that won’t buff out, and thin spots right where hands rest. The finish wears through faster than most people expect.  Then it becomes a constant maintenance issue.  But hey, it’s easy to repair; just wipe more on and buff it in. My Take If you want a dining table finish that holds up to family dinners, spilled drinks, and years of daily use, 2K polyurethane is the finish I use most often. Hard wax oil has its place in furniture that sees lighter use, but a dining table isn’t that piece.

5. 

   24 Sept 2026

   When Furniture Becomes a Conversation Piece

   Nobody stops mid-conversation at a dinner party to ask about the sofa. It’s a nice sofa. It does its job. But it’s not the thing people walk over to touch, or crouch down to look under, or ask, “Wait, how did you even make this?” That reaction is something I think about.  The pieces that get people talking are almost never the ones that were picked from a catalog. They’re the ones that started as a blank page and turned into something nobody else in the world owns. Two projects come to mind right away. The Chess Table That Almost Beat Me A client wanted a sculptural piece to display a handmade chess set, something that felt more like a sculpture than a table. We landed on a root-over-rock concept: a bonsai-style base, walnut roots wrapping around an actual stone, with the whole thing carved to look like it grew that way naturally. It sounded great as a sketch. It was one of the harder builds I’ve taken on. The roots had to be scribed to fit the stone exactly, and the stone is visible from every angle, so there was no back corner to hide a fudge factor. I spent somewhere between 40 and 60 hours just on the scribing. There was a point about halfway through where I genuinely wondered if I’d taken on more than I could pull off. Once the base was carved, I used floating tenons to attach the walnut branches to the trunk, then shaped the whole assembly into its final bonsai form. For the top, I kept things simple and let the chess set be the star: wenge to tie the color back to the base, a pull-out shelf on each side for wine glasses or captured pieces mid-game, and a mirror inlaid into the surface to highlight the board itself. The final piece pairs a walnut and wenge base with a silver and copper chess set sourced from an artist in Mexico City. It’s the kind of piece that stops people. Not because it’s flashy, but because there’s genuinely nothing else like it. You can see the full piece here. The Swoosh That Continued into the Next Piece The second one is a quieter design, but it’s become one of my favorite recurring details. A while back, I built a headboard with a series of decorative swooshes carved into the walnut and painted black, a relief that starts on one side, sweeps across the face, and comes back down the other. It gave the whole piece a sense of motion that a flat headboard just doesn’t have. That client loved it enough that when they came back for a dressing vanity, they asked me to carry the same swoosh across the new piece so the two would feel like they belonged together. Same relief, same contrast between warm walnut and black paint, but reworked to fit a different form. I finished the vanity with a single drawer sized for the everyday stuff such as hairbrushes and jewelry.  Instead of a hardware pull, we carved an organic finger notch into the drawer face itself. No hardware, no store-bought pull, just a shape cut to fit how a hand actually reaches for it. You can check out the vanity here. That’s the kind of detail that starts a conversation without anyone even asking a question. Someone runs a hand along the relief, or asks why the drawer doesn’t have a handle, and suddenly you’re telling a story instead of just describing a piece of furniture. Why This Only Happens With Truly Custom Work Here’s the thing both of these projects have in common. Neither one exists anywhere else. Nobody else has a root-over-rock chess table built around their specific chess set, and nobody else has a headboard and vanity carrying the same hand-carved swoosh. That’s not something you can spec off a floor model or order in a different fabric. I get into this more in my post on what actually makes furniture genuinely custom, versus just customizable, but the short version is this: when a piece starts from your specific idea instead of an existing product line, it ends up carrying a story that people can feel, even if they

6. 

   22 Sept 2026

   What is the Best Material For a Kitchen Table Top

   I get asked this a lot, and it’s a reasonable question, since a kitchen table takes more abuse than most any other piece of furniture in the house. Hot dishes, spilled coffee, kids doing homework, paying bills, or just a place for family and friends to gather around.  The kitchen table can be the hub for family activities, so material selection is an important consideration. If I had to pick one all-around winner, it’s solid hardwood, and within that category, I lean towards woods that have a lot of interest in the grain, such as walnut, but if dark woods are not your thing, you can’t beat the durability that comes with white oak. Why white oak is a great durable option White oak is dense and tight-grained, and it’s naturally resistant to denting, moisture, and staining. Those characteristics help white oak hold up against the daily abuse a kitchen table sees. The grain takes stain beautifully, allowing you to have your table stained in a variety of colors to complement any decor. White oak also ages well; instead of looking beat up over the years, it develops a richer color. Walnut, if you like naturally darker woods with figure. Walnut is gorgeous, though it’s a bit softer than oak, but still strong enough to hold up as a kitchen table. You can’t beat the warm, rich color tones.  Walnut can be used in a variety of decor. If you order a custom table from me, we can talk about board selection to match your decor.  I  can sort boards that have tighter, clearer grain with fewer knots to give you a more contemporary, modern look.  Or if you like a more rugged rustic look, I can select boards that have more knots and figured grain. Hard Maple, if durability is the top priority Maple is harder than both oak and walnut, so it resists dents better than either one. The tradeoff is a less attractive and underwhelming grain pattern that some folks find less interesting to look at. It’s a good pick if you want maximum durability and don’t need a lot of visual character.  Hard maple is not to be confused with silver maple and big leaf maple.  Those maples have a much more vibrant grain pattern and coloration, but lack the durability of what is known in the furniture industry as Hard “Maple”. What I steer people away from Softwoods like pine are cheap, but they dent and scratch easily. A family table in pine is going to show every bit of its life within a year or two. I’d also steer clear of cheap veneers over particleboard. They can’t be refinished, and once the edge chips or water gets under the veneer, that top is done. The finish matters as much as the species A 2k polyurethane finish or a catalyzed conversion varnish will do more for a table’s daily durability than switching from oak to walnut ever will. The wood sets the character. The finish is what actually protects it.  If durability matters, I would steer away from hand-rubbed oil or hard wax oil finishes; those finishes don’t hold up to the abouse a kitchen table receives.  Hard wax oil finishes are best left to the hobby woodworkers. Bottom line Building for a family with kids? I’d lean white oak with a durable finish. If you want more of a showpiece table, walnut gives you that bespoke furniture look, while still maintaining a durable surface.

7. 

   21 Sept 2026

   How To Clean Your HVLP Spray Gun

   Most of My Finish Problems Started With a Dirty Spray Gun One of the biggest mistakes I made when I was first learning finishing techniques with an HVLP spray gun was not cleaning it well enough. I’d clean the gun, think it was clean, and it wasn’t. Then the next time I used it, I’d get stripes in my finish, and all kinds of other problems would show up. Looking back, I’d say ninety percent of the finishing problems I ran into came down to one thing: the gun wasn’t as clean as I thought it was. Through a lot of trial and error, I’ve worked out a cleaning process that gets the gun perfectly clean for the next use without wasting a bunch of thinner. Here’s how I do it. Go here if you would like to know more about the finishing tools and products I use in my shop. If I’m Coming Back in a Few Minutes for Another Coat If I’m still in the middle of a job and I know I’ll be back in the spray booth in the next 30 minutes or so for a second coat, I don’t break the whole thing down. I just clean the tip. I pull the air cap off and drop it in a small plastic container of thinner to soak while the finish dries on the piece. I’ll also wipe a little thinner on the tip itself to knock off any residue. About 90% of the time, that’s enough to keep the gun clean and ready for the next coat. When I come back, I just put the air cap back on, and I’m spraying again. If it’s the last coat of the day, that’s when I do the full breakdown. Saving the Leftover Finish Once I’m done spraying for the day, I pour any leftover finish into a secondary container rather than back into the original can. By that point, I’ve usually added retarder, thinner, and sometimes a catalyst depending on what I’m spraying. Pouring it back into the original container can contaminate the whole can.  I do hang onto that leftover finish until the next day, once the parts are dry and I’ve had a chance to inspect them for spots that need a little touch-up. The First Rinse I disconnected the air hose, and I’ve still got that cup of thinner I was soaking the air cap in between coats. Since it’s already dirty, that becomes my first wash. I pour it into the gun’s lid and work it around with my gloved finger, working it into the threads, then pour it into the gun body itself. From there I take a paper towel, dip it into the thinner, and wipe down the interior walls of the gun, working my way all the way around the cup. Then I go back to the rim and scrub the threads. Any junk that dries in the threads can end up inside the gun and plug up the tip.  Dried finish also makes it harder to get the lid back on, so I take my time here. At this point, if you look down into the gun, that first rinse of thinner is pretty murky. There’s a lot of residue mixed in with it. Flushing the Spray Gun Next, I hook the air hose back up and flush the gun, spraying that contaminated thinner through it to clear out the needle, the cap set, and the body of the gun. It’s not much liquid, just a lid’s worth, so I’m not worried about where it lands. It evaporates fast. The Second Rinse Now I do it all again, but with fresh, clean thinner. I fill the cap, use my finger to clean the edges and the inside of the cap, pour it into the gun body, and go over the walls again with a fresh paper towel to make sure there’s no residue left that could dry and flake off later and plug the gun. Then I clean the threads again. This time, when I look down into the gun, the thinner comes out almost clear. That tells me we’ve done a good job getting the residue out. I hook the hose back up and spray that thinner through the gun one more time.  If the thinner was cloudy, I would repeat this step a third time, but usually twice is all I need. Breaking Down the Small Parts With the body of the gun flushed out and clean, I pull the air cap off and drop

8. 

   20 Sept 2026

   Boulder Furniture Collection – Furniture as Art

   Introducing the Boulder Furniture Collection Furniture as Art The city of Boulder has one of the most vibrant art communities in Colorado, and that energy shows up in the kind of clients I get to work with there. Furniture art is one of my favorite things to build, and this collection is a look back at many of the pieces inspired by Boulder’s art scene and the clients who live there. Each one was requested and shaped by the people who wanted something that didn’t exist anywhere else. You can see the full Boulder Furniture Collection here, but I wanted to walk through what makes my favorite pieces worth talking about. Sekijoju Bonsai Chess Table This one started with a client who wanted a piece elegant enough to display their handmade chess set, but organic enough to feel alive in the room. I built it as a root-over-rock bonsai sculpture, wenge for the base, walnut carved and scribed into a trunk and roots that wrap around a real sedimentary stone. I spent several days carving that walnut so the roots looked like they’d grown around the rock naturally, then carved the whole assembly into a bonsai form strong enough to hold up a tabletop. The top has pull-out shelves on each side for wine glasses and captured pieces, and a mirror inlaid into the surface so the chess set does the talking. Porthole Entry Table This hall table came out of my ongoing exploration into metal patination. The base is wenge from Central Africa, which finishes to a deep espresso brown. Suspended between the trestles is a steel disc I treated with a blend of chemicals to give it the look of aged copper, held in a segmented ring of wenge accented with padauk. The top is a live-edge genuine mahogany slab from Saint Lucia, with bowties inlaid by hand, mallet and chisel. It’s the second piece in what I call my porthole series. Semi Elliptical Hall Table Made from African mahogany, with a top gilded in silver leaf and then patinated with sulfur potash to bring out contrasting colors and an aged look. The outer rim is built from segmented pieces, each one cut at a different length and angle to form that oval shape. The legs echo the same semi-ellipse before tapering down to a smaller oval foot, all shaped by hand with a spokeshave and scribed to fit the curve of the top. Stone Meditation Bench This bench brings the outdoors in, literally. One leg is a hollowed granite stone I ground down by hand with an angle grinder to make it manageable. I carved a peek-a-boo opening in the African mahogany seat so the stone shows through, with a hidden metal bracket underneath for support. The arch spanning from the leg to the seat is a single piece of walnut, passing through hand-cut mortises in the cross bracing. No nails, no screws. The idea for the rock came from an architect friend’s story about craning a boulder through a roof to carve into a fireplace, and the arch design is a nod to a bridge I love near Multnomah Falls in the Cascades. It’s built for exactly one person, which was the point. Elliptical End Table 3 Tiers This piece started as a question: what happens when you pair something precise with something organic? The top is a clean, exact ellipse in cherry, but underneath I went abstract with tiered, freely shaped shelves that echo the oval where they meet the legs. Those legs are carved to mimic calla lily blossoms, and I made the fourth leg shorter, just tall enough to support the second shelf, the same way flowers in a garden never grow to the same height. Cherry for the top and shelves, walnut for the legs, so the piece has some real visual weight to it. What ties it together None of these pieces look alike, and that’s the point. What ties them together isn’t a style; it’s the clients. Every piece in this collection came from a conversation with someone who wanted a piece of furniture that also worked as a piece of art, whether that meant a chess table built around a stone, or a bench meant for

9. 

   1 Sept 2026

   What AI Can’t Build

   As custom furniture builders, we are all watching the AI revolution unfold in real time.  People running creative businesses are trying to figure out what this means for how we operate. The most important questions right now aren’t about the technology. They’re about your business model. They’re about what you’re actually selling. In the last couple of years, AI design tools have gotten really good. Not perfect; there’s a lot of hype in there, but good enough that a client can upload a photo of their dining room, pick a wood species and a style, and get back a rendering of a table in under a minute. Good enough that some clients are doing this before they ever call a furniture maker. When a client runs a piece through one of these tools, they’re not actually commissioning anything. They’re playing with an idea. They’re satisfying the part of their brain that’s excited about the project, a little impatient, a little curious. But in the end, they can’t order it from AI, and they call a furniture maker anyway.  They expect that we can build it right from the photo the AI spit out.   Unfortunately, that’s not true, because the rendering didn’t tell them whether a 48″ wide top is going to shrink a quarter inch across the grain every winter, shrinking past the breadboard, or the whole top is going to crack if not constructed right. It didn’t account for the fact that the table in the picture has to come up a narrow staircase to get into their dining room, and at the length they chose, it never will. It didn’t warn that a highly figured walnut slab may take three months to find one they like.  AI did not set the right expectation when the live edge slab they fell in love with in the generated image doesn’t exist, because that grain pattern was invented by a model, not grown by a tree. AI gave them a picture. It’s a picture, not a piece. So the question isn’t whether AI can do what we do. The question is whether you know, specifically and clearly, what it is you actually do. Because if your answer centers on renderings and material selections, that’s getting harder to differentiate. But if your answer goes deeper than that, if you can articulate the real thing you’re providing, this moment is an opportunity to get more precise about the value you can offer. A value even a design center can’t offer. The Deliverable Trap When most furniture makers describe what they do, on their websites, in their quotes, they lead with deliverables: shop drawings, material selections, renderings, a finished piece. I get it. Those are the tangible things. Those are the things you can point to and say, here’s what you get. The problem is that deliverables are the easiest part of the job to commoditize. They always have been, even before AI showed up. Competitive sites for years have been selling “custom” tables with your choice of stain for a few hundred bucks, and real shops still kept their clients because those clients weren’t buying a table with a particular stain color. They were buying something else entirely; they were buying an experience of working with a custom maker, a lifestyle of handmade. Both the maker and the client understood that, even if neither one labeled it as such, it was a feeling, not a physical product. AI has just made that pressure more urgent, because now the cost to generate a concept has dropped from a few hundred dollars to the free tier of their favorite AI model’s subscription plan. If the way you structure your pricing, or the way you talk about yourself in your shop’s copy, is primarily concepts, renderings, and beautiful solutions, that’s going to feel threatening right now, and it should, because that pricing pressure is real. But what I’ve learned from running my own studio, and from talking to other builders, is that the ones who aren&#

10. 

    14 Aug 2026

    How to Keep Purpleheart Purple

    If you’ve ever milled a fresh board of purpleheart, you already know the letdown. You’re expecting that famous violet color, and instead you get a dull grayish brown, sometimes with a muddy purplish tint if you’re lucky. It looks nothing like the wood you paid extra for.  Purpleheart’s color doesn’t show up on the saw. It shows up after. Why Purpleheart Turns Purple in the First Place The purple color develops through oxidation, meaning it’s a reaction to light and air exposure over time. Give a freshly cut board anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, and it deepens into that classic violet purple everybody expects from this wood. Direct UV exposure speeds the process up considerably. Some furniture makers will actually lay fresh boards out in direct sunlight for a short stretch just to kickstart the color before they get to finishing. Here’s the part that catches people off guard, though. That same process doesn’t stop once the wood hits peak purple. It keeps going. Over years of light exposure, purpleheart continues to shift, usually darkening toward a brownish purple or eggplant tone, not unlike how cherry ambers with age. So the wood you’re chasing isn’t a fixed target. It’s a color in motion, and everything we talk about below is really about slowing that motion down and locking in the best version of it you can. Start With Sharp Tools Before we even get to finishing, it’s worth mentioning that purpleheart is dense and has silica-like content that dulls blades fast. When tools go dull, they stop shearing the wood cleanly and start compressing and polishing the surface instead. That’s called burnishing, and a burnished surface closes off and glazes over the pores and wood fiber. Finish doesn’t soak into a burnished surface well, and the color won’t be even either. Keeping your tools sharp through the project matters more with purpleheart than it does with most domestics, and it’s the first factor to consider to get that purple color you are looking for. Choosing a Finish That Won’t Fight You This is where a lot of people go wrong without realizing it. Straight oil finishes, things like tung oil, boiled linseed oil, or hardwax oils, amber as they cure and age. They also soak deeper into the grain, cutting off the oxidation process that produces that beautiful purple color.  On most woods, that’s a nice warming effect. On purpleheart, it actively works against you, pushing the wood toward that muddy brown purple faster than it would on its own. A water-based finish or a catalyzed lacquer keeps the wood’s true color coming through instead of laying an amber cast on top of it.  If you have access to spray finishing equipment, one of the best finishes to lock color is a water-white conversion varnish.  These are commercial finishes that have a high UV protection compared to finishes that are readily available to hobbyists. For best results, look specifically for a topcoat with UV inhibitors, sometimes labeled UV absorbers or UV stabilizers. These were originally developed for outdoor spar urethanes, but they work just as well indoors for slowing photo-oxidation, which is the actual mechanism behind purpleheart’s color drift. Not every finish type has these built in, so it’s worth reading the label rather than assuming. Timing the Finish Coat Since the color deepens over the first few hours to a couple of days, let the wood oxidize just enough to hit that peak violet, then get the UV-blocking finish on before it starts sliding toward brown. Finish it too early, and you risk locking in that dull, grayish, uncured look. Wait too long, and you’re sealing in wood that’s already drifting toward eggplant. There’s a window, so try to time your finishing day accordingly. Using Dye as Insurance Against Fading TransTint dye is a great way to prolong the purple color, and there are

11. 

    3 Aug 2026

    How to Prevent Streaks in Wipe On Poly Finishes

    Today’s finishing question: How do you prevent streaks in wipe-on poly finishes such as Arm-R-Seal or Minwax? This is a pretty common issue with wipe-on poly finishes (https://www.briansbenham.com/go/amazon/wipe-on-poly-from-minwax/), and it has a lot to do with how thick you apply the finish. But before we get to applying the finish, let’s talk about applicator prep. You want to use a clean, lint-free cotton rag, like an old T-shirt. Woodcraft Supply sells a good box of lint-free rags (https://www.woodcraft.com/products/beltex-wipers-knit-4-lbs) if you don’t have any on hand. Next, fold it so all the cut ends end up in the center. Fold one cut end to the halfway mark, then fold the other side to the halfway mark, so both cut ends meet in the middle. Then fold it the same way in the other direction. This gives you rounded folds on the edges, which cuts down on streaks caused by a raw, cut edge of fabric dragging through the finish. Once your rag is folded, you need to prep it so it doesn’t just soak up all the finish instead of putting it on your project. A dry rag will pull finish straight into its center, leaving less available for wiping onto the wood. To prevent that, dip the rag in mineral spirits to pre-charge it. Squeeze out the excess first; you’re not trying to dilute the finish, just taking up space in the rag so it can’t absorb as much. Once the rag is prepped, apply the finish liberally. You want enough thickness on the surface for it to slump and flatten out, basically self-leveling. It takes some practice to get a feel for how much pressure and how much finish you need on the rag to get a streak-free result. Too thin, and the finish won’t have enough body to self-level. Too thick, and you’ll end up with a goopy look or ripples as it dries.  Now, when you apply it, you don’t want to just slam the rag straight down, as that is going to leave a mark; you want to glide in and glide out, like you are playing with an airplane, practicing your landings and takeoffs.  Then always work off your wet edge. Final note: sand adequately between coats. If you see streaks in the second coat, they’ll most likely telegraph through into the third, and of course, a good surface prep will help you get a quality finish (https://www.briansbenham.com/how-do-you-surface-prep-wood-for-a-hand-rubbed-oil-finish/).

12. 

    29 Jun 2026

    How to Organize a Breakfast Nook – 10 Ways That Actually Makes the Difference

    If you’ve got a breakfast nook, you know how fast it goes sideways. One week, it’s a cozy little corner for morning coffee. The next it’s a pile of mail, half a school project, and three mugs that didn’t make it back to the cabinet. Breakfast nook organization sounds like a simple problem, but the reason most solutions don’t stick is that the furniture wasn’t built for the space, or built at all. Here’s what actually works to keep your breakfast nook organized. 1. Built-in banquette seating with storage underneath This is the single highest return for a breakfast nook organization. Bench seating with lift-up lids or drawers underneath gives you seating and hidden storage in the same footprint.  A perfect storage solution for placemats, napkins, kids’ stuff, whatever doesn’t need to be on the table but needs to be close to it. You’re not adding furniture to solve a storage problem. You’re making the furniture do two jobs at once. The storage underneath matters more than most people expect. A breakfast nook is usually the first place the family lands in the morning and the last place they clear out at night. That means it collects things, and it collects them fast. When there’s a drawer or a lift-lid bench right there, those things have somewhere to go that isn’t the tabletop or the floor. The fit is what separates a built-in banquette from anything you’d buy off a shelf. A store-bought bench is a standard size. Your nook isn’t. That two-inch gap at the end where the bench doesn’t quite reach the wall isn’t just an eyesore; it’s where the throw pillows fall, where crumbs accumulate, and where small things disappear. A built-in fills the space completely, which means the seating feels intentional instead of improvised, and the storage works the way storage is supposed to. With a custom solution, you can also design the storage to fit what you actually need to store. Deep drawers for bulkier items like extra napkins or seasonal placemats. Shallower compartments for things you reach for every day. If you’ve got kids, a section sized for their stuff so it has a home that isn’t the middle of the table. That level of specificity is the difference between storage that gets used and storage that gets ignored. 2. Wall-mounted shelving above the seating Float a shelf or two on the wall above the bench, and you’ve created vertical storage without touching the floor. In a breakfast nook, floor space is usually the first thing you run out of. Going vertical is how you add capacity without making the space feel smaller. The wall above the seating is almost always underused; it’s right there, it’s at a practical height, and a shelf or two turns it from blank space into something that actually works for you. Coffee mugs, a small basket for napkins, and a cookbook you constantly reach for.  Keep what you use daily close without crowding the table. The goal is accessibility, not storage volume. If you have to move three things to get to what you need, the shelf isn’t working. If you can reach it from your seat, it is. Depth matters here more than people think. A shallow shelf, four to six inches, is enough for mugs, spice jars, or a small plant. It keeps things from feeling like they’re looming over the table and gives the nook breathing room. Go deeper, and you start accumulating things that don’t belong there, which brings us to the bigger point. The key is keeping it intentional. One or two shelves with a clear purpose, not a wall of open storage that slowly becomes a catch-all for whatever didn’t make it back to where it belongs. Open shelving is honest; everything on it is visible all the time, which is either its strength or its problem, d

13. 

    25 Jun 2026

    What You Won’t Find at the Denver Design Center

    The Denver Design Center has been a fixture of Colorado’s interior design scene since the mid-1980s. Dozens of showrooms, hundreds of manufacturers, well-known brands packed into one sprawling complex. If you’re sourcing furniture the way most people source furniture, it’s a reasonable starting point. But if what you’re actually after is something no one else has, a piece designed around your space, your lifestyle, and your specific vision, there are a few things you simply won’t find there. (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture/custom-furniture-denver-colorado/) You Won’t Find Anything That Doesn’t Already Exist Every product in a showroom exists before you walk in the door. You might be able to specify a fabric or a stain, but the fundamental design is already settled. Someone made those decisions long before you arrived, and the same piece is being shown to every other designer who walks through that week. At Benham Design Concepts (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/), nothing exists until you commission it. Every project starts from a concept, not a catalog page. The design is built around your exact space, your exact needs, your exact aesthetic. You Won’t Find This Kind of Design Flexibility Manufacturers operate within constraints, product lines, standard sizing, available materials, and what’s feasible at a production scale. That’s fine for most applications. But if you need a dining table that fits an unusual room (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/design-standards/how-large-should-my-dining-table-be/), or a built-in architectural element that no off-the-shelf product can accommodate, or a piece that combines materials in a way you’ve genuinely never seen done before, those constraints become a hard ceiling. Brian doesn’t work within those constraints. Wood, steel, glass, stone, hand-forged metal, if a material serves the design, he can work with it. If a form solves the problem, he can build it. That level of flexibility isn’t something a traditional showroom can offer. You Won’t Find Furniture That’s Also Art Brian approaches every commission as both a craftsman and an artist. The pieces that come out of his Colorado studio aren’t simply functional objects — they’re visually striking work that adds genuine character to a room. A dining table that incorporates live-edge wood integrated with stone. A media console that pairs stone and glass in a way that stops people mid-sentence. If you want furniture that your clients will be asked about for years, a showroom floor is the wrong place to look. You Won’t Find Old-World Joinery Paired With Modern Precision What makes Brian’s work distinctive is the hybrid approach: decades of traditional hand-cut joinery technique combined with CNC and laser fabrication technology. The result is furniture with the soul of something handmade and the precision of contemporary manufacturing. Neither end of that spectrum on its own gets you there. The combination does. You Won’t Find It Made Overseas and Shipped Here To Assemble Every piece from Benham Design Concepts is designed and fabricated in-house in Brian’s Colorado studio. No overseas factories, no assembly-required flat packs, no corners cut to hit a price point. When your furniture arrives, it’s complete, it’s beautiful, and it’s built to be passed down. You Won’t Find the Person Who Actually Built It At a design center showroom (https://www.briansbenham.com/an-alternative-to-the-denver-design-center/), your point of contact is a sales rep working on behalf of a manufacturer located somewhere else entirely. When you work with Brian Benham,

14. 

    26 May 2026

    Denver Design Center Alternative

    What is the Denver Design Center? When most interior designers in the Denver metro area start thinking about high-end furniture, their first instinct is to head to the Denver Design Center (https://www.briansbenham.com/denver-design-center/), also known as the Denver Design District, a sprawling showroom complex with dozens of showrooms representing hundreds of manufacturers that has been a destination for interior design since the mid-1980s.  It’s packed with well-known brands located in the heart of Denver’s design community. But what if the Denver Design Center isn’t actually the best answer for what you need? If you’re searching for truly one-of-a-kind furniture, something built specifically for your space, your lifestyle, and your vision, I think there’s a compelling alternative. (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture/custom-furniture-denver-colorado/) Why I Might Be Exactly What You’re Looking For I’m Brian Benham, owner and operator of Benham Design Concepts, a full-service custom furniture design and fabrication studio (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture/custom-furniture-denver-colorado/). I work out of my studio here in Colorado, designing and handcrafting custom furniture and architectural elements in a range of materials: wood, glass, stone, and metal. My goal with every piece is to blur the line between fine furniture and fine art. This isn’t a showroom. There’s no high-pressure sales rep, no confusing product catalog pricing sheet, and no backorders or manufacturer lead times to negotiate. It’s just me in my studio, offering personalized service and executing your vision. Here’s Why You Might Choose Me Over The Denver Design Center 1. It’s Genuinely Custom — Not Just “Customizable.” The Denver Design Center does one thing very well: it offers a curated range of product lines. But at the end of the day, you’re still choosing from what already exists, the same options every other interior designer picks from, the same pieces you’ve probably seen in a dozen other homes. You might get to pick a fabric or a stain sample (https://www.briansbenham.com/you-picked-the-fabric-thats-not-custom-furniture/), but the fundamental design is already locked in. When you work with me, every piece starts from scratch, or really, from a concept. I work with you from that very first idea, designing furniture that fits your exact space (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture/), your exact needs, and your exact aesthetic. Nothing comes from a catalog. Nothing has been built before. Your piece is yours alone. 2. Your Furniture Becomes a Work of Art I approach every project as both a craftsman and an artist. I don’t just want to build something functional; I want to build something visually striking, something that adds real character to a room. Whether it’s a dining table with live-edge wood and hand-forged metal, or a media console that pairs stone with glass, I want the piece to command attention. If you want furniture that guests will ask about (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/newsletter/when-furniture-becomes-a-conversation-piece/), this is where you’ll find it. 3. You Work Directly With the Maker One thing people don’t always think about when they commission from me is the relationship. At a design center showroom, your point of contact is a sales rep working on behalf of a manufacturer somewhere else entirely. That person has never touched the piece they’re selling you.  If something gets backordered, or comes in wrong or broken, you are relying on them to hopefully negotiate a resolution with t

15. 

    13 Feb 2026

    How to Pair a Table Height and Chair Height Together

    The Custom Furniture Designer’s Guide to Table and Chair Heights: After two decades of building custom furniture, I’ve learned that the difference between a beautiful dining set and a truly functional one often comes down to a few critical inches. I’ve seen too many tables become uncomfortable because someone didn’t account for cushion squish, and now you feel like a little kid sitting at a giant table, or chairs that look perfect but leave people’s knees jammed against the table apron. Today, I want to share the height guidelines I use in my workshop to ensure every piece I build isn’t just beautiful, but actually works for the people who’ll use it every day. Understanding the Foundation: Standard Dining Tables Let me start with what I consider the baseline: the standard dining table (https://www.briansbenham.com/how-tall-do-you-want-your-dining-table/). In my shop, I typically build these at 28-30 inches high, with 30 inches being my sweet spot for most clients. This is because it works for the average person sitting in a chair that’s 17-18 inches from the floor to the seat. But here’s what I tell every client: “standard” is just a starting point. I’ve built dining tables as low as 27 inches for clients who prefer a more relaxed, casual dining experience, and as high as 32 inches for taller individuals who find themselves constantly hunching over conventional tables. The Hierarchy of Table Types and Their Heights Different tables serve different purposes, and their heights reflect that. Let me walk you through the main categories I work with: Dining Tables: 28-30 inches This is your ideal range for dining table height. Whether I’m building a farmhouse table for a family of six or an elegant pedestal table for two, this range accommodates comfortable eating, conversation, and the occasional homework session or board game. Counter-Height Tables: 34-36 inches These have exploded in popularity over the last decade, and I understand why. Counter-height tables create a more casual, social atmosphere—perfect for kitchens where people gather while cooking, or for small spaces where the table doubles as a food prep surface. I typically build these at 36 inches to match standard kitchen counter height.  However, for the taller clients, I will push this to 38-40 inches for their comfort, or allow for a table to stand at for entertaining, similar to a bar-height table. The challenge with counter-height tables is finding the right seating. You’ll need counter stools at 24-30″ inches high, which puts people’s feet dangling unless you incorporate a footrest (which I always recommend). Bar-Height Tables: 40-42 inches When clients ask for a true bar experience in their home, I build it at 42 inches. These tables are statement pieces—they create vertical interest in a room and are fantastic for entertaining. But they’re not for everyone. You need bar stools at the lowest 28 inches, mid-range 30 inches, and for the extra tall, you may want to go all the way to 33″.  I always caution clients that these heights can be challenging for children, elderly family members, or anyone with mobility issues. (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture-denver-colorado/) Chair Heights: The Other Half of the Equation A table is only as good as the chairs that accompany it, and this is where I see many people, even other furniture makers, go wrong. The standard chair seat height (https://www.briansbenham.com/what-are-standard-chair-height/) for most situations is 17-18 inches from the floor. I typically build at 18 inches because it pairs perfectly with a 30-inch table and accommodates most adults comfortably. For counter-hei

16. 

    20 Jul 2024

    What Are Standard Chair Heights

    What are Standard Chair Heights and How to Pair Them to Your Table The standard height for a dining chair seat is around 18″ inches from the floor to the top of the seat.  This height accommodates a 28″ to 30″ height dining table (https://briansbenham.com/standard-table-heights/).  The 10″ to 12″ space between the top of the seat and the top of the dining table allows for comfortable movements of the diners.  It also allows adequate space for an apron around a dining table, typically no wider than 4″.  Not all dining tables (https://briansbenham.com/ada-compliant-dining-table/) feature aprons, but many tables rely on them to strengthen the table legs and prevent them from wobbling. How to Pair A Chair height with a table height A good rule of thumb when pairing a dining chair with a dining table is to allow 10″ to 12″ between the top of the chair seat and the top of the table. Most people find this to be a comfortable dining experience, with plenty of leg room and room for a table apron if needed.  This also allows the diner to sit at a comfortable height, allowing them to rest their forearms on the tabletop when eating. As mentioned above, your standard dining chair is 18″. However, dining tables can range from 28″ to 30″, breaking the 10″ to 12″ rule of thumb. If a 30″ dining table is paired with an 20″ chair, the table top may feel too low and uncomfortable to dine at. This is why many chair manufacturers make dining chairs in a range of sizes between 18″ and 20″ to accommodate a 30″ tall table.  There are also dining tables available for taller people, coming in at 32″ with a chair height available up to 22″. Chair manufacturers make various-height chairs and barstools to accommodate many of the special table heights (https://briansbenham.com/how-to-build-a-bar-height-table-with-steel-patinated-base/) you may encounter.  I highly recommend sitting at a few different table heights with a few different chair heights to find the best combination for you.  As a custom furniture maker, I can also custom-make any chair and table height combination you may need. (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture-denver-colorado/) A standard dining table is 28″ to 30″ tall.  Chairs paired with standard dining tables (https://briansbenham.com/how-tall-do-you-want-your-dining-table/) should be between 17″ and 20″ tall.  There are exceptions to this standard. If you are extra tall or short, there are chairs between 16″ and 23″ for dining tables.  You also always have the option to have your table and chairs custom-made (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/) to suit your needs. Counter-height or counter-tall tables range between 34″ and 36″ tall, with the average counter-height table being 36″.  A good chair pairing would be between 24″ and 27″, with a sweet spot of 25″ tall barstool. Bar-height tables range in height from 40″ to 42″.  A good chair pairing would be between 30″ and 33″. The most common bar-height table is 42″, giving a good bar stool or chair height sweet spot at 32″ to the top of the seat. For extra-tall tables that are between 42″ and 47″ tall, a good chair pairing would be between 30″ and 36″. The most common bar-height table is 46″, giving a good bar stool or chair height sweet spot of 36″ tall.

17. 

    1 May 2024

    What is a Standard Countertop Overhang

    While there is no one-size-fits-all rule of thumb for a standard countertop overhang, it’s crucial to consider your specific use case and aesthetic design choices.  Many solid surface countertop manufacturers have standardized a 1-1/2″ overhang for kitchen cabinets, but this might not be ideal for everyone.  Other variables to consider include the style of cabinets or appliances paired with it and, most importantly, your preferences and needs. How to Choose the Right Countertop Overhang for Your Cabinets Typically, at a minimum, you will want your countertop to overhang enough to cover your cabinet’s drawers and doors (https://briansbenham.com/building-cabinets-with-copper-doors-metal-patina/).  This not only enhances the visual appeal but also serves a practical purpose.  For instance, if your drawer fronts are three-quarters of an inch thick, you will want your countertops to extend at a minimum 3/4″ past the front of your cabinets.  However, I would recommend extending the counter overhang to a maximum of 1-1/2″ for aesthetic purposes and to give a little buffer for accessories such as rubber bumpers to prevent doors from slamming shut.  Likewise, if you have Euro-style cabinets where the drawers are inset, a 1-1/2″ overhang may look a little excessive, so I would consider a 3/4″ overhang in that situation. If custom cabinets are built outside the standard base cabinet depths, you will want to discuss an appropriate counter depth for your situation with your fabricator.  This involves considering the specific dimensions of your cabinets and the intended use of your kitchen or bathroom.  A typical kitchen base cabinet is 24″ deep, and many solid surface countertop manufacturers are accustomed to making their countertops 25-1/2″ deep as a standard.  This setup will also yield a 1-1/2″ countertop overhang. While most solid surface countertop manufacturers use the 1-1/2″ as a standard, I have run across a few shops that have a 1-1/4″ overhang as their standard.  So, if you have a strong preference and are getting custom cabinets, it’s important to ensure that the counter depth and overhang are tailored to your specific needs and preferences. Additionally, a standard bathroom vanity cabinet is 21″ deep.  However, this is a much looser standard than kitchen cabinets.  Bathroom vanities (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/category/bathroom-vanities/) are regularly sold with varying depths ranging between 18″ and 24″ with various cabinet base styles.  With this variation in available vanity sizes, it is important to specify your counter depth and overhang to go with your vanity choice.  When choosing a countertop for your vanity, I would still follow the rules of thumb outlined in this article for choosing an appropriate countertop overhang. Is there a Minimum Countertop Overhang As discussed earlier, I recommended a minimum front overhang of 3/4″ to match your door and drawer thickness.  But what about the sides of the cabinet and where they meet appliances? How much should your countertop overhang be next to the appliances? For countertop overhangs next to stoves, fridges, and other appliances, I would recommend a minimum of a 1/8″ overhang and a maximum of 1/4″.  The minimum of 1/8″ ensures that your countertop will cover the edge of the cabinets.  We all know that walls are not always square and flat, which can throw off how square your cabinets and countertops fit.  Yes, a master installer will scribe your cabinets and countertops to the wall, but sometimes things are so far off that they need a little fudge factor to ensure a good-looking fit.  A minimum of 1/8″ will be aesthetically pleasing. I would not go further than a 1/4″ for the max overhang next to an appliance.  You d

18. 

    29 Sept 2023

    What Are Standard Table Heights

    Tables come in various heights depending on their intended use and design.  It’s important to note that these are general guidelines, and the actual height of a table can vary depending on the manufacturer, style, and regional preferences. When choosing a table, consider the intended use, the chairs or seating that will accompany it, and the overall aesthetic and ergonomics you desire for your space.  Most importantly, if you need a specific table, you can always have a Bespoke Furniture Maker design and build a custom table (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/category/tables/) for your specific needs. How Tall is a Standard Dining Table? A standard Dining Room Table is typically between 28 and 30 inches tall, with the average table being around 30″ in height.  Some dining tables come as tall as 32″ These tables are best paired with dining chairs with a seat height between 17 and 20 inches.  When selecting a chair for your dining table, consider the apron width, the table height, and the size of the people most likely to use the table. Ensure they do not hit their knees on the table apron, and the tabletop is about elbow height.  +/- an inch or so.  This will ensure a pleasurable dining experience. If you need an ADA-compliant table, it should be no taller than 34 inches. The distance between the bottom of the apron and the floor should be at least 27 inches for proper knee clearance.  The distance from the edge of the table to any center support should be at least 19 inches, with a width between table legs of 30 inches. For more info, check out my post on ADA-Compliant Dining Tables (https://briansbenham.com/ada-compliant-dining-table/), which have specific requirements. How Tall Are Counter Height Tables? Counter-height tables range between 34 and 36 inches. The most common is 36″, which is about the same height as kitchen countertops. Counter-height tables are best paired with chairs and stools that range in seat height between 24 and 27 inches.  A 25″ seat height generally pairs well with a 36″ tall table.  However, when selecting seating for counter-height tables, consider knee clearance under the apron of the table, as well as allowing the elbow to land about the same height as the tabletop.  Also, consider whether or not your feet rest comfortably on a crossbar. Dangling feet are uncomfortable and cause the edge of the seat to cut off circulation to the legs.  In the picture above, the bar stool selected is too tall. It crowds the knees. (https://www.benhamdesignconcepts.com/custom-furniture-denver-colorado/) How Tall Are Pub or Bar Height Tables? Pub or Bar Height Tables range between 40 and 42 inches.  The most common height is 42 inches, which is the standard height of a commercial bar. Bar tables are paired best with bar stools that have a seat height between 28 and 33 inches, with the ideal height being 32 inches, as this allows a comfortable 10 inches between the top of the bar and the seat of the bar stool.  Another consideration in selecting a bar stool is a lower cross brace that acts as a footrest, since you cannot touch the floor with your feet.  These footrests are typically located between 16 and 20 inches down from the top of the seat.  It has been reported that the most comfortable spacing is 18″. How Tall Are Extra Tall Tables? Extra Tall Tables are between 42 and 47 inches tall. The most common is 44″ These tables are not as common as bar-height tables and are usually found in boutique restaurants and coffee shops.  Oftentimes, they are not paired with barstools, as their intended use is to stand at them or casually lean against them.  However, if you want to equip them with bar stools, they a

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