That is just amazing, elegant and zen, tell us more about the log ?

Very elegant . I could swear I have seen that before but I can't remember when or where ....:)

Really really lovely. Do you have a close up of the beautiful flower in the cup...great idea...very Georgia O'Keefe. c

You fresh, fresh girl tr! Here you go:

mitchdesj--thank you! The furniture maker had gotten a good price on the walnut, so he bought the whole "log" from the supplier (rather than just getting a few boards from which to make our table). We thought it was a great opportunity--to have a "matching" buffet made (it is cool telling people that they were all made from the same log!), and at a better price than we might have gotten otherwise (since they had just made the table for us).

That is such an elegant room! Your style is not a common one, which makes it all the more exciting, especially since you've done it so well. It looks like a room Metropolitan Home would feature. I have a feeling I've seen this room before sans the buffet. At any rate, it's a wonderful addition to the room and no doubt a very useful one. The table decorations are perfect for completing the look.

I remember when you posted your table when you first got it. The buffet just adds so much to the room. I look forward to the finished room with the shelf over the buffet. It looks like a magazine setting!

Oh my Oh my Oh my! I'm am so drooling here. Walnut is my favorite non-exotic wood. If I were to come to your home for dinner I don't think I could eat for picking up my place setting a placemat and covetting the wood! The simple lines were perfect since the woodgrain is so beautiful it doesn't need anything else to make it exquisite! Same with the buffet. Did you design the pieces or did your carpenter?

What a strikingly beautiful grain that wood has, and the room looks so rich and elegant with this use of it. Yummmm! I can't wait to see the shelf, too! It's great to see furnishing this contemporary that still have a warm and inviting impact - usually hard to do with contemporary style, IMHO, and you''ve done it magnificently.

What a strikingly beautiful grain that wood has, and the room looks so rich and elegant with this use of it. Yummmm! I can't wait to see the shelf, too! It's great to see furnishing this contemporary that still have a warm and inviting impact - usually hard to do with contemporary style, IMHO, and you''ve done it magnificently.

Those pieces are just gorgeous. I like to think of your style as organic contemporary. Beautiful natural materials done in a modern way. Well done!

Are you thinking of doing the shelf as a floating shelf? Another option might be to use some brackets also made of the walnut -- perhaps following some natural knots and shapes in the wood. Or maybe a floating rectangle so you actually have two shelves.

Thank you all so much! It's funny that Metropolitan Home was mentioned by ingrid_vc--I ogle just about everything I see in that mag :-) And I thank you for the "magazine setting" comparison as well, cooperbailey--such high praise, indeed!

We worked with the furniture maker to design the pieces. As I mentioned on a previous thread ("what's on your DR table?"--yes, you did see my table before, Ingrid!), the designer/maker, is a wonderful and brilliant custom furniture maker based in Brooklyn, NY (Harvard grad with a degree in architecture, Rhodes Scholar; studied traditional joinery techniques in Nepal...).

We initially went to the shop/showroom, and looked at various types of wood, and viewed examples of their work (actual pieces and photographs), and discussed what we liked or wanted /didn't like, didn't want (e.g. style, shape, size, finish...), before any plans were drawn up.

The table design was pretty straightforward. The buffet was a bit more involved; design features (for example, I chose, or suggested the door design based on a photo of another buffet that Jonah had done, which he then "tweaked" to "fit" or work with our buffet), storage needs, space constraints; both internal and external (including the overall size of the buffet), hardware components (e.g. soft close glides, door pistons)--all needed to be addressed. We visited the shop to work on this face-to-face a few times, the rest we did via email as well as over the phone. There were a few minor tweaks or changes along the way, but the basic design remained the same throughout the process.

The shelf is literally a slab of the same walnut--milled and finished to match the table and buffet. We'll use it to display some decorative items (this decorating stuff has a life of its own, and just keeps on perpetuating itself, doesn't it!?). If we can come up with a viable floating shelf "solution," that's one of our options. Another idea we'll be looking into is some sort of blackened steel/metal bracket(s)--perhaps attached from above, or even some sort of cable system.

Here is a link that might be useful: City Joinery

That looks just lovely. The close-up really shows the faulous wood grain. I like the story of them being made from the same log. Cool.

I like the idea of using a shelf over the buffet instead of a hutch, or painting flaked by two brass lamps.

The room looks beautiful.

Gorgeous -- very cool, modern and elegant!

LOVE all of the silver accessories! Perhaps consider adding short round silver lamps (or even black iron?) to the new buffet ..... always nice to have lighting options!

One of those long, linear candeliers (can't see if you already have one! :) might work above the table ....

Here is a link that might be useful: possible light?

Here's a more modern linear chandelier .....

Just for fun .....

Jan :)

Here is a link that might be useful: or maybe this one?

Thanks teacats!

No plans to add any lighting to the room at this time, but the ones you linked are very nice looking!

cat_mom thanks so much for the link and info on the process. He does beautiful work. I'm awed!

Beautiful room. The chairs remind me of some that we had a while back. What brand are they and where did you get them? Some styles are timeless.

Thank you!

The chairs are from Callagaris (the Even chair). We got them from Signature Leather, in NJ.

OMG! That is just an amazing room! You have fabulous style. Na na na na na na CAT MOM!

(Glad to see you still have the space can on the buffet. Beam me up this week-end for cocktails and dinner.)

Love, love your dining room. The natural wood elements of the table and buffet bring a lot of warmth into your room. Gosh that room is just stunning.

Can you post a close up of the buffet? More details. Can you provide me with more information about your furniture maker? Where is he located? I live in Southern NJ.

Our tastes are very similar. I have those placemats and plain white dishes too.

Our new modern dining room table is getting delivered next week. It will be paired with Old World Chairs that I had to use. They came with BF. We also went the route of custom. Used an Amish furniture maker and an inpiration picture I have had for a few years. We are in the process of talking about a buffet. I like the shape and texture of yours.

kk--Oh, how I've missed your wit and humor! So nice to "see" you, and thank you!!!

You are welcome to beam aboard anytime for cocktails and dinner--set your phasers to P-A-R-T-Y!!!! LOL

jerseygirl_1--I thank you, too!

The info re: City Joinery is linked in a preceding post. They are located in the Dumbo section of Bklyn, just under or near the Bklyn Bridge. There is an entire bio on their site for Jonah Zuckerman, the company owner/furniture designer-maker. He and his employees are extremely talented, as you can tell!

The buffet is 86" wide, about 20-20.5" deep, and just over 34" high (34 1/4"?). We worked very carefully to come up with the dimensions and the design: not only looking through photographs of pieces Jonah had made for other clients, but visiting furniture stores and looking at numerous online sites to see what they had, and to see what appealed to us, with regards to size/shape/style/design elements, and we did actual mock-ups with cardboard boxes (which can be seen in the pic in my post in the "what's on your DR table" thread). We tired to balance maximum interior storage space with our room size/space constraints, as well as our own personal preferences(what height/width looked "right" to us).

The buffet really couldn't have been made any deeper (we needed to allow enough clearance/walk space at either end of the table), but we could have had it made wider, and/or taller, had we so desired. While the room could certainly have handled a wider buffet, we opted to keep the width at 86" (in case we ever have to move to a home with less wall space!). Choosing the height was a little tough. Many of the more modern/contemporary buffets we saw/liked, were at the lower end of the height range (generally 32"-33", but some as low as 29"). Jonah had suggested 35"-36" (standard counter height), in order to maximize storage, but we didn't like how that looked in our space when we mocked it up. I think we originally decided on 33"-33.5", but we ended up changing it to 34" when we sat down with Jonah to finalize the drawings/plans (with all the drawer/shelf/hardware measurements and clearances factored in). We really tried to balance form and function.

Here's another picture of the buffet, just after it was delivered:

Thanks Cat Mom. Your buffet is just stunning. I love the clean straight lines and the texture of the wood.

We are going through the same process with deciding on what type of storage and dimensions.

Oh man I love walnut. Those pieces are really, really nice. (And I'm not even a "modern"/metro gal.)

OMG - that table and buffet are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Just gorgeous.

Yup -- truly beautiful! Be sure to tell your woodworker how much envy his work produced on the forum.

That is just gorgeous! The wood is lovely.

I'm anxious to see the shelf hung, as well.

YEP..... Love it!!!!!

When I saw it was a post from you cat_mom, I was anxious to take a look. You have such a lovely sense of style. Your dining set is gorgeous as expected and fits perfectly with the other elements of your home that I've already seen. Your kitchen is still one of my all time favorites.

That is just gorgeous.

Thank you, thank you!!! It really does my heart glad to know that others appreciate our décor. It's especially exciting since we are just now furnishing/decorating our home--after living here a little over 10 1/2 years! Turst me when I say, we still have a long way to go here!

boysrus2--what a treat to see YOUR username again! I am so glad you like it (and thrilled that our kitchen rates so highly with you!). How have you been?

I love it! It does look just like something you'd see in a magazine. Great job.

Simply stunning!!! And i love the way it looks without a rug under the table!!! LOL!!!

As long as the photographers for the magazine(s) in question don't have wide enough angle lenses (to capture all the yet-to-be reno'd/furnished/decorated spaces surrounding it....)! LOL

Hey there mahlgold! How are the kitchen plans/renovations going?

FINALLY ordered cabs a couple of weeks ago. Floor guy scheduled for repairs and refinishing the week of Sept. 14th, so we're full speed ahead.

Thanks for asking...it's been a long time coming.

cat_mom, I'm good. You're kind to ask! My kitchen is finished except for the backsplash, so I haven't posted pictures yet. I was burned out from the remodel and decided to put the backsplash on the back burner. I love your glass tile, and almost purchased it, but my space is traditional, so I second guessed myself. With the kids heading back to school on Monday, I'm ready to get this wrapped up soon and even begin a few minor redecorating projects, so I enjoy lurking here. Good to see you around as well!

Looking forward to seeing "Finished Kitchen" threads posted by you both, soon!

cat mom, you should post a pic of your old kitchen table and chairs. You have come a long way, baby!

Ya think? LOL

You asked for it:

This is the hand-me-down set that we had in our pre-reno kitchen (yes, it's the same house!):

Here's a shot showing the original DR (now LR) and original LR (now DR, which is where the new DR table and buffet reside) with our old dinette set in the DR:

A friend took these shots with a wide-angle lens--DR and LR look deceptively larger than they actually were/are.

OMG. I forgot that lovely fabric on the chairs! Your house looks HUGE in that pic. Love the floors.

Thanks for the pic and a drive down memory lane.

DH thinks you're funny, too kk!! LOL

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear!