Custom Furniture in Sarasota, FL

What kinds of custom furniture do we build?

Most of what leaves the shop falls into five groups, and each has its own page with details on sizing, materials and process:

• Custom dining tables: farmhouse trestles, refined walnut tops, round pedestal tables and extension tables with matching benches.
• Live edge tables: dining, coffee and conference tables cut from single slabs or book-matched pairs, on wood, steel or glass bases.
• Commercial and office furniture: reception desks, conference tables and work desks for Sarasota businesses.
• Outdoor furniture: ipe and teak chairs, benches, dining tables and garden gates made for open-air lanais and pool decks.
• Bedroom furniture: beds, headboards, dressers and nightstands, including antique beds resized for modern mattresses.

Beyond those, we build midcentury-style sideboards and media consoles that suit Sarasota School homes, rustic tables, benches and one-off pieces that start with a photo or a sketch on a napkin. When a piece should be fixed to the wall instead of standing free, our custom built-ins team handles bookcases, window seats and entertainment walls. For a worn family piece that needs repair rather than replacement, see furniture refinishing and restoration.

Custom wood furniture: species and materials we work with

Our pieces are solid lumber through and through; mass-produced MDF or particleboard carcasses never enter the build. Where a wide flat panel needs stability, such as a cabinet back or a drawer bottom, we choose the material for the job and explain it on the drawings. Species is the biggest single choice you make, because it sets color, weight, hardness and how the piece ages in Florida light.

Exotic species come into play for color or outdoor durability. We talk through sourcing and availability when you choose, because some imported lumber now travels with trade paperwork and supply can change from month to month.

Sizing a piece to the room and the people using it

Furniture that looks right in a catalog can crowd an open-plan Florida great room or vanish in a two-story condo living area. We measure the space, note walkways, sliders, vents and outlets, and ask who uses the piece and how. A desk for a tall user, a dining table where grandchildren sit on a bench, or a console that has to clear a window sill all change the numbers.

• Height: seating, work surfaces and casework are set to your body and your chairs, not a generic standard.
• Footprint: we plan chair pull-out room and traffic paths before deciding length and width.
• Visual weight: leg taper, top thickness and overhang decide whether a piece feels light or grounded.
• Access: we check elevators, stairwells and doorways so large pieces can be built to come apart.

How does a furniture commission move from sketch to delivery?

1. 1

   Talk it through

   Call or send photos and measurements. We discuss use, style, wood and a realistic budget range for the type of piece.

2. 2

   Drawings and 3D model

   We prepare working drawings and a 3D rendering. You can ask for changes to proportions, profiles or hardware until it looks right.

3. 3

   Choose the wood

   Pick boards or a slab in person at the shop by appointment, or approve photos we send.

4. 4

   Build

   Parts are milled, joined and fitted in our Lewis Ave shop, with dry-fits before glue-up.

5. 5

   Finish

   We sand, apply the finish you chose and let it cure before the piece is handled heavily.

6. 6

   Deliver and place

   We schedule delivery with you, assemble anything that was built to come apart and go over care.

Does a furniture piece ever need a permit or a licensed trade?

A freestanding table, bed or dresser is not building construction, so it needs no building permit. Wiring is different: Florida DBPR licenses electrical contractors under Chapter 489, Florida Statutes, so hardwired headboard lights or a desk fed by a new floor outlet call for a licensed electrician, who pulls any permit with Sarasota County or the City of Sarasota. Fixtures fastened into a business fall under its contractor’s build-out permit.

What shapes the cost of a handmade piece?

We price each piece from its drawings, and a few factors move that number more than anything else:

• Species and grade of lumber, and whether a single wide slab or matched boards are needed
• Overall size and the amount of material that has to be milled flat and square
• Number of drawers, doors and moving parts, each with its own fitting time
• Joinery and detail work such as curved parts, inlay, carving or turned legs
• Finish type, since catalyzed and multi-coat finishes take longer than oil
• Metal or glass components ordered from outside fabricators
• Delivery distance, stairs and on-site assembly

Local conditions add lines too: an island condo table may be built in sections for the elevator, and a lanai piece needs stainless fasteners and an exterior finish.

For a worked example of how these add up, read our guide to what a handmade dining table costs.

Heirloom furniture care in a humid climate

Solid wood swells across its width when air is damp and shrinks when air conditioning dries a room out. Our joinery allows for that, but steady conditions keep a piece happiest. Keep the AC running in summer, even in a seasonal home that sits empty, and avoid parking furniture directly in front of a supply vent.

Store-bought pieces often fail here first: veneered particleboard swells at a chipped edge, and a top dried for a drier climate can split in its first humid summer. We check lumber with a moisture meter before milling.

• Dust with a soft, slightly damp cloth; skip silicone polishes that complicate later refinishing.
• Use coasters and trivets on oil finishes, and wipe spills promptly on any finish.
• Close blinds during the brightest afternoon hours on south- and west-facing glass.

If an older finish has worn through, the same shop that builds new pieces can recoat or restore it through our furniture refinishing service.

Pieces in the custom tables and casework range

No two commissions look the same, but these scenes give a sense of the joinery, wood and proportions we aim for across tables, cabinets and seating.