The Custom - Part 4

AJ Dellamano
Aug 2, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Aug 4, 2024

August 2, 2024

From mid 2017 to mid 2018 all our off time was dedicated to wood and metal. It just became our world!

Two big projects were thrown at us. One of which was hands down my fav. That was the headboard.

The other was a recording desk for a client who had a recording studio. That one was fun but totally not my forte. Along with that table, we got to make a side bar in the viewing room by the studio. It was a stunning pine, live edge, unique grains, a bit rustic and perfect for the space. Nick created low brackets for it. And we mounted it at about bar height. It was just a spot for people to sit by, set their drinks on and hang out. It took us way longer to finish these projects for this particular client but it was a huge learning experience for the win.

But... The headboard. Oooooh, the headboard!

I LOVED that project.

It was magical.

I was contacted by a client who had seen our work, followed our page and then saw a floating live edge headboard on a tv show. - Thanks whatever show that was for the advertisement!- And immediately thought of us. It needed to be for a king sized bed so this was not a small feat. I scheduled a time to go wood shopping but have her on the line for texting pics and info. I found these two huge slabs of walnut that had some curve to them. I set them up next to each other and immediately had this visualization forming. With the very slight curve of the slabs, I wanted to cut them to each other so that it was almost as if they wove one in front and the other behind but also doing it without losing much wood..... I wanted the cuts to be slight. I was super pumped and she gave me so much artistic freedom so that this single first idea was immediately approved.

We took the slabs home, allowed them to hang out a while and then began the work. At that time we didn’t have a router sled. We had so very few tools and the only thing I could do to flatten this out was sand for a lifetime with a belt sander. Yes, a belt sander. Y’all know I sand allllll the time now, but then was way worse on one single slab. And looking back, I’m like, how did my back survive that?!? Oh yeah, I was younger and way more spry!! I think I mentioned that.

Once the slabs were close to where I wanted them so that we could look at a layout, 100 grit maybe, we laid them together on the garage floor. And I walked around these things for what seemed like hours. Nudged, pushed, changed sides, flipped, rearranged. Until the vision came to life.

One lay on top slightly and I traced the outline of the top one to the bottom on, switched sides and did the same but opposite.

And man, making those cuts so that they would fit together kinda like a puzzle piece was pretty nerve wracking!!! But we did it and we laid them to each other and it was like peas and carrots!

Nick went crazy with the bracket. The slabs were so heavy that we couldn’t handle two slabs at a time ourselves … which is also part of the method behind my madness in why I chose to make this headboard with two slabs. Visually awesome, physical possible.

This bracket had to hold up an elephant. Not really but that’s sure how Nick engineered that crazy thing. I can’t even begin to explain what he did, but I can try... he made a bracket for the back of the boards, so that they actually hung individually and the bracket he built for the wall was designed to be hung on the wall with screws going into every stud that the headboard spanned. And he made it so that we had a one inch give in any direction. That way this thing could be hung as centered as possible without us having to actually go measure the space and locate stuff before the bracket was made. Nick is good at stuff. He’s good at figured things out. And he’s good at over engineering the crap out of everything!

The day it was put together and placed up on saw horses for a visual to send the client was the day I was like … now that’s some cool stuff right there! That’s what this is all about!!!

I don’t remember how long it took and I know we didn’t charge enough for that project. But it was worth every moment for me.

Once the slabs were finished and the bracket was complete, we scheduled a date to install. We had never been there. We knew nothing about what we were walking into. But we felt prepared. Our only concern was the tightness of the fit and how easy it was going to be to actually mount the slabs. The slightest wave in the wall could throw the whole thing off. Once at the site, Nick got the wall bracket up easily and simply and then came the slabs. One and then the other. First slab slid on the bracket with ease and was perfectly tight, the next one did exactly the same!!! It couldn’t have gone any smoother. We walked out 45 minute later with some cool pics and a lot of confidence. And also, they asked if it was secure enough that their cat could walk across the top and we were like, an elephant could if he were skinny enough.