gather round the big sur table!

At our Big Sur home, we have a big deck…a really big deck. On one end is our lounging area with a large sofa, chairs, and a coffee table. The other end is a whole lot of empty deck real estate. I knew eventually we would have some sort of table. But a year later…still nothing.

I always thought it would be fun to design and build a table, which I mentioned it to our contractor, Brendan Wahl of B Wahl Construction, who loved the idea. This past February, he told me that a huge cypress tree had fallen near a gas station in Carmel. No one was hurt, but it did take out a mail box and some power lines that left a lot of Big Sur in the dark. The owner told Brendan he could have the tree if he took it away. When he asked if I was interested, I immediately said “yes!”

Things take time here in Big Sur. In May, Brendan, Lyle, and their friend Ben, started cutting the huge cypress into slabs and large squared off chunks that would later become the table base.

At last, in September, the table arrived at our home where it sat for a while until Brendan could free up some time, and I could be there to make last minute decisions. The plan was to have the table sit on two hefty pedestals that would fit into the bottom of the slab in two routered out spaces. I was going to have two simple benches made but my mom happened to see a picture of a table with squared off stump stools in a book. I loved it! But I thought eight stumps seemed a bit excessive so decided on four and a bench. In early October, I got two stools and the table base!

At last on October 10th work began in earnest and in two days (minus the weekend), we had a gorgeous table, four stools, and a bench!

A great big thank you to Brendan Wahl and Lyle Southall for making my vision a reality. It truly is a work of art and I love that it was made here in Big Sur with a story behind it. I look forward to family and friends gathering round this table for many years to come!