Where to go to get this wood front? & quick marble questio

[atlasfever]

Background: Making a cabinet and making a marble top/side
Question:
Could you take a look at the image attached please?

1. More important question: This wood effect is EXACTLY what I have been looking for... It reminds me of a walnut'ish tone, but more dark amber tones, etc, and all matte. Does anyone have any clue where I could go to have this made? With stone, it's a matter of finding and affording the payment. But, this is different, where do you find a joiner who can provide these veneers or wood? Appreciate any feedback.

2. Marble: I imagine finding someone to cut marble is straightforward (I have been to a huge warehouse in Wandsworth, London where you pick your slab and have a marble cutter do his/her magic. But, my question is: To get a curved marble corner like this, is it very expensive? I'm guessing so. I notice the seam or joint between the top and bottom is about an inch down, so that this top piece and part of the curve and vertical is all one piece.. ouch, expensive. Any experience?

 

[atlasfever]

Ooops, here's the photo!

 

[LadyArowana]

It looks similar to what Smallbone use on their "Macassar" kitchen, which is named for macassar ebony I believe.

They have an illustration here of it made up into units, not sure if they are using solid or veneer. ( don't be put off by the first picture of the white kitchen scroll across the thumbnails at the bottom ).

http://www.smallbone.co.uk/handmade-kitchens/macassar-kitchens.html

You could try talking to them ( they don't just make kitchens ) or finding a cabinet maker who could work with it.

For complicated marble you could try talking to these people http://www.lapicida.com/ I don't just like them because there are elephants on their homepage!!! When I talked to them they had a small showroom in Lisson Grove, but looks like they have moved to the Kings Road area now. They could have made exactly what I wanted, which was a narrow shelf with a particular profile, but I couldn't source sympathetic brackets in the right size, so in the end I had something else.

PS I realise that recommending having something new made from this sort of wood is probably extremely environmentally unfriendly, I'm just answering the question, for myself I would look for a vintage piece.

 

[LadyArowana]

....... and if you could be persuaded to a vintage piece, which will probably be nicer than trying to design and build, then a great place to look for original deco is http://www.1stdibs.com/ many are US dealers, but will ship.

 

[atlasfever]

Lady A, your good deed for the week is done.
Thank you very much. In fact, that is exactly the wood! How pathetic of me, I heard a bathroom guy mention this, but I thought it was a brand model name. I never heard of this wood before. A quick google search suggests that it's 'highly expensive.' Booooo.

I will look into it. The colour and grain is exactly what I am drawn to, as (to me) it's a more editorial version of a walnut. And, although I love walnut, it just feels as though every colleague has a walnut x or y and they go on about scandinavian design. I'm so bored by it (everything looking like Ikea)

Anyone know where one can source veneer ply or mdf? I want to get an idea of the cost premium?

Thanks!!

 

[plasticpigeon]

Hi Atlas. The wood looks quite like rosewood too. Near me the best place I have found for fancy veneer, is a place that veneers doors and shop fittings. They often have quite large offcuts going very cheap.perhaps there is a place near you that does the same.

As for the shaped marble top, if it is actually marble, that detail in the corner looks like it would be outrageously expensive, because of the waste, most of the marble would have to be machined away. Perhaps is is a faux marble effect. I can imagine having a piece of furniture made would run into the thousands. I have found that if I wait long enough, the kind of thing I'm looking for usually turns up somewhere.

 

[d49xc]

Looks like Zebrawood or veneer thereof

My genuine antique small section of it looks very like the kitchen wood sections on the floor in the post above - and rather less like the images google brings up which are less figured and more straight lines of varying colour. Mine is also more yellow in overall colour.

No idea if something else is used now in much the same way that various other woods are used as cuban Mahogany is pretty well unobainable.

 

[Penners]

Here's a useful information sheet on veneers, from Timbmet.

http://www.timbmet.com/ImageLibrary/4%20veneered%20boards.pdf

Are you sure that your photo doesn't show a variety of wenge? This dark hardwood varies in its figure a bit, and is finished in a variety of colours, although it's always in dark shades due to its natural colour. It's quite widely used, at the moment.

If you want a specific real wood veneer, you may have to get it specially pressed for you. Here are a few specialist companies (I have no experience of them at all):

http://www.uvgroup.com/veneered-boards.asp?page=131

http://www.whittentimber.co.uk/product/decorative-veneer-boards

http://www.pbplywood.co.uk/

 

[Moo]

I know Whittens, they're in darkest Peckham and are quite amazing.
When our son needed a replacement floorboard for his turn-of-the-century house, we took a piece of the old board to them and they machined a new one to the exact dimensions. Ten years on, and its impossible to tell which one it is.
They're enormously helpful.