Wood Work Ford House Q & A To say the Ford House on Wood Work last night was a challenge is an understatement....but we had fun with all the challenges it brought! Building a triple decker bunk bed in Waco and taking it to Arlington was no small feat but our team made it work and the Ford's couldn't have been happier with how their bonus room turned out! What were the challenges with the Ford House? Clint: Well it was a long skinny room with a 14 foot angled ceiling, and of course it was upstairs! They had already laid new flooring in the room and painted it as well which could have posed a major problem, but fortunately Amy knew what she was doing and we had a great clean pallet to start with. From there we just had to create three separate spaces for the family to enjoy: A sleeping area. A game area. And a hangout/t.v. area. All three of those are near and dear to Kelly and my heart but pulling them off in one space cohesively can be quite the trick. Thankfully Kelly is my teammate and she took on the challenge and really made it work. I loved this project as it was definitely one where Kelly drew out a master plan and the guys and I just had to get into the shop and build it. And that’s what we did…and I think it came out great! Kelly: The biggest challenge was the Ford's really wanted 3 different spaces in a long narrow space. They wanted to be able to watch the Cowboy's play football, a game area and a sleeping area. It was hard thinking about how check everything off their list of wants and needs for the space. Tell us about the building and installation of the triple bunk bed? Clint: Well the room had a 14 foot ceiling angling down to like 8 or 9 feet from back to front. So this meant we had a lot of height on one side for a triple decker bunk bed, but with the room being narrow, if we weren’t careful, there wouldn’t be enough room for the foot of the bed with the ceiling angling so sharply. So we played with the dimensions as much as we possibly could leaving ample space at the head of the bed on that very top bunk and just enough at the foot to where someone wouldn’t be cramped. Of course you’re not just going to go in and throw a custom triple decker bed in a room like that. It took a lot of math, planning, and patience. Once we had everything together in Waco we took the team and tackled it head on. It wasn’t easy, but all the planning definitely paid off. What was the design inspiration for the Ford's bonus room? Kelly: Family Fun!! We really wanted this to be such a fun space where all the Ford's could hang out. With their youngest being in elementary school and their oldest being in college we wanted this to be a space where the whole family could spend time together. I wanted the whole room to be fun and inviting for everyone but also have a college vibe without being too kidish. That is why we went with the blue and white stripe bedding and theme in the T.V. lounge area. How did you come up with the design of the ping-pong table? Clint: Kelly and I and a few from our HDC team were out in LA for a design conference. We had the chance to tour a beautifully designed home in the Hollywood Hills which was home to a family with two young kids. They made it a priority in the remodel to include a beautiful wooden ping pong table in the home which we just loved. I had seen wooden ping pong tables before but my desire to build one was reignited by our time out in California. When we met the Fords and they threw out their desire to make a family room that would make everyone want to hang out in to be together, we immediately wondered if a ping pong table would work. Sure enough, their space was perfect for it. With our design I wanted to go over the top with a solid ash top, contrasting walnut inlay for the service and border lines, and tapered legs which were splayed out for an extra touch. The way I wanted to do the legs splaying them in two different angles upped the level of difficulty but made it an even more dramatic display. With the table being made from ash with walnut inlay, it only made sense to make paddles from walnut with ash handles! Loved this project. Months down the road we heard from the Fords who let us know they use the table almost every day which is the best report we could possibly get. What made you want to do a shiplap wall? Clint: Amy had mentioned something about it in our design consultation and in Kelly’s design plan she really wanted to separate out the hangout/t.v. space from the rest. This installation on the wall really allowed for that separation and helped further split the room up. What, if any, were challenges of having a project outside of Waco? Clint: Well with the budget and timeframe we were working with we really had to nail it on the first try. Going back and forth to Arlington was just not possible. So when we consulted with the family the first time we took copious notes and measurements so that when were back in Waco we could essentially mock up the room in our warehouse space. We built as much as we possibly could in Waco, and then took it all up to Arlington when we were sure we had done everything we could to prepare. We always try and measure twice and cut once and this is definitely one of those times where not doing it would have cost us big time. We threw everything together in a giant moving truck and went to Arlington with just about every tool we had and a crew big enough to knock it out in just a couple days. We had some very late nights, but we were able to knock it out in the time frame we had and that was a victory!! 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