The boards used in this project were salvaged from a local high school’s set of bleachers. The boards were covered with an 1/8” of lacquer. I am guessing that every summer the school recoated the boards without doing a whole lot of prep work. The planer got a good workout and the boards cleaned up really well. The boards being 30+ years old were surprisingly straight. Although maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, considering the amount of finish on them that protected them from moisture. While I cleaned up the boards, I left behind a few hints that they were bleachers. A few of the tabletops have the holes where the bolts went through. If you have a keen eye, you may notice a few impressions on the end grain of a couple boards that labeled the bleacher rows.

The overall design of the project was straightforward. The client wanted a mix of metal and wood. The shelving and one table were all mounted on black piping. The two café tables were made from plate steel and square tubing. The client had a friend who was a skilled welder who created the café table bases.