LL.Lee, Designer

Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places; a resort in Hawaii, bed and breakfast on an island off the Washington coast even at church or at home with family. A sketch pad is always near, and a 2nd one bedside to ensure that “moment” is captured. Sometimes the attention to perfect the design and detail is haunting in how it never seems to leave my mind. Creating new pieces is my passion and seeing it in our client’s home or business is pure adrenaline. Many clients have become friends and when I am able to see first hand how they relax, unwind and entertain family and friends in an environment we created together – pure magic.

Great Lumber

The importance of selecting quality raw materials is a first priority as all great furniture starts with great wood. Prairie Loft buys the best quality lumber available. Solid Cherry and Mahogany. Our craftspeople carefully sort through the lumber to make sure the best pieces are used in the most important places, like table tops and drawer fronts.

Production

At our 20,000 square foot factory master craftsman are responsible for ensuring the construction techniques used for generations are completed to perfection. Tongue and Groove glue joint is one of them. Boards are glued to each other to make them stronger. This method is rarely seen today due to its high cost.

Another construction technique we use is matching panels. A board must be re-sawn into two pieces and then the two pieces are opened like a book. The result is two pieces that have a grain pattern that's almost identical. The two boards are then glued together to make one board. This achieves a superior look to having two different panels glued together. It is more expensive to use this method, which is why most furniture makers use veneer. They can make a door look like it is solid wood without actually being solid wood. See Focus on Joinery for more details on our construction techniques.

Sanding and Finishing is a critical part of our process making up to 30% of the time to construct. We start with machine sanding and follow with a multi-step hand sanding process. Finishing comes next with a catalyzed lacquer topcoat for superior depth and transparency. The final touch is hand rubbed tung oil.