One of the best parts of DIYing is the people out there who you meet. Robert Bjorklund heads up Local Wood (@local.wood on Instagram) which offers fine custom wood slabs to builders in the Santa Barbara vicinity. Friend of KIT and head of the design studio, Salty Dog Design, Zach Fetters recently set out to add a permanent fixture to his recently purchased and remodeled home; a high-end slab dining room table. To do this he would have to get out into the nearby community to meet the right people, and get the perfect piece. 

Zach was good enough to answer some of our questions about the journey of his DIY project. He ended up using KIT&Co. 28inch Single Legs to complete his project. Take a read below. 

Tell us about the project?

We were looking for a live age table and were struggling to find something that was big enough to fit our space, the right style/type of wood and somewhat budget friendly. A lot of companies had some nice pieces but they looked generic and really overpriced.

What did you envision? What were the challenges to what you had in mind?

We wanted a long showstopper table that had character and would be where we had family dinners for a lifetime. The challenge was finding a big enough slab and then someone that knew about these types of tables and how to put them together.

How did you go about trying to solve them? What issues came up?

After about a month of research we found a guy locally, no website just a number and gave him a ring. He said I have a ton of slabs, come on by and take a look(just so happens it was right next to our house). Rob was just all time from the moment we met him, his knowledge for the different types of wood was fascinating. The challenge that came up was trying to find a dark walnut slab that was about 100". Walnut is not any everyday find in our part of California and he didn't have a single 100" slab but he did have two 60" slabs. Gillian said why don't we just put them together and Boom the table idea took a whole new shape. With Rob’s expertise he said  we can take someone from one slab, put some dowlings in the slabs and put them together, steady as can be.

Why now? What made you think this was the right project, for right now?

We just bought a home and redid the house. we actually designed a big open room, knowing that this table would go there, so it was pretty much was the perfect time. Best decision we every made.