Making of Elli & Joshua’s Reclaimed Timber Dining Table
There’s something deeply personal about every custom timber dining table we create, but Elli and Joshua’s Monarch Dining Table will always stay with us.
It began the way so many of our best projects do — with a conversation. A couple building their dream home reached out to us in Melbourne, looking for a table that could anchor their new space.
Reclaimed 50mm thick Timber Dining Table on metal legs
Elli & Joshua wanted something solid. Something that felt grounded. Something that would last a lifetime and tell its own story through the timber.
We knew instantly that this wasn’t just a furniture order — it was the beginning of a legacy piece. The kind that will host family milestones, birthdays, homework sessions, and quiet Sunday coffees long after the sawdust has settled.
For us, this table needed to be perfect for Elli — it’s where family meals, creative projects, and late-night work all come together, reflecting the same balance of beauty and practicality that defines her life and content.
Elli is a Melbourne-based sonographer, mum of two, and digital creator known for her warm, authentic approach to everyday life. Through her Instagram (@ellitamar) and TikTok (@elli.tamar), she shares the chaos and charm of family cooking — quick, healthy(ish) meals your kids will actually eat — all served up with her signature humour and down-to-earth style.
That’s why we documented the entire process. From the first rip of rough-sawn timber to the moment it found its place in their beautiful new home, this build represents everything we stand for at Lumber Furniture: craftsmanship, patience, sustainability, and heart.
Selecting the Timber: Recycled Blackbutt
Choosing the right timber is always where the story begins. For this table, we selected Recycled Blackbutt — a species native to Australia, celebrated for its durability and natural golden warmth.
What made it even more special was its past life. The boards we sourced were reclaimed from an old structure — carrying the character and imperfections of decades gone by. Nail holes, weather marks, and deep caramel hues told a story of their own.
Recycled timber brings a certain honesty that new timber simply can’t replicate. Every imperfection adds authenticity. It’s proof that beauty often comes from the passage of time. And when you choose to build with reclaimed materials, you’re not just creating a new piece — you’re continuing an old story.
We hand-sorted every board, checking for straightness, integrity, and grain pattern. Matching tones across a 3.6-metre length requires experience, patience, and an eye for balance — a rhythm we’ve built over years in our Melbourne workshop.
De-Nailing the Timber
Before any cutting or joining could begin, there was one crucial step: de-nailing.
Each recycled board had to be meticulously inspected for old metal fragments — screws, bolts, or rusted nails buried deep within the grain. This is the kind of quiet, unseen work that most people never think about, but it’s absolutely vital.
A single missed nail can damage blades or even throw off the precision of a join. So, board by board, we ran our hands over the surfaces, feeling for resistance, using magnetic scanners and hand tools to draw out every last piece of metal from the timber’s past life.
There’s something almost meditative about it — freeing the timber from its history so it can begin again.
The Making: Ripping, Sanding, and Oiling
Once the boards were clean and ready, we began ripping. Each piece was cut to size, perfectly aligned to form the long, seamless top that defines the Monarch design.
At this stage, precision is everything. Every cut needs to anticipate the next — how the boards will marry, how the grain will flow across the full 3.6-metre span, how the eye will follow that line of timber once it’s installed in someone’s home.
Then came joining. Using a combination of mortise-and-tenon joinery and modern domino systems, we bonded the boards edge to edge, applying even clamping pressure until the glue cured into a single, unified slab.
The next stage was sanding, and this is where the table begins to reveal itself. We move from coarse to fine grit, drawing out the grain pattern until the surface feels like silk. The Recycled Blackbutt started to glow — ribbons of golden grain, soft greys, and honeyed warmth catching in the light.
Finally came oiling — the stage that breathes life into the timber. We applied our satin oil finish in slow, deliberate coats, rubbing it in by hand to ensure the perfect sheen and protection. Watching the oil soak into the surface never loses its magic. The grain deepens, the tone warms, and you realise you’re looking at something timeless.
The Details That Define the Monarch
Design is nothing without balance. The Monarch Dining Table represents strength and simplicity in equal measure.
At 5 cm thick, the top has the presence and weight of a true solid timber table — but the details are what make it sing. Every edge is subtly eased by hand. Every join line vanishes into perfect alignment.
The base features our signature Monarch loop legs, powder-coated in Mannex black — 70 cm wide, 15 cm thick, with square corners that give the design a bold architectural stance. The dark metal contrasts beautifully with the golden timber, grounding the piece and creating that unmistakable industrial-meets-refined aesthetic that defines our work.
This table measures 1.2 m wide and 3.6 m long — large enough to host big family gatherings, yet perfectly proportioned to sit comfortably within their open-plan living space.
Every Monarch is built to spec — meaning we adjust dimensions, finishes, and leg configurations to suit each home. But the core remains the same: timeless craftsmanship, honest materials, and design integrity that never dates.
Delivery Day: From Workshop to Home
There’s a quiet sense of pride that fills the factory on delivery day. After weeks of shaping, sanding, and refining, we finally load the finished table onto the truck.
Elli and Joshua’s piece stood out — the way the light danced across the oiled Blackbutt, the subtle texture of the grain, the perfect geometry of those Monarch legs. We wrapped it with care, strapped it securely, and set off.
At their home, the space was ready. Sunlight streamed through the windows as we carried the table inside. The contrast of soft, neutral interiors and the warm timber tones couldn’t have been more perfect.
Once it was placed, we stepped back — and that’s the moment we live for. Seeing a piece we built from raw timber settle into its forever home. The table felt like it belonged there all along.
Joshua smiled “It’s just what we wanted,” he said. And in that moment, every long day in the workshop was worth it.
Why Handmade Matters
In a world of fast furniture, where convenience often wins over quality, it’s easy to forget what true craftsmanship looks like.
When you choose a custom timber dining table made in Melbourne, you’re choosing to support a tradition — one that values skill, patience, and sustainability over speed.
Each table we make is unique. The timber dictates the process; our role is simply to listen and bring out its best form. Machines help, but they don’t decide. It’s the human touch — the small decisions, the adjustments by eye and hand — that turn timber into art.
Recycled materials, like the Blackbutt used here, remind us of the responsibility we hold as makers. We’re not just crafting furniture — we’re preserving the story of Australian forests, of resourcefulness, of renewal.
Every mark of character in the timber is a reminder that perfection isn’t flawless — it’s honest.
The Legacy of Craftsmanship
For us, furniture isn’t just functional. It’s emotional. It carries memory, purpose, and meaning.
We often say that a solid timber table will outlast its first owners — and we mean it. The Monarch Dining Table we built for Elli and Joshua will see decades of shared meals, laughter, and life. One day, it’ll bear the marks of their family just as the reclaimed Blackbutt once bore the marks of its past.
That’s the beauty of handcrafted furniture — it evolves. It becomes richer, softer, more personal with time.
Every piece that leaves our Moorabbin workshop carries our signature, but more importantly, it carries our heart.
We don’t mass-produce. We don’t compromise. We build furniture that’s meant to last — and to be loved.
If you’ve ever dreamed of a piece made just for you — built from solid timber, designed to fit your space perfectly, and handcrafted right here in Melbourne — we’d love to bring that vision to life.
Visit our Moorabbin factory and showroom to see the craftsmanship up close, or book a virtual consultation and take a guided tour from wherever you are.
Let’s create something that lasts — a table where stories will unfold for generations to come.
🪵 Lumber Furniture
Handcrafted in Melbourne
www.lumberfurniture.com.au
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