Purpose & seating
Define whether the table is designed for board meetings, dinners, entertaining, or daily work.
A Complimentary Planning Guide
The Custom
Table Brief.
Seven decisions to make before commissioning a modern-heirloom conference, executive, or dining table—from seating and room clearance to walnut selection, finish, budget, and timing.
Built from the practical questions Clifton uses to begin each Locust Hill Customs commission. Priority scheduling is paced around one signature conference-table build per quarter.
Made for Real Decisions
A better first conversation starts with a better brief.
Room & proportions
Measure the room, chair clearance, access route, and the size the table can genuinely support.
Walnut & form
Think through grain character, live edge or straight edge, shape, base, and the feeling the room should have.
Finish & investment
Clarify use, maintenance expectations, build timing, and the investment range that fits the piece.
A reference point, not a template.
The guide uses Clifton’s 10-foot × 46-inch × 1.5-inch walnut conference table as a real-world reference for planning a large table that seats 10–12 adults. Your piece will be shaped around your room, your use, and your material preferences.
Locust Hill Customs schedules four signature conference-table commissions each year, paced as one build per quarter. Typical investments are $5,000–$18,000, with a three-to-six-month build timeline after scope and materials are confirmed.
Sizing a Large Table
Not sure where to begin with a 10–12 person room?
Read the conference-table sizing guide for a practical first look at seating, room measurements, circulation, and technology planning—using Clifton’s completed 10-foot walnut build as the reference point.
Read the 10–12 Person Sizing GuidePlanning a Rochester Boardroom
Turn the room into a clear design brief.
The Rochester office planning guide covers the decisions that make a custom walnut conference table feel tailored to the room: meeting style, technology, material character, support direction, investment, and timing.
Read the Rochester Office Planning GuideMaterial Direction
Why choose American black walnut?
Explore how grain, color movement, clean base design, and a timeless mid-century sensibility can make a black walnut conference table feel like a modern-day heirloom.
Read the Black Walnut Material GuideBase Design
Why choose a trestle base?
See why a tailored trestle base can give a large walnut conference table an architectural center, quiet visual support, and seating shaped around the way a room is used.
Read the Trestle Base Design GuideThe Full Library
Explore every table guide in one place.
From conference-room scale and office technology to black walnut, trestle design, and large-format dining, the Table Guides library connects each planning question to the next useful decision.
Explore the Table Guides LibraryFor the Home Office
Make work feel intentional.
A considered walnut desk can be planned around monitors, writing space, lighting, cable paths, the chair, and the visual tone of the room. Explore the guide for a more complete starting point.
Read the Home Office Desk GuideMaterial Beyond Walnut
When white oak is the direction that belongs.
A prior client’s white oak heirloom desk shows how a custom commission can follow the character of a different hardwood without compromising the care given to board selection, fit-up, edge work, and daily use.
Read the White Oak Desk Case StudyDining Table Direction
Choose the table that belongs in the room.
For a dining table that will become the center of home life, explore proportion, ellipse form, walnut character, base design, and the qualities that make a piece feel personal rather than merely purchased.
Read the Modern Heirloom Dining GuideRenovation & New-Build Planning
Consider the piece before the room is finished.
For a major Rochester renovation, custom new build, or Finger Lakes lake home, a custom table can become an early reference point for scale, seating, material, light, and the way the space will gather people.
Design the Room Around the Table