Case Study: Glass Conference Table

Stoneline Designs recently completed this glass conference table for DuMOL Wines. DuMOL, an estate vineyard in California's Russian River Valley, wanted a distinctive table for their conference room. We custom designed a table in our Crescent line, with our patterned scratched glass finish for the top and integrated wiring. The wiring is concealed under round grommets for a seamless appearance when the table is not in use.

Design Your Credenza

Are you purchasing a credenza for your office or home office? Here are a few questions to consider in designing your credenza:

What height should the credenza be? If you intend to use the credenza as a work surface, it should be the same height as your desk (typically 29" high, but measure your desk to be sure). If not, we recommend a height of 34" for credenzas. This breaks up the static height of the tables, and makes the room design more interesting than if all desks and tables were the same height.

How will the credenza be used? There are many storage options including shelves, drawers and lateral files. The options you choose will depend on what will be stored in your credenza.

Will there be electronics inside your credenza? Be sure to measure the components and make sure they will fit inside. You may need special options for the credenza like wiring access or ventilation in the rear panel.

Ventilation is often overlooked when designing a credenza, but it is critically important. Electronic equipment outputs a surprising amount of heat. In an enclosed space the heat can build up to such a level that it can crash or even permanently damage your electronics. Proper ventilation will ensure that eletronic components stored inside your credenza do not overheat.

The simplest form of ventilation is air holes or vents cut into the back panel. Your furniture designer will work with you to make sure the vents are correctly placed to provide airflow to your electronics. If the credenza will contain many components with high power output, simple air vents may not be enough and you may need to have fans installed in the back of the credenza. Either way, make sure to leave a gap of at least a couple of inches between the credenza and the wall; if the back is pressed up against the wall this will block airflow and defeat the purpose of venting.

Conference Tables in History

Man walks on the moon and conference tables are there! Well, not really. But conference tables were still involved. Here is a photo of the Apollo 10 crew briefing the Apollo 11 crew before the first moon landing. Left to right around the table: Michael Collins,* Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Tom Stafford, Neil Armstrong, John Young.

*Remember the name Michael Collins, the only member of Apollo 11 who did not walk on the moon. He stayed in orbit in the space ship, alone, while Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the lunar surface. Poor guy!

Case Study: Glass Conference Table with Built-in Wiring

Stoneline Designs completed this glass conference table for a professional workplace environment firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. The table, from our Crescent line, seats 14 and includes a wiring trough running down the center of the table to provide power and net access for laptops. A sliding cover conceals the wiring when not in use. Our "Patterned Scratched" Glass finish complements the open, spacious feel of the conference room.

Conference Tables in (tomorrow's) History

The Group of Eight (G8) Nations gather around the conference table: Stephen Harper of Canada, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Angela Merkel of Germany, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Taro Aso of Japan, Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Gordon Brown of the UK and Barack Obama of the USA. 35th annual G8 conference, July 2009, Italy.

Protect Your Glass Conference Table from Chips and Scratches

We hope you have never had the sinking feeling of looking at your glass conference table or glass dining table and discovering a chip in the edge or scratch in the surface. Unfortunately, once a chip or scratch has occurred, there's usually no way to repair it. In most cases your options are to conceal the scratch or replace the glass.

That's why it's important to protect your glass table and avoid chips or scratches in the first place. For the most part, this is simply common sense. Avoid roughhousing near the table, or dropping heavy or sharp objects on the glass top. If you have small children in your home, consider padding the edges of the table with foam. This will protect both the table and your children! You can always remove the padding when you have guests.

If you have to move a large object on the glass top, for instance a laser printer or desktop computer sitting on a glass desk, lift and carry it rather than dragging or pushing it across the surface. If this is impossible -- for example it is a home office, you live alone and it's just too darn heavy -- place the heavy object on a sturdy cloth and pull the cloth. Never allow a heavy or sharp object to scrape across the surface of the glass.

If you have objects with sharp edges which you need to place on your glass table, place them on a cloth rather than directly on the glass. If this happens often, for instance a family dining table where you do kitchen prep work or set kitchen tools, make sure there is always a cloth or pad on the table. You can use a table runner or placemats to incorporate the protective cloth into your room decor.

Your chair selection matters as well. Metal backed chairs can easily chip the edge of a glass table top if they are not properly padded. Before you buy those sophisticated metal chairs to go with your glass table, imagine a rushed conference where people jump up from the table and push their chairs out of the way in a hurry. Or imagine tripping in your dining room and shoving a chair back against the edge of the table. Make sure all parts of the chair which come in contact with the table top are padded. (Any other metal furniture that moves -- a wheeled coffee stand or file cart, etc -- should also be padded or kept well away from the edge of a glass table.)

The steps above will go a long way towards protecting your glass table. If you do end up with a minor chip or scratch in your table, you can sometimes turn or move the table so the light does not catch the scratch and it isn't as noticeable. If the damage is too severe for that, well, there's always strategically placed coasters and potted plants.

Conference Tables in History

On July 4, 1776, at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, the Founding Fathers gathered around the table to sign the Declaration of Independence, marking the official start of the Revolutionary War. The most important event of our nation's history and a conference table was there!