Handcarved Federal Fireplace Mantle

Chris was great and the table turned out awesome.

AH

Angie Hunter

For Angie's Bookcase

5.0

Aug 8, 2018

Christopher made us a beautiful custom bookcase (10' wide x 8' tall) distressed solid white oak, with barn doors and built in baseboard radiator covers. We are extremely pleased. We spoke over the phone a few times and used text messaging to confirm that we were on the same page with the design. He was always easy to reach and very responsive. He mailed a very carefully drawn/professional drawing before starting to build it, and his assistant personally came to our house to install the bookcase. Thanks Chris!

TC

Timothy Chiacchira

For Timothy's Crib

1.7

Oct 4, 2017

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS GUY he does great work but it takes over a year to get anything and I haven't even got all of the project yet.. I am so mad right now I cannot contain myself. If I don't get a ship date today of the rest of the piece I am contacting my bank for a fraud investigation on this 5k albatros. For the last 5 days I have tried to get a hold of him and even had his cell which is now filled up with messages.. so I am not holding my breath.. this whole experience has sucked.

- Ordered a farmhouse dining table and a coffee table - Was told it would be 8 weeks; it ultimately arrived in 14 weeks; timeline slipped multiple times - Did not communicate at the touch points (no pictures of progress, no email on original delivery date); relies solely on the purchaser to initiate a question - Arrived using R&L Carriers; both products had damage with the coffee table unusable; Chris said this was the 4th damage in the last year - Coffee table was 10 inches too big on each side; Chris acknowledged and said he read my specs wrong - Immediately initiated the refund process. Took about 2 months as he tried to get a claim from the shipper before paying my refund. He ultimately paid me a partial refund - Remaining $87 was not paid and it looks like it won't be. I have a useless table that's too big for any room in my house, even if it came in perfect shape. - 200 days since initial order

L

Lisa

For Lisa's Coffee Table

2.0

Jul 3, 2017

General disappointment. I originally went with this maker because he said he could make it out of 16/4 hardwood - which is vey thick. I created the proposa mid January 2017 and received item July 2017. He kept on saying he'd have it out by certain times like April and I waited patiently. It wasn't worth the wait. I think Christopher probably handles everything himself. My advice would to have someone manage the communication and scheduling. He wasn't honest with his timeline nor did he deliver what I wanted. Had that been the case, I could have found someone local to build my table. 16/4 wood is hard to find in white oak but that is no excuse. I want to continue to support local artisans and craftspeople but surely there's a better way to do that.

Do yourself a huge favor, do not consider using this maker. The worst buying experience of my life. The item was two months late, it didn't even look like it was supposed to. The drawers and cabinet did not function properly, the finish was dull with dents and dings all over. I tried to adjust the cabinet door so that it would open and close without rubbing, after the finish was removed and the corner was rounded I took the door off and noticed that he had put two different hinges on. I asked him to send me a matching pair of hinges, he wanted me to describe what the hinges looked like so he could send one that would match up with one of the two other ones. Finally after going back and forth, we sent me two old, used hinges with dirt and saw dust caked in them. That's not the worst part, I went through this site because I needed a 17 inch narrow vanity for a tight bathroom, mind you that 18 inch and 22 inch are standard. I needed it 17 so I had no choice, he agreed and assured me that it wasn't an issue. After waiting months, he called me and told me that I would have to do a wall mounted faucet because it would not work any other way unless we make it a big larger. I had already purchased the faucet that mounts to the counter top and just being tired of being without a vanity for months I agreed to cot into the door molding to accommodate the larger counter. He had one of his workers deliver it, A- the sink wasn't mounted to the marble, the marble wasn't secured to the vanity and he left it like that. I am somewhat handy so I said "whatever, I'll do the rest" I just need this job complete. The sink didn't even fit into the vanity, I had to completely remove the rear vanity support and shave the front one down to next to nothing in order for it to fit. The vanity had to be off the back wall 2 inches so that the faucet could fit, there is no overhang on the front and the overall size was 18 1/2 inches. That's 1 1/2 inches larger then could fit and 1/2 larger the a standard vanity that I could have bought in Home Depot for $509. All together I paid close to $1,700.00 for a poorly constructed vanity that didn't look like I wanted it to and had to wait 4+ months to receive this travesty. Please, please, please do not put yourself through what I had to endure. ZERO STARS, NEGATIVE STARS IF POSSIBLE

JB

Jerry Buza

For Farmhouse Dining Table

1.3

Apr 3, 2017

We had been shopping for a farmhouse table for many months but nothing we found was the right combination of size, price and quality. We liked tables we saw at the Pottery Barn like the Benchwright table but couldn’t find the right quality or size. Then we saw what appeared to be a perfect table here on Custom Made, so we asked for bids. Chris had a reasonable bid and a shipping date in only six weeks. I should have known better after seeing the Initial drawing. However, the next day on 9/27 we put down a deposit. Nothing happened, so on 10/18 I asked where the stain samples were. After several promises we finally get a stain sample on 11/21, and then they only sent one, like what am I supposed to compare this too? The project due date was November 8th, and they can't even get a stain sample to us by then. Of course we missed having it for our Thanksgiving dinner. But for sure we'd have it by Christmas, right? Custom Made notifies us that the table ready to ship on 12/13/2017. I ask for pictures, and no, the table is NOT done. It doesn't show the metal turnbuckles and the legs are too close to the end to allow chairs. Not exactly like the original table either, several other nice features are missing too. So we withhold payment. Christopher now says the turnbuckles are "are coming". So Christmas comes and goes and finally the table ships on January 4th. Using Pilot Freight, the delivery was made on January 21st. 57 DAYS LATE So, we finally take delivery and to our horror upon opening it we see runs all down the edge of the table! Apparently, when they stained the bottom of the table, gobs of finish and stain ran down the edges and was never cleaned up. How you don't inspect a 400# table prior to shipping it across the country I don't know. I called Chris and he says he can't see it and denies any issue. I send more pictures and finally he says they are urethane drips and he's going to send some product to handle the problem, we are not to touch it. He says he will also send stain and urethane. It's now January 21st. Time goes on and on, he claims he has to order product, then he claims they sent him the wrong color. Finally A MONTH later the package arrives. This package we waited a month for is several sheets of sandpaper and a small can of Minwax stain. I don't know if I should laugh or cry! I could have bought all this a month ago at Home Depot! Meanwhile, while we were waiting for the repair package we examined the legs and found many other issues. They used unmatched, hideously mis-colored filler all over on the base to fill holes and damaged wood. There are six legs and not one of them is the same height. One has a piece of scrap wood attached to it to help even things out. There are several joints, but they mis-cut the wood so that there is a huge 3/8" gap in one joint. They provided tiny 5/8" wide predrilled metal mending brackets and eight sheet rock screws to attached the legs to this 300# table top. (Chris said the tensioning rods would supply the support, the same rods he would have omitted if we hadn't asked for images first) Most of the base turned out black, not mahogany, since the wood he chose is black underneath. There are also large sections with wood rot they tried to disguise. And everywhere you look there are lots of more runs along with gunk buried everywhere under the finish. So we have been working with Chris for some dispensation, since he will not take back a return. Although their site says "returns quickly accepted for quality reasons", he claims all these issues are normal since this is a rustic table. He's never taken responsibility for any issues. Never once did Chris say he was sorry. To him, being almost 60 days late was OK. Having the table show up with runs all down the edges, that was OK. Having to wait another month for fix-it supplies only to find out it was sandpaper and common stain that could have bought at Home Depot, that was OK. Nothing was his fault, nothing was worth the time or courtesy to even say that he was sorry. So in my opinion, if you want to order from a cold, uncaring hack without the customer service skills to understand what your project should look like or the carpentry skills to execute your design then please have at it. Meanwhile we are working with our credit company on a full charge back.

We ordered a dining room table top from Chris back in July. We finally received it today, eight months later. There are multiple problems: the finish quality is awful -- it almost feels like sandpaper when you run your hand over the top. There are several places where dirt is embedded under the finish. The maker said he was sending this out to a finisher with a spray booth, so that the finish would be perfect. This clearly didn't happen. There is a gouge out of the veneer on one end. The joinery at the corners is very crude. This is the kind of quality one would expect if buying something for next to nothing at a seconds sale. If the maker hadn't shipped this piece all the way across the country, we would certainly return it. Deeply disappointed.

The custom Vanity is beautiful. The workmanship is great. The packing and delivery was also good. It took way to long to produce. Also, I had to get my cabinet guy to remake the drawers because there was no room for the plumbing but I am not too concerned about this because I designed it and there was not really clear instructions given to him. Overall I am very happy with the vanity.

These came out great and are exactly what I wanted. I'd absolutely work with CL again. He is clearly a master cabinet maker who takes pride in his work. Communication was spare- frustrating at first but I just think this is his style. He did respond each time with only one brief delay. Some little details were lost but nothing important. Like the others my pieces were a month past the date. Seems timing might is his one issue but that's not terribly unusual. I give the benefit of the doubt to craftspeople who have to take many projects on to make any profit. Next time though I would stay on top of the process a bit more if time is of the essence. I weigh priorities with all of these aspects. In this case the finished product was most important to me and I was delighted with that.

I really love the finished product but completion was late by more than a month.

This entire process was extremely frustrating. The table was completed and delivered nearly 1 MONTH after I was told it would be done. And was given 2 other deadlines that were missed during that month. There was ZERO communication from Mr. Larkin - I had to reach out to him AFTER every deadline was missed to find out when the table would be finished. While the quality of the wood, and the finish of the table is excellent, the entire table 'wobbles' because the pedestal was far too narrow to hold a table of this size. I sent a picture of the table I wanted, and the pedestal was much larger in order to have a solid foundation. Now I need to put some sort of 'legs' under the tabletop to keep it from shaking. If I don't, I'm not sure the table will last a year. Overall I'm very disappointed in this entire transaction - horrible customer service, and a product that needs to have additional work done to make it sturdy.

The table Chris crafted is absolutely stunning! He even added some extra touches to make it better than what I had initially asked for. Really happy with the finished product.