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Lavarnway Designs

From farmhouse to fine furniture About:
Lavarnway Designs is owned and operated by myself, Karen Lavarnway. The wood for your furniture is sourced locally.

I am a professional firefighter in Northern Virginia and carry with me the desire to serve the community as well as with every piece of furniture created. As a wife and mother I put the care and attention into everything I make as if it were for my own family. Description:
At Lavarnway Designs I am proud of my wood creations and enjoy delighting people with the perfect piece of furniture to highli

06/24/2022

I made a jig to cut an oval (an ellipse). The arms that move through the center can be adjusted so the size of the oval can change. Attach the router to the end of the arm and you’re ready to cut. Perfectly symmetrical cuts every time. What do you think? How do you cut your ovals? Would love to hear about it in the comments.

Like and follow for more woodworking tips, tricks, and to see some cool projects along the way.

06/24/2022

Did you know that when you cut the corner off a table you can then use that piece as your jig if you want to recess the leg into the top? Drill holes through the triangle cut off and use that as your drill points for both the table top and the leg. I know my description is a bit weird but I think with the video you see what I mean. What do you think? Have you ever tried this way? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments.

Like and follow for more woodworking tips, tricks, and to see some cool projects along the way.

05/23/2022

When customers tell me it’s cheaper at Pottery Barn after I give them my quote. When it comes to furniture you get what you pay for. If you’re looking for pieces that can be passed down through the generations you’re going to be spending more in that investment. If you were going to buy a custom car, a custom tailored suit, or even have an interior designer decorate your home custom to you, no one would argue that you’re going to be spending some money. Ever since these plans online have become popular for “Build a farmhouse table for under $300,” some folks think it’s would only be another $100 for me to do that for them. Quality lumber, strong classic joinery, and (most importantly) years of skill cost money. I love all my customers and I love interacting with people on social media. I just think an unrealistic expectation has been set and some find the price reality for “made to order” to be a tough pill to swallow. Have you experienced the same thing? Let me know in the comments.

Please like and follow for daily woodworking tips, tricks, and to see cool woodworking projects along the way.

04/19/2022

Sometimes you need another set of hands in the shop. In this case though it was just me. I was making attempts at describing this with the panoramic feature on the iPhone. It took so many attempts. Here are a couple of my mistake photos. Can you find the problems? Woodworking and shop for the most part now requires me to get some helping hands. I’ve been considering expanding, possibly even hiring employees and buying commercial space. What do you think? Should I take the jump?

04/17/2022

Happy Easter everyone. Hope you have a fabulous day. I’m at my full time job till tomorrow but then my plan is to be running around the shop all day finishing up some of my latest projects. What are you up to today? Any fun plans of your own?

03/17/2022

The best adhesive on the market that anyone can use. This stuff fills the small spaces on all my projects. You get the gorgeous epoxy look without all the mess. I made a showing the step by step. What do you think? Let me know in the comments :)

03/16/2022

I haven’t been able to share too much of what’s been going on in my life for the last few months. I did however want to tell you I got married at the end of January. The wedding was in my parents living room. We went into my dad’s wood shop where I learned in years past the more intricate aspects of woodworking. It might seem a bit cheesy but I really like the photos and I had a lot of fun doing it. I would love to hear what you think of them in the comments.

03/12/2022

Tell me what you think of this veneered box top :)

03/11/2022

Some more veneering. Piece by piece. Let me know in the comments what you think of it.

03/11/2022

Making these six sides is shockingly difficult. After numerous attempts at cutting and re-cutting the last side, I’ve left four sides in a glue up. I will come back and custom fit the last two sides this evening. I’m excited to show you all the 3-D effect of these cubes I’ve veneered in the middle. A bit hard to see in this photo, plus they have labeling tape on them at the moment. What do you think?

03/10/2022

Can anyone tell me if Instagram squashes videos that are pulled from TikTok?

03/09/2022

What do you think of the sand shading I did here? Have you ever heard of or tried this technique?

03/08/2022

Do selfies get more views than woodworking content? I haven’t posted in months beyond this morning. I’ve heard Instagram punishes its users when they fall behind on content creation. Let’s give it a test.

03/08/2022

Scroll through these few photos. This is my first attempt at veneering anything. What do you think? How did I do with this box lid?

10/18/2021

Working on the most amazing herringbone table top. Last piece has gone in! What do you think?

10/06/2021

Take a look at the tv stand in this amazing room. Side note, we did the fireplace mantle and ceiling beam as well :) What do you think?

09/30/2021

My customer had a cherry tree from their own property milled. Those boards went into this amazing tv stand. What do you think?

09/29/2021

Delivery day for this fella. What do you think?

09/28/2021

Take a look at both photos. Would you keep the door to the sides or in the middle? Side note, there will be shelves as well.

09/21/2021

I swear they’re comfortable!!! How do they look?

09/20/2021

And the two chairs are done! Truthfully they’ve been done for a week. I brought them to the and they were a hit! Looking forward to doing another pop-up soon. What do you all think of the chairs? Can you see the dovetails?

09/18/2021

Come check out my pop-up booth today!!! Lots of big and small goodies you can buy 😁

09/17/2021

Final prep for the tomorrow. Here’s the mock-up and the actual chair. Lots of smaller items will be sold in addition to some larger pieces (such as the chairs). Be sure to come check out our pop up booth. All items are made in Old Town Warrenton!!

09/17/2021

Chair seat and back are attached. How would you go about joining these two boards together?

09/16/2021

Getting those dovetails tight!! What do you think?

09/15/2021

Chair arms glued up. See the dovetails? What do you think?

09/11/2021

Three step process in making these dovetails. First, the band saw (which was my last post). Next, cutting the perfect edge here. Lastly, I will chisel to clean it all up. What do you think?

09/10/2021

Not the most interesting set of photos but it does show me making part of multiple dovetail joints at once. What do you think?

09/02/2021

I find myself posting so rarely these days. Let me give you an update on the chair. Here is a bit of the arm. It’s made of wenge and has four dovetailed corners (last board not shown). What do you think?

08/19/2021

I’ve been working on building the perfect angled chair. Here’s a throwback from a few years ago when I was trying to do the same thing for a bench. Any guess on what the perfect angle is?