Dramatic impact of stone furnishings hits hard

That spring morning was filled with excitement as a granite dining table that I had commissioned only a few months earlier arrived from Belgium. It was stunning in its simplicity and everything and more that I had hoped it would be. It was simple, yet elegant with lines accented by a top that I had beveled from underneath to give it a lighter and much more delicate appearance than most people had been used to seeing rendered in stone.

Delighting in my new creation, I has just settled back behind my desk when I noticed a tall figure, strangely familiar to me, pacing up and down in front of my shop. He was looking at his watch, obviously waiting for someone, as he anxiously and repeatedly tried to see through the plateglass windows. I thought it interesting behavior, but nothing that unusual (after all, it was Hollywood) and then it hit me.

The phantom figure was someone I had actually grown up watching on television in the 1960s when he played a handsome young doctor, then later a priest in the Australian outback and even a shogun in Japan. It was "Dr. Kildare" who opened the doors to my shop that day -- the moment his friend arrived -- and he made a beeline to my new table! I was thrilled that it was already garnering this kind of attention.

That moment has stayed with me not so much because designers love approval (of course they do!), but more because it underscored and solidified my belief that furniture made of marble, granite or any stone takes on a special importance in a room, a gravitas that can be a wonderful design element providing the scale is correct for the space.

For example, in the Palm Springs home of another Hollywood luminary, I designed a coffee table made of granite and limestone with a somewhat Asian feel. It was quite massive in scale, but it suited the size of the room and became the focal point. No wooden table could ever have achieved its significance -- nor its functionality -- for this particular family room. Remember, with stone tables, especially those made of the harder granite, there are no scratches and chips to worry about; a damp cloth will remove all smudges and dirt, restoring the tabletop to a pristine condition. Oh, if only all furniture maintenance was this easy.

No doubt we've all seen pedestals in various shapes and sizes to display works of art that were made in a host of materials such as lacquered wood or laminates. But, how could they ever compare to the grandeur and excitement of those made of stone? They can't. To that end I've designed pedestals made of onyx or a combination of stones containing a light source that glows through the translucent onyx and illuminates the art piece. These can be utilized as table bases as well as lighting.

For the more outré client, I've designed geometric table bases for dining and coffee tables that were powerful statements of individuality and certainly never went unnoticed. These include triangular-shaped coffee and side tables that were often requested in a combination of materials such as steel and granite, but frequently preferred totally made of stone.

These tables and pedestals all convey substance and weight and can easily hold their own in large-scale settings. What about the use of stone furniture in smaller spaces such as hallways or even narrow rooms? Can they be used successfully in these applications as well? The answer is a resounding yes -- when scale and proportion are correctly applied.

I've already mentioned the beveled tabletop that is a natural for intimate scaled rooms. But, if the design is right, stone is a great way to go when in need of a console in a tight space.

A table I came up with a number of years ago for just such a circumstance consisted of three beveled, triangular-shaped stone pieces that fit together in such a way that the supporting legs could be moved in or out as desired to either be flush with the top or not. The magic of this design was not only in the scale, it had a depth of just 13 inches, but in the use of stone as the material to give it weight and importance despite its small size.

I encourage you to consider stone in your furniture choices, not only for its functionality, but for the design impact that only it can achieve.

Stephen Leon is president of Soleil Design International and has been designing and manufacturing custom furniture and cabinetry for more than 25 years. He is on the board of directors of the Central California/Nevada Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. Questions can be sent to soleildesign@cox.net.