Mahogany Bathroom Seat, Oakland, CA, July 2021

Most of our work is tile, cabinets, and floors. This was a rare bit of finish carpentry that also had to be functional: a mahogany seat in an Oakland bathroom, with storage space inside.

Not a square angle in the house

It’s just what it looks like. But there wasn’t a square, right, or plumb angle anywhere in this house, which sits near the Hayward Fault and has settled the way older Bay Area homes do. The front face of the seat had to sit on the tile line, but the wall behind it ran a few degrees askew from that line. A box built square would have left a gap that grew along the wall.

So the back section, the part against the wall, was built from angled pieces made to match the wall exactly. The front stays true to the tile, the back follows the wall, and the difference is absorbed where no one sees it. That’s most of finish carpentry: making something look square in a room that isn’t.

Why mahogany, and why oil

Mahogany is a good choice for a bathroom. It’s dense, stable, and resists moisture and rot better than most woods, and it has a warm color that only gets richer with age. It was finished with oil rather than a hard film finish. Oil soaks into the wood and protects it from within, it’s easy to touch up, and it keeps the grain looking like wood instead of plastic. In a bathroom, an occasional fresh coat keeps it protected.

Tools and working on site

Better tools make better work, and the right tool makes the best work. For a piece like this, that means a compound miter saw for clean, accurate angles, a planer to bring stock to exact thickness, an impact driver for solid assembly, and a brad nailer for trim that goes on without splitting the wood. Putty exists to hide small mistakes, and the goal is to need as little of it as possible.

Wood cutting stays out of the living space. The saw station goes outside or in a garage, and only finished pieces come into the house. A clean, well-lit, uncluttered workspace keeps dust out of the home and keeps the work precise. It’s also part of why the job stays stress-free for the people who live there.

Want a custom built-in or finish carpentry? See what we install, or send photos for an estimate.

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Meta description: A custom mahogany bathroom seat with storage inside, built for an out-of-square Oakland home: angled back pieces follow the wall, the front follows the tile, and an oil finish protects the wood.
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