The Process of working with Handhold Studio

At Handhold Studio, all design work starts with YOU! Our work is an investment into the spaces you spend your time, attention, and energy.

Making sure every detail is as planned out as possible is our primary goal, before ever picking up a tool.

On initial consultation, we’ll plan out the very basics; dimensions needed, wood species/tones best suited for your space. Using our Contact Form, you can provide us with as many details as you currently have about your project.

If you’re unsure, or need some assistance in design, thats why we’re here! You don’t have to have every detail figured out before reaching out to us! We’ll help guide you through any design issue, need for professional insight, or help you make a piece fit the space you intend to place it.

From here, the process leans a bit heavier into our hands: We’ll make a sketch of the project in mind, so that we can both see a more visual representation of the final build! We’ll revise the pieces as needed, make notes as we go, and hammer out all of the details possible.

Once you’ve settled on a sketch as your final design, it’s onto the next step!

Step two in our process is gathering client budget information, and gathering prices for the materials for your specific build!

For intricate projects, at this point we may ask for a nominal design consultation fee before investing too much time in quoting. All consultation fees will then be applied toward the cost of your future piece/s!

This is a vulnerable part of our process, as we ask you to be as open & transparent as possible!

At Handhold, we pride ourself on standing behind a mission of accessibility of our work, and we want to use every tool in our bag to solve any budgetary hurdles. While our slow-crafted, handcrafted, and one-on-one style of work is naturally a larger investment, we will always do our best to accommodate where we can.

With that in mind, budgetary transparency allows us the ability to include, or rule out, certain lumber suppliers, specialty lumber, hardware selections, and finishing possibilities. Given the opportunity, rest assured that we will not attempt to take advantage of your budget, and will always aim to provide a higher quality product than the price tag presented.

Once we’ve figured out and presented the final cost of a piece, Step 3!

Payments: For all of the work that we do, we offer very flexible payment options ranging from 50/50 payment terms, in-house (and external) financing options, discounts for full-payment, as well as layaway-style payments.

We Accept: Checks, Cash, Zelle/Paypal/Venmo, formal invoicing through our website or Quickbooks to pay at your convenience with debit, credit, or an app that you use.

After the design is complete, and the quote’s been approved, we’ll create a custom listing for you here on our website. From there, the process will be as straight forward as any other online purchase!

If paying via Check, Cash, or a Payment App, we’ll manually mark your custom listing as purchased, paid, + in queue!

If you purchase via debit/credit, you’ll be immediately emailed a receipt and your project will be formally in our queue!

We’ll do a little happy dance at our small business getting another wonderful client!

Now, the fun begins!

Once in our queue, all materials are purchased, usually within 24 hours of payment received.

We’ll spend a few hours hand selecting the lumber just for your piece, taking care to select based on your grain character preferences, color, uniformity, and we’ll always look for a lumber that is “graded” in a higher quality than the initial budget allowed for. We’ll order any hinges, hardware, prepay our shipping accounts, and prepare payment for finishing.

After bringing the lumber back to our shop, we’ll do an initial milling to the size needed for your project, and then we’ll store it in our lumber racks and allow it to acclimate to our shop’s climate so that we can work with a stable material.

Some weeks later, we’ll jump back in for finish milling, joinery, sanding, patching any natural weak points. We’ll fit hardware and hinges, we’ll hand-scrape and sand for smooth, blemish free finishes. We’ll hand-shape bases and hand-cute the sliding dovetail stretchers. We’ll do a final glue up after countless test figments, and then we’ll prepare for finish!

Along this process, we’ll send photos, updates, or generally touch base if any issues arise. If you’re interested in photos/videos/updates, don’t hesitate to ask! Or, follow our social medias! We post most builds as they go!

For finishing, we take one of two paths: we’ll apply a hand-rubbed, plant-based, natural hard wax oil finish. For furniture that will require a finish that’s more wear-proof/high traffic, we’ll hand deliver it to a local professional finishing studio, who will apply a sprayed finish in whatever sheen or color chosen by our clients.

All ofour work is available for hand delivery, to the PNW/NW region of the United States, at no addition cost. For all other regions, we’d be happy to see about hand delivery if you prefer it! We generally only need an opening in our schule to make a road trip of it.

It’s a brushed past fact about us, but we built this business on our value of travel and seeing new places + faces! We definitely would love to deliver your pieces!

If we need to ship to you, we have a small shipment fee, so that we can ensure that your furniture is handled with the utmost care and professionalism. All of our works are packaged into palletized boxing that we have locally made by another small business. Each palletized box is fitted perfectly to the size of your project, allowing for 2” of padding surround each piece. We use FedEx Freight to deliver all of our works, through a very close-knit relationship with our account management and delivery partners. The shipment fee will cover from our most basic freight offerings; delivered to door/into a garage (not just to the street), all the way to our white glove services (when available) of room of choice delivery + trash removed.

As of January 2024, we’ve shipped 58 projects with no damage, so you can rest assured that your piece + our handcraft will be taken care of.

In the event that something does go wrong, as sometimes things do, every crate that leaves our shop is fully insured to the full value of the work inside, as well as for the shipping costs.

As of Spring 2024, most projects have taken 14-16 weeks from the first payment received to final delivery. Some projects are quicker, others longer, but we’ll have communicated about it during the initial planning phases.

When we build a piece for a client, we inevitably send out a small piece of ourselves into the world, and into your home + space.

We’ll always follow up with interest of photos and a review of your experience.

Maintenance of our work is usually fairly straightforward: don’t leave liquids to settle on hardwood, no harsh solvents allowed, and let us know if there’s ever a problem! For all of our hand-rubbed finishes, we use Osmo Polyx 3054, and we recommend using Osmo’s line of “Maintenance Oil” for any touch ups or yearly maintenance.

We treat every piece and their owners as family. If an accident happens that causes damage, let us know! We’ll see how we can help remotely (at no charge), come to you to fix (for minimal charge), or if you’re non-local we’ll reach out to our nearest furniture connection to you that we trust with our work to come and repair! You’ll be able to pay them for any repairs directly.