Important room?

[loquere]

It's an important executive boardroom. It's very old and filled with distinguished men of Iveeeeeeeeeey league stature.

I’ve decided the boardroom table is going to be mahogany.


-Should the walls be Chestnut or walnut?

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

It's an important executive boardroom. It's very old and filled with distinguished men of Ivey league stature.

I’ve decided the boardroom table is going to be mahogany.


-Should the walls be Chestnut or walnut?

Is your narrator is totally out of place in this world? Or is the narrator the type who would know the difference? Because really, most people can't tell the difference between wood types; unless your narrator has a background that would make him or her able to spot these types of thing, you can get away with "rich wood paneling" or something.

(ETA: That would probably convey more to the reader, too, since I'm guessing the majority of lit's readers would have no clue what chestnut looks like.)

If you really need to have a wood type, try looking for interior shots of some of these clubs and identifying the wood:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_gentlemen's_clubs

My guess is that many use oak.

(And pssst. it's Ivy League)

 

[loquere]

Is your narrator is totally out of place in this world? Or is the narrator the type who would know the difference? Because really, most people can't tell the difference between wood types; unless your narrator has a background that would make him or her able to spot these types of thing, you can get away with "rich wood paneling" or something.

(ETA: That would probably convey more to the reader, too, since I'm guessing the majority of lit's readers would have no clue what chestnut looks like.)

If you really need to have a wood type, try looking for interior shots of some of these clubs and identifying the wood:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_gentlemen's_clubs

My guess is that many use oak.

(And pssst. it's Ivy League)

Yeahh

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

Maybe something like: The deep red glint of the huge Mahogany board room table shown through the rich stain. The direct lighting over head made it the center of attention.The rest of the rooms dark wood panels seemed to absorbed what ever light was emitted by the soft over head lighting. The heavy drapes were drawn blocking any natural light.

You've set the scene and I would not dwell on it much beyond that.

Unless of course you are doing a story about interior decorating. Sorry the smart ass just comes out when I've had a couple of glasses of wine.

Mike

 

[loquere]

Maybe something like: The deep red glint of the huge Mahogany board room table shown through the rich stain. The direct lighting over head made it the center of attention.The rest of the rooms dark wood panels seemed to absorbed what ever light was emitted by the soft over head lighting. The heavy drapes were drawn blocking any natural light.

You've set the scene and I would not dwell on it much beyond that.

Unless of course you are doing a story about interior decorating. Sorry the smart ass just comes out when I've had a couple of glasses of wine.

Mike

The wine sounds like a good idea!

 

[oggbashan]

It's an important executive boardroom. It's very old and filled with distinguished men of Iveeey league stature.

I’ve decided the boardroom table is going to be mahogany.


-Should the walls be Chestnut or walnut?

Neither - glass with an impressive view of the City. Wood panelling is for old established businesses that have no need to hurry.

My family solicitor's office is in a 16th Century building. My solicitor has three walls lined with 18th Century leather-bound law books, all useless because the practice's clerk maintains the library of current law books. The laptop and cabling are concealed in a slide-out drawer of his 17th century desk. That slide-out used to hold quill pens, ink and blotting paper.

The window looks out on the private gardens with croquet lawn. For serious discussions, sometimes solicitor and client stroll in the three acres of private garden that are prime town centre space...

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

It's very old and filled with distinguished men of Ivey league stature.

(And pssst. it's Ivy League)

Yeahh

It's very old and filled with distinguished men of Iveeey league stature.

Really?

 

[loquere]

Really?

Yeahh

 

[voluptuary_manque]

No stain on mahogany! And if the place is really old, the paneling wouldn't be stained, either. It would have been chemically treated with any one of a number of acids or bases that are quite dangerous to use. That was how things were done in the early years of the last century and before. For a really old room, the oxidation and cigar smoke of centuries would have left a dark patina on the walls that would be enhanced by the staff coming along and waxing it weekly.

 

[estragon]

Neither - glass with an impressive view of the City. Wood panelling is for old established businesses that have no need to hurry.

My family solicitor's office is in a 16th Century building. My solicitor has three walls lined with 18th Century leather-bound law books, all useless because the practice's clerk maintains the library of current law books. The laptop and cabling are concealed in a slide-out drawer of his 17th century desk. That slide-out used to hold quill pens, ink and blotting paper.

The window looks out on the private gardens with croquet lawn. For serious discussions, sometimes solicitor and client stroll in the three acres of private garden that are prime town centre space...

Ogg, that's how to practice law. Oh, how I wish....

 

[oggbashan]

Ogg, that's how to practice law. Oh, how I wish....

My solicitors have been practising in the same town for at least six hundred years. They charge more than other solicitors, typically 10% more, but their standard of practice has always been impeccable.

For house purchase, which is what we usually use them for, they explain everything clearly, complete paperwork speedily and correctly, and bully other purchasers' solicitors into doing their part properly.

When we bought our current house, the vendor used a local and cheap practice whose record of incompetence is notorious. He told us that our solicitors 'frightened' them and he had never had such a fast service from the cheap practice.

When we sold our first house, we were in a longish chain of buyers. The chain threatened to collapse because the lenders to the first time buyers at the start of the chain delayed their offer by a month. Our solicitors contacted every solicitor's practice in the chain and arranged for all those in the chain to guarantee the bridging loan to the first time buyers. It cost us only a few pounds each but saved the whole series of purchases.

Even just saying 'my solicitors are x and x' has an impact! If not, inviting those who we are dealing with to meet us at our solicitor's office has considerable clout...

 

[TeslaRose]

Neither - glass with an impressive view of the City. Wood panelling is for old established businesses that have no need to hurry.

My family solicitor's office is in a 16th Century building. My solicitor has three walls lined with 18th Century leather-bound law books, all useless because the practice's clerk maintains the library of current law books. The laptop and cabling are concealed in a slide-out drawer of his 17th century desk. That slide-out used to hold quill pens, ink and blotting paper.

The window looks out on the private gardens with croquet lawn. For serious discussions, sometimes solicitor and client stroll in the three acres of private garden that are prime town centre space...

that sounds opulent. croquet lawn, my goodness. i do love the smell of old books, the way the paper sounds beneath your fingertips...i imagine they use lovely pens there. there really is nothing quite like a very good pen.

and i agree about the glass walls.

 

[loquere]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5vi32iJGN1qz6f9yo1_500.jpg

 

[oggbashan]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5vi32iJGN1qz6f9yo1_500.jpg

That's not a board room. That's a family living room.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

If it weren't for the club chairs, I'd say it was the dining room in San Simeon. Hearst had a taste for things like that.

 

[loquere]

Are you blind sir, it’s neither a great room nor a family room (LONG SEATED TABLE). The books cancel these options as well. It could be classified as a study or as a lounge, but I think it looks like a regally excessive boardroom. A bit different than the one I had in mind though.

 

[loquere]

If it weren't for the club chairs, I'd say it was the dining room in San Simeon. Hearst had a taste for things like that.

Are you blind sir, it’s neither a great room nor a family room (LONG SEATED TABLE). The books cancel these options as well. It could be classified as a study or as a lounge, but I think it looks like a regally excessive boardroom. A bit different than the one I had in mind though.

 

[oggbashan]

Are you blind sir, it’s neither a great room nor a family room (LONG SEATED TABLE). The books cancel these options as well. It could be classified as a study or as a lounge, but I think it looks like a regally excessive boardroom. A bit different than the one I had in mind though.

It is a combined lounge, dining room and library. In most English Stately homes it would be the Long Gallery, used to impress visitors.

 

[oggbashan]

This is the Admiralty Board Room, used to run the Royal Navy up to the merger of the Admiralty into the Ministry of Defence in the 1960s.

Board rooms are normally small and intimate for private discussions, not large and opulent to impress the shareholders.

The exceptions are board rooms for public enterprizes. When England had Workhouses to accommodate the poor unemployed, the board room where the board met to discuss who to admit was the most expensively equipped part of the building.

 

[loquere]

Ahh I see!

 

[loquere]

Technically I was right