How I measure a room before I sketch a piece.

For any piece over a certain size, I visit the room. A dining table, a bench, a cabinet, anything that becomes architecture the moment it's in place. I bring one folding rule, a 25-foot Stanley tape, a small notebook, a pencil, and my phone. I plan on forty-five minutes. If the visit is under thirty, I've missed something.

I measure the room in a specific order. Wall lengths first, corner to corner, at floor level and again at hip height, because old houses in the valley are rarely square and the difference matters. Then ceiling height in three places, since sag and settling show up more at the middle of a span than at the ends. Then window sills, door swings, the location of every outlet and vent, and the height of any adjacent furniture the piece will sit near. Everything goes in the notebook with a rough plan sketch on a facing page.

The phone does what a notebook can't. I photograph all four walls in full, straight on. Then I photograph the ceiling and floor detail, especially any transitions between materials. Then I photograph adjacent furniture from three angles, so I can match the tone and stance later. And I ask the client to send me one photograph each of the room in morning light, in mid-afternoon light, and after dark with the lamps they actually use. Wood species reads very differently under 2700K bulbs than it does at 4pm in a north-facing room.

Before I leave I ask two questions. The first is, where in this piece will you sit? Or in the case of a cabinet, where will you stand when you open it? People often can't answer immediately, and the pause is useful. It tells me the piece hasn't been imagined yet, only wanted. The second question is, what is underneath the piece the day it arrives? A rug, bare floor, radiant heat, a heating vent directly beneath the top. Wood movement, glide selection, and finish all depend on that answer.

I don't sketch in the room. I've tried. What I draw standing in a client's living room is almost always polite. Back at the shop, at my own bench, with my own light, I draw what the room actually asked for. That's a different sketch, and it's the one that gets built.