Wooden Side Table

dvdfan

Hey,

Just researching an idea. One part of a business im involved in is personalised gifts. Basically you either provide a photo or come in and we take your photo on a greenscreen and put it into a background of your choice. Then we can put the picture on Crystal Glass Ornaments, Tshirts, Car Sunshades, Mouse Mats, Clocks, Canvases etc etc We also do digital photo development and framing.

Anyway thats just a background, what i was looking into is making personalised side tables. It will be a standard side table with a ledge near the bottom for magazines etc but on the top will be your personalised photo, then a wooden rim would be placed on top about 2" thick covering the edge of the photo and glass will be sunk into the rim covering the photo, I may or may not add a small drawer too.

Regarding the quality and design im really looking for something that looks expensive but actually isnt so i dont price out people. Maybe some bevelling and rounded edges in the table and legs to give it a nice look. As for quality of wood im not sure, what type of material looks expensive but isnt too expensive. Sixe wise maybe a 20" top and 20-25" high.

Now i have 2 choices either to build this inhouse as there is someone with carpentry experience i know that i could get to do it or i could pay someone to do it however i dont have the equipment and dont really have the room for it.

Just wondering based on those specs what kind of price am i looking at paying roughly, just a ballpark figure so i can see i can make it affordable enough. Id probably start off with 3-5 and display them and then order after that based on demand.

From another point of view if i was to employ somone to do this with basic tools, how long would it take to build something like this. It would be made so i can just put the rim on myself when i put the picture on the table and secure it with screws from underneath and then just drop the glass on top.

Does anyone want to give me a ballpark figure of what cost this would be for each table and also if your interested in suppying these please contact me as its definetely something id like to add at the right price. Im in the Athlone area btw if your figuring in shipping costs.

Lastly i quite like the round type ones however i presume it adds on quite a bit on price so its better to stick to square?

So to summarise my questions would be:

1) Wood that looks expensive but isnt so?
2) How long would it take someone to make 1 of these with basic tools i.e good tools but not commercial machines?
3) How much would it cost to have these made up for me?
4) Will choosing round tables add much to the cost?