One of the newest landmarks in North Carolina is the 85-foot-tall highboy located on our campus near High Point. It's even identifiable by passengers flying high overhead!

FLS chose Sid Lenger, a local furniture designer, to create the structure. Mike Stockton of Central Carolina Interiors came up with a special mix of finish coat to create the "wood grain." How did they do it? First, steel framing was put into place outside the Mart. The framing was then covered with sheathing, a process taking nearly six weeks to complete. Using a CAD program, full-scale drawings and templates of the highboy were printed. After tracing the design onto plywood and cutting with a jigsaw, foam was mechanically fastened to the plywood templates and the design was routed out of the foam. Stockton looked into using both lightweight concrete and reinforced fiberglass, but using the foam allowed for more flexibility.

Next, the drawers, beads, and blocking on the main portion were laid out with chalk lines. The decorative "rope" separating the bottom two drawers from the top five was hand carved by the applicator using a steel brush and sandpaper. The six-foot finial, sitting atop the highboy, was made off-site at the furniture designer's workshop. Its foam was placed on a spinning device while the designer sanded the block into the finial shape. The legs of the highboy were made from two large blocks of foam, each cut using a 4-foot hot wire. After a base coat and reinforced mesh were applied, the look of a wood grain finish was achieved by first applying a finish coat. A roller and brush were used to achieve a wood grain appearance. The top coat was sprayed on and a glazing paint was applied to give a clean, crisp finish resembling a brand new piece of furniture!

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