There’s something special about a piece of furniture that tells a story — not just of craftsmanship, but of family.
Recently, I had a custom epoxy river coffee table handcrafted at Simonet Furniture, and it has quickly become one of the most meaningful pieces in my home. This isn’t just a table. It’s a timeline of our family.
The river flowing through the center isn’t filled with just any stones. It showcases agates and rocks collected over decades —with some found by myself and others found by my dad, who has been a master agate polisher for as long as I can remember. Growing up, weekends often meant scanning gravel roads, shorelines, and fields for that tiny flash of color that only an agate can give. My dad knew the best spots. He could spot an agate from what felt like a mile away.
Some of the agates embedded in this table were found and polished by him years ago. Seeing them preserved under crystal-clear epoxy feels like honoring not just the stones, but the time, dedication, and quiet joy behind each one.
Now, the tradition continues with the next generation. My 14-year-old son started collecting rocks when he was young with the help and influence of his mom. He got a rock polisher for Christmas when he was 9 and was excited to polish the rocks he had found and collected. We’ve added stones from the Badlands and Minnesota’s North Shore — places that hold their own rugged beauty and memories. Each rock in the table represents a trip, a season, a story. Some were found on family vacations. Others on spontaneous roadside stops when someone shouted, “Wait — I see one!”
Agate hunting has quietly become a generational thread in our family. My sister also appreciates the beauty of rocks and epoxy, and she had a custom river table made at Simonet Furniture too! As she put it, “I love it so much. It’s a beautiful signature piece in my home.” That’s exactly what these tables become — signature pieces. Not because they’re trendy, but because they’re personal.
The craftsmanship behind an epoxy river table is an art form. Each stone must be placed intentionally. The epoxy must be poured with precision. The wood grain and the “river” must complement one another naturally. The team at Simonet Furniture understood that this wasn’t just about building a coffee table — it was about preserving family history in functional form.
What I love most is that this piece invites conversation. Guests lean in. They ask about the stones. They run their hands across the smooth surface. And suddenly we’re telling stories about my dad’s polishing wheel in the basement, North Shore adventures, cabin memories and how we would have contests for who found the biggest one agate.
Someday the table will be in my son’s living room to enjoy and perhaps he will carry on the agate hunting tradition.
For now, I simply look at this table and see more than wood and epoxy. I see generations, memories, and the beauty of turning something found in the dirt into something that will last for decades to come.