duncan phyfe dining set

Ever have one of those projects?  You get half way through then get frustrated and 'put it on the shelf' to move onto new fun projects - like using chalk paint and wax for the first time!  Well this is one of those projects.  Today's furniture reveal is a beautiful black Duncan Phyfe dining set.  It includes a solid wood drop-leaf table, 1 additional leaf and 4 Duncan Phyfe dining chairs.  I started this set a looong time ago...11 months to be exact and it sat in my workspace and eventually became my work table while the chairs sat in my front room, seat-less, taking up space!

I had originally finished the table top with a water-based varnish.  If any of you have worked with water-based varnish then you know how finicky it can be (Jen!).  When you have a big area to cover, it can be difficult to get the varnish on without bubbles, spots where you've over brushed, or lines where you've started and stopped a stroke.  Well I ended up with start and stop lines.  I sanded and re-varnished, sanded and re-varnished only to end up with the lines still showing through.  Hence the reason I set this aside for so long!

When I finally picked the project back up recently, I had to sand off all the varnish and all the paint so I could start over...this time ditching the varnish and choosing to finish it with clear wax...SO MUCH EASIER to work with on a large surface! Varnish (I use satin finish) has a shinier, harder look to it.  It's a really nice finish but lately I prefer working with wax which has a soft satiny appearance and can be buffed to a shine or left to look more matte.  Any scratches that might occur on a waxed surface can be buffed out.

I'm finally happy with how the table looks and would love to keep it.  The flexibility of a drop leaf table with an additional leaf is great...but alas, I'm still in love with my 7 1/2 foot long 'Last Super' table! (as my friend Jeremy calls it!).

Enough said...here's the set:

*SOLD*

xo Tanya