This dining table with rustic finish can be seen locally at Thea’s interiors in the pearl district, Portland Oregon. An original design by us. This 60 inch diameter round dining table is built of solid ash and has a “living finish” – by this we mean the non-crust finish we developed to be durable, and beautiful over the entire life of the piece. Recently Buck and I have been inspired to build dining tables for real use by families, exposed to hot water, coffee, wine, gravy, ketchup, crayon, glitter-glue, ball-point-pen, and all other imaginable hazards of daily living, yet still look great and be easily repaired by the owner in the home WHEN accidents happen and damages occur. Click this link to read more about this “living finish” concept. The goal for the design of this table was to marry a more contemporary shape and style with a distressed, more antique or “used” looking surface. We chose a “loose plank” look for the top, in which the individual boards are deliberately offset in order to look like an old table. Ash is a beautiful wood that starts out light and can easily accept any color of dye or stain. This table can be easily built with sturdy extension slides to accept a leaf or two in the middle.
By the way – the table did come to us, after spending a year as a commercial store fixture (just look at all that stuff piled on top!) showing some abrasions. These were easily buffed out by giving the top a fresh coat of wax, using steel wool to apply. We then used the table at our home for another year as a dining table.