My client is in the process of remodeling her whole home. This beautiful formal dining room was next on the list, and it required a massive and rustic dining table of a certain size, color and style that was not available on the retail market. Inspired by a couple of photos and an old house corbel, we designed the shape of this custom dining room table using freehand sketches and rather crude mockups in the presence of our client when she visited our shop. This dining table was destined to host large gatherings of family and friends for Thanksgiving dinners “They always come to my house”, she said. She wanted an easy maintenance finish, and told me what all they were planning to do to this poor tabletop – and it included wine, gravy, ketchup, little kids with toys, all the worst offenders – they wanted to enjoy life with gusto, especially the eating, without worrying about a fussy finish that would look terrible in a short time. This is another set of photos taken months (6) after delivery of the table in which the Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas feast, Super bowl party and goodness knows what else have been celebrated on it – and while the revelry had left no trace, my client was nervous because she thought the pine pitch that had dripped down and dried hard from their large holiday centerpiece had ruined the table. But this was not the case, and because this table wears a living finish I was able to get it looking good as “new” in 20 minutes. The hard and protruding bits came up with a sharp razor blade. This left some scrapes in the top, along with the residual pitch still stuck flat to the table. A quick once-over with 0000 steel wool and some clear Briwax took care of both the scraper marks and the residual pitch, leaving the table looking fabulous. Breadboard ends pull out on sturdy extension arms to accept two leaves, and because of the table’s large size, we built it to come apart easily for moving.
