It's gorgeous! And I think it's absolutely perfect just the way it is. Well done! :-)

I agree, it's perfect as is! I think it is beautiful.

The table looks fabulous. It does not need an apron.

Do you use the table for seating for six quite often? The little chairs crowd the area. Maybe they could be put on a wall nearby and just pulled to the table for large groups.

Then turn the table a quarter turn so that the four chairs do not block the pathways and will be easier to access getting in and out of them.

Wow! Gorgeous table! I agree with Dilly (know you didn't ask) about the little chairs in the back. They distract from the beauty of your latest acquisition! I also agree with her about the arrangement of the chairs. You wouldn't believe what a difference that can make, & it would show off the table pedestal even more.

Great job!

Gorgeous, but nothing that I haven't come to expect from you all :) May I ask, what finish did you use on it? How far did you take the grit in final sanding/steelwooling?

TIA :)

(I agree re relocating the fabulous little chairs you made -- they're definitely great and should be seen, but they're not needed there)

Thanks Ladies for the comments, It is appreciated.
I tried the chairs on the wall to the left of the table and
moved the table on an angle as suggested. It looks pretty good. :)

Here is the parallelogram shaped topper we made for my Bonsai, salt & pepper and walnut napkin holder...as you can see the sun is casting shadows on the table from the chairs and blinds.

Here is the table, turned as suggested. I tried getting a pic of the chairs on the wall however it's just too sunny in the afternoon, maybe tomorrow.

flyleft, you're a woodworker? I am going to my woodworking forum to copy and paste the finishing technique I used on this table. I'll post it here is a few minutes.

Here is the wood, sitting in our Living Room getting acclimated to the house temps. The wood is 14" wide x 8' long. It was kiln dried. Since we don't have a joint-er, the head cabinet guy planed it all by hand. It was a very rewarding project. The table was made with 4 boards hand joint-ed and glued together. The top of the table was completely finished with hand scraping (no sanding) The only sanding done is between finishing coats.

flyleft, The finish...
The finish is as follows.
First, I wiped on a dollop of Minwax English Chestnut stain -- diluted with turpentine. After about 1/2 hour I rubbed it down several times with a cheesecloth and turpentine, as I just wanted a hint of stain... Walnut is naturally dark, however I wanted to give it a reddish hue.
Next day, I wiped on two coats of Bulls Eye de-waxed Shellac with a cheesecloth...wait time -- 1 hour between coats...sanded with 220 sandpaper after each shellac coat..

I wiped on 4 coats (with a cheese-cloth) of Minwax Gloss Polyurethane, that I thinned down a little with turpentine. In between the coats of poly, I sanded it with various sandpaper from 220 to 1000. Note: after the first coat of poly, I waited 24 hours before sanding and re-coating. The next three coats of poly, I waited 4 hours between coats.

The final coat (24 hours later) -- I 'rubbed' on (like I was waxing the top) with cheesecloth, the next day I rubbed it down with 0000 steel wool

I used gloss poly on all five coats, as I wanted a hard finish. I always use gloss poly as it is pure and gives the best finish, ( semi gloss poly as additives to bring the luster down, in my opinion it compromises the color, I rather rub the gloss down to the desired finish -- with fine sandpaper and steel wool.
The 0000 steel wool, bought it down to a soft luster.

I never apply any finishes with with a paint brush, always cloths, sometimes cheese cloths and sometimes denim. (old jeans)
Tomorrow after the waxing, I take another photo to show the final luster the top with take on.
Joann

Thanks so much, Joann! Saving your post. All the details you wrote are *so* appreciated. Interesting that you use shellac *before* the poly. Why is that?

I just discovered that you can take gloss down with steel wool too -- the 'satin' looks cloudy, to me. I didn't know whether that was 'kosher' or not. A followup question: when you use steel wool, do you go only in the direction of the grain?

Thanks again!

I love the matching asymmetrical lazy Susann and the accouterments.

I hate myself when I give unsolicited advice............ but I think that the lovely bonsai should go elsewhere. Are you sure you want a spinning tree on your table? The branches lean over the eating area on one side and would make using the lazy Susann rather awkward when the tree goes flying over people's dinner plates practically hitting them in the face.

I think the pretty S&P and other condiment containers are enough.

Just beautiful, Joann.

Which woodworking forum do you frequent? I know there are a few good ones out there.

dilly, the bonsai is a gift from my son 10 years ago, once you find a place where a Bonsai is happy, never move it.
The parallelogram is stationary, doesn't move. It has little feet. The ceramic bowl is a gift from my other son,
he brought it back from a trip to Mexico last winter.
I have three lovely Bonsai plants that I've had for many years, each has a fovorite spot in the house, where it's happy!

Liz, The woodworking forum is Woodnet and woodworking friends.

Flyleft, I always use a sealer first, either Bulls Eye de-waxed shellac (that I used on the walnut) or boiled linseed oil on other woods, like oak that have soft spots (the darker wood on oak is soft and will take stain darker if a sealer is not used.) The BLO penetrates the wood and gives an even stain job. BLO takes 3 to 5 days to cure before applying stain or poly. I used BLO and stain and Waterlox on our kitchen cabinets (Quarter-sawn white oak)
Waterlox is another form of poly -- it needs no sanding to apply extra coats, that is the reason we used it on the kitchen cabinets. Yes, always sand in the direction of the wood. I use a few different methods to finish wood, this is two of them that I explained here.
Joann

Absolutely beautiful. I admire your patience and diligence. I'm more like Reno and want things done "now". I could never do a project that took that much time and effort. It absolutely shows in the end product. Great job as always.

It looks beautiful; I am very impressed (as I have been with all of your woodworking projects)!

Sorry. I thought it was a lazy Susann. Duh. Sorry. I'll go crawl back.........

I do understand about the bonsai being happy. The pot is lovely and so it the table. Kudos for all the hard work to transform the wood and the beauty that came from it.

What a stunning hunk of wood! And the detail & love you put into finishing it - wow - what a delight!

I used to do a lot of woodworking; I am so appreciative of seeing job like that so beautifully done.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

Lovely!

One other thought about the table. It appears that the scrolled base legs are situated in front of each chair - so in effect, the person sitting there would have the scroll in their lap. I would turn the table so that the scrolls are in between each of the chairs, or it will be uncomfortable imo sitting there with the scroll in the lap and the base scroll between the feet.

Ah, thanks -- helps a lot. I do know that you sand only in the direction of the grain, and I'd been doing that for the steel wool as well, but didn't know if I could be doing it more multi-directionally with the steel wool or if I should just stick with the same direction.

I'm nowhere near a woodworker like you, just worked with some teak for a counter (which we ended up not using) and various veneered plywoods. We'll be making some walnut plywood into the panels to cover some Ikea cabinets we have freestanding (anchored, of course, but I mean not up against a wall) in our bedroom. I'm also stripping and going to finish our fir front door -- it's a French door, full lite, and it's painted on the outside, but I want to show the wood inside.

Oh, and we have some salvage white oak stair treads we're going to rejuvenate to use instead of the increasingly dumpy carpeted stairs in the front hall -- I have to cut and refinish those, and then mosaic the risers. REALLY looking forward to that project! Everything you've written will really help.

I would be curious as to what woodworking forum you frequent -- is it the one here? Or somewhere else?

Joann: I forwarded this link to Hubby as he's a budding / blooming woodworker (currently in the process of building us new kitchen cabinet doors and drawers) and he he's a bit confused on your order of finishing and your reasoning behind doing so. You originally say that you did stain, shellac then poly for the table. Then later on you say that, in general, you use a sealer first, then stain then poly. Can you clarify which you did and why? Thanks.

It's gorgeous! And you made those two smaller chairs? Wow. Just wow. You two have some serious severious talent.

Very pretty and a perfect fit in your lovely home!

Joann,
Your table is gorgeous!! I just love me some black walnut!

And I am also saving your instructions - Dh is bring me some old old wood back for us to make into a coffee table - we will have to have it planed first.

Smiles:)

I think the table is beautiful! You and your DH are so talented.

pbris, sorry for the confusion...
On the table top, since it's a hard wood (walnut)
First I stained the top (using just a dollop of stain in turpentine) then 24 hours later I applied the shellac. (2 coats 1 hour apart -- sanding between coats) Then the next day I started applying the poly...
Here's is a further explanation...If you have a wood like oak that has dark wood running through it (like the characteristic cathedrals in oak) First you need to apply a sealer...The sealer can either be either a thin down shellac 3 or 4 to one, or BLO (boiled linseed oil) either of these act as a sealant so that the stain goes on evenly.
BLO takes 3 to 5 days to cure before you can stain your wood. Shellac thin down takes only about an hour and you can begin staining.
Since I wiped on just a dollop of stain on my table (thinned down with turp) I then 24 hours later wiped on the shellac...so in other words depending on the wood and the finish, it can be done both ways.
There are many ways to finish furniture this is just two ways I explained here, I wanted 5 coats of poly on the table as it is a kitchen table and wanted a lot of protection...
Tell me about your kitchen cabinets that your hubby is making. We made our kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets
out of Quarter sawn white oak...The finish I did on them is completely different than I explained above.
For the kitchen, we used -- First: BLO applied with a rag,
wait time (depending on the weather) 3 to 5 days...
Second: Then apply the desired stain, wait time 24 to 36 hours...Third: Waterlox, wiped on with a rag, we gave the kitchen cabinets 7 coats, wait time 24 hours between coats.
Have a hubby do a search on Waterlox, it is a wonderful product and gives a professional finish. The beauty of waterlox is that there is no sanding between coats and additional coats can be applied down the road. Although my kitchen cabs are 2 1/2 years old I still haven't re-coated them with Waterlox, I just wash them down with little white vinegar and water, however when we do decide to give them another coat all we have to do is wash and dry them and re-coat them.
I used the Waterlox on most of our furniture.
Tell me first about the wood you are using for your kitchen cabs.
Just be aware there are many different ways to finish furniture, I just explained two of them. I also do hand ribbed finished with very fine sandpaper (600 grit) and
use a mix of 1 part BLO, 1 part turp and 1 part poly.

Example: mantle Black walnut...hand rubbed finish of BLO, Turp, and Poly applied with 600 grit sandpaper. I think I did 4 coats.

example: Kitchen cabinets in Breakfast room, BLO wait 3 to 5 days, then apply stain then wait 24 to 36 hours, then beginning applying waterlox as described above.Everything is applied with a rag or cheesecloth. Hint: on the final coat of Waterlox I used a piece of denim.

If you have anymore questions please ask. Congratulations to you and hubby on your new woodworking adventures!

Thank you Ladies for your kind comments.

flyleft ...The woodworking place I frequent is Woodnet and Woodworking friends.
Oceanna...yes, we made the chairs. It was definitely the most difficult thing we ever did. There is storage under the seats...I keep candles, incense and some other stuff in them.
Scooby, we have a planer, but not a joint-er. This wood was big...14" wide by 8 foot long, so Cliff had to hand plane them. Lucky for us our friend gave us 18 antique hand planes that belonged to his Dad. Cliff spent a lot of time sharpening the blades and practicing...before actually doing the wood.
Funny, my next project is going to be an coffee table for the Living Room. we are using an antique dining room table base for the bottom and making the top out of black walnut.

Here is the kiln dried black walnut, sitting in our Living room for two weeks getting acclimated to the house temperature.

Joann,
Your work is VERY impressive. You and DH are quite a team. The table and cabinets are lovely. I didn't realize at first that you made the two smaller chairs yourselves. You have a real talent.

I bet your kitchen is great, too, from what I could see of the breakfast room.

What a beautiful table and the wood is exceptional. The few photos of your home look so warm and inviting! I wish I could make furniture!

Joann, storage under the seats? What a clever idea! Everyone should build chairs that way.

Did you build that darling cabinet in your breakfast room too? Did you do the stained glass yourself? I just LOVE your decorating sense. It's so warm and homey and welcoming.

Thank you colorcrazy and downsy.
I do believe everyone has talent, you just have to tap into it. I know that I'm fortunate to have a hubby that enjoys doing projects with me. We are self taught and not afraid to try anything. I do believe it's important to do things together as they can take up a lot of time, and hey, many fingers make less work.
Oceanna, I bought a similar chair at a yard sale once for 3.00 it has storage under the seat, so I copied it. I wanted to be able to seat six with crowding the small area
with six tall chairs. They are also very portable, have been used many times in the dining room, outside on the deck, and the grand kids always drag them into the den to do puzzles and play games on the brunch tables.
The chairs are deceiving as they are the same size as a regular kitchen chair, we duplicated the exact height as our kitchen chairs so that adults can sit on them as well...It's the low backs that make them look small.
Here it is before staining and upholstering. The flip up seat is plywood, the rest is QS white oak.

He loves stained glass and wants to do another piece. I have a Asian design cabinet that I plan on making for our foyer and I'm going to do stained glass in the doors.
The little cabinet in the kitchen on the wall houses a flat screen tv.

Thanks for all the info Joann.

Our cabinets are Ash. That's what came with the house. We're just rebuilding the door and drawer fronts (and a few other customizations) not the boxes so that's what we stuck with. Nothing fancy for the finishing technique, as we tackled it back in the beginning of our DIY adventure so we went with what info we had. After stripping, sanding and cleaning, Hubby applied some Minwax pre-stain, then about three coats of cherry stain, then 6 or 7 coats of wipe-on poly with steel wool in-between coats.

We've learned a lot since we finished the boxes. We're going to use basically the same technique for the doors and drawer fronts in order to keep the look more uniform but will probably head in different directions for our other projects. We still have the hall bath (same basic process as the kitchen), Hubby's parent's kitchen (same thing), our master bath and closet (whole new build), the great room (new construction) and possibly a laundry room. Then there's the kitchen island cart, the shelves, the buffet and several other things that are on the planning board.

This pic shows the new finish best. The crown moulding is new, too:

Joann, thanks for all the great details. It must really be fun to be married to someone who wants to do these fun things with you. If I'd have found one like that, I'd have kept him. :) I can imagine how engrossed you get in the stained glass work, because I get really lost in doing my faux stained glass work.

That is a gorgeous table. You all have amazing talent. I too use waterlox. I finished my kitchen counters, which are teak, in the product. I used 9 coats and used cheesecloth and old t shirts. It has been 2 1/2 yrs and they still look perfect, even around the sink. c

pbisjar, Your kitchen is going to be gorgeous. I took the link this morning, and so far it's wonderful. Your choices are great, and I think you did the right thing keeping the boxes and face frames, as they are in such good shape. I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. Keep up the good work. What style doors are you making?

Thanks, trailrunner. Teak is a beautiful wood. I would love to see your counter tops. We made wood counters in QS white oak in our bathroom and and finished them with Waterlox as well. It's great stuff.

Beautiful table and workman/womanship! You chose a gorgeous piece of wood to work with.

As always, impeccably done! Did you all make the rush seat chairs as well?
Your table is perfect!

Thanks, Joann. The doors will be raised panel with arches on the top (I know it's very "out" right now but I love the look). Drawers will be slab with outer edge trim matching the doors. We were actually surprised by the shape of the boxes, as they looked seriously trashed when we started this adventure. Turns out it was just a really, really bad "stain" job on top of the original. It took a LOT of scrubbing and sanding to get them cleaned up but I think it was worth it.

Funny you should be talking about walnut and teak. We're going to use one of the two for our master bath cabinets. Haven't decided which yet as I love both.

Question for waterlox users: I'm doing waterlox on the casing for the fir french doors we have inside (and I'll be doing it on the doors too) -- if you use cheesecloth do you dispose of each cloth after each coat, using a new piece for each coat? And do you put them into a water-filled container or what do you do? I've been using up the 3" foam rollers I bought to paint with since I don't like painting with them, but they'll be gone soon. They will last a couple of coats, though, before they get completely firm.

Joann, every time I see this thread now I think what a wonderful life you all have together. Working on a project together is my dream of marital (ha -- I typed it 'martial' at first :)) partnership. DH and I taught together the first year we were living together and I so completely loved it. Remodeling is nice too but seems more stress than just building furniture when your house isn't turned upside down and waiting for your work to be done--have you found that?

pbrisjar, we were going to do a teak countertop in our bath -- I still have the beautifully finished (and cut with faucet holes and sink hole so it's not usable anymore except in tiny pieces) but I started thinking about how much the cats would want to get up on it and would leave scratches with their hind claws, one cat especially who sits and keeps me company -- so we went with clawproof silestone (remnants we fabricated) instead since I didn't want to be crying over my scratched finish. Just another consideration to throw into the mix.

Your table is beautiful, love the color, I'm hoping my husband will make one for our breakfast area this year, I told him I want mahogany, he enjoys woodworking too. Our table will be about the same size as yours. I copied all your information, and I hope our table will look as good as yours.
Evelyn

Oh flyleft, you should have gone with it! Wood can always be refinished if necessary. Of course, I'm one of those people that likes "character". A few scratches and dings here and there are no big deal to me (at least on wood - it was another story when I got my first scratch on my brand new stove...). But actually, I'm talking about the entire cabinet construction (boxes and doors) not the countertop. For that I'm hoping for soapstone or marble or a cool, unique granite. Then again, I'm kind of liking the idea of a wood countertop (really well sealed of course).

Cats aren't an issue, either, as I'm allergic. Not only that but I think our three chihuahuas and our parrot would get rather peeved at that sort of addition.

Joann I'm simply speechless. I'm a handy sort of person, but your woodworking projects are jaw-droppingly amazing!

Regarding cats & furniture - don't claw marks simply come with the territory? It's sort of like the first scratch in your new car. You try to prevent more from happening, but there's a certain point where you just call it "character", & laugh at the memories.

Or maybe that's just me. There was a point in my life where I decided that constantly striving for perfection was actually a character flaw. ;-D

I am always kind of tied, pbrisjar...my DH is also a bit of a *slob* and although I try to keep up with him, I was concerned that something might make its way through the waterlox. I started worrying that when resale came around (always in the back of my head) the counter, if it were damaged (and it's not easy to take off and refinish) might be viewed as a liability.

And since you're not talking the horizontal, but the vertical, that's fine :). We have Ikea Hallarum cabinets on each side, so I'm not completely missing my wood fix :)

moonkat, well, yes, in a way, and in moderation, but you should see the wretched damage they've wrought on two heirloom pieces...kind of makes me sick. Way beyond patina...

flyleft, I do understand. It's glass & pottery that eats it in my house. Some treasured items just become what I call "Basement Art". For some reason, they go after the cheap upholstered pieces & not the nicer pieces - I'm blessed there. I still choose their company over any of my "stuff", but there are days.......

Cooperbaily, We bought the chairs in Amish country.
we just made the small chairs, I stained the small chairs to match the big chairs.
pbisjar, I really don't pay much attention to what's in and what's not! Hey, I still have border paper in my kitchen! You need to go with what you like, everything eventually comes back anyhow.

flyleft, always use a virgin cloth with each application,
no matter how careful you are with the cloth it will become contaminated with something, dust, pet hair etc...Same thing for the waterlox, pour out into a container just the small amount you think you'll need for the job (I mean for the one coat-at a time).
Use the gloss Waterlox, and you can control the amount of shine you desire by sanding with 0000 steel wool or very fine sandpaper.

Regarding major renovations, we have been through many!
You have tempted me to do a thread on our bump out window project...Our marriage survived this remodel (another DIY
project)with flying colors... It started on July 2 2004, and was finished just before Gobble, Gobble time! I couldn't believe how much work it was and how entailed it was. We did this project, without even a minor handbag scuffle! However, be prepared to see the remodel from hell! Both indoors and outdoors was a disaster.
Our kitchen and bathroom re-model was a dream compaired to the window job.

levelyn, I'm sure your table will be gorgeous!
Thank you lafonda and everyone else. :)

Thanks for the tips, joann. Good luck on the upcoming work :)

See, if anyone is a slob in our family that would be me. So for me that's not really a consideration, thankfully.

Joann, do you honestly think that with purple walls in my kitchen that I'm concerned about what's in? ;-). We plan to be here for the next 20 or so years so I have every intention of doing exactly what we want and what works for us. Even if we weren't I'd still do things to make us happy and not some fictional buyer. Drives Hubby's sister nuts as she's a real estate broker and is all about "resale", which to her is bland, boring white everywhere. No thanks.

I'd love to see a thread on your window project. Hubby and I have some exterior work in the plans and we're rather hesitant to tackle it ourselves, which of course means it will have to wait longer.

I keep trying to get Hubby interested in Waterlox but he keeps resisting. Not sure exactly why but I think it has something to do with the fact that he sees it as just another poly just more expensive.

Yes, it is more expensive. You can get a nice finish with Poly too. What I liked about the finish is the kitchen takes a lot of abuse with steam and grease and just normal usage. With waterlox after cleaning them up and drying them, they can be re-coated at any time with any sanding etc...This is a plus in my opinion.
You can check out the finishes on our woodworking on our website. 85% is finished with waterlox. The remainder is hand rubbed finishes with a mix of BLO, Poly and Turpentine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Adventures in Woodworking & Stained Glass.

Wow. What a gorgeous table. I can see why you are happy. When you and your hubby get through doing all that you can do to your house and you still have that itch to make something, call me. It's warmer here than it is in many places right now and quite comfortable compared to many and if you get cold and want to work for heat and shelter, you are more than welcome to come here. Heck, I even make a pretty good beef wellington from time to time. :-)

Joann, your home is just gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing it. I've bookmarked that site so we can keep referring to it. I do believe I'm going to have to learn some woodcraft so Hubby can keep up with all the ideas I have now. ;)

I have a question - can you tell me more about the grandfather clock? It looks a lot like one we had when I was a kid.

pbisjar, The clock is actually a Grandmother clock (because it's smaller) I ordered plans from a magazine (this was 1974, before the Internet) Then we orderd walnut wood from a local lumberyard (at the time the wood was expensive, as it was a special order) and a movement from a clock store and jumped in head first. This was the first fine piece of furniture that we ever made and we only had a cheap miter box and circular saw. I remember being a nervous wreck about cutting the mitered corners. So, that's how it all began. We started woodworking with a difficult project and hardly any tools. Dive in first, and worry later...what the heck...sink or swim! glub, glub, glub... :)