Wednesday, October 9, 2013

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

1 comment:

  1. Hi Tanya! I know you posted this makeover on a Duncan Phyfe table YEARS ago but, I came across it today while I was doing research for how to refinish the Duncan Phyfe table I just inherited from my great grandmother. I LOVE how your turned out *specifically the color and finish). I don't want to paint my table so I really like the idea of restaining it. Can you share with me the products you used? Thank you so much in advance!!

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