Step by Step Guide to Designing Your Dining Set

Once you’ve selected the style and size of your dining table, and chair model, you have many table top design options and colors to choose from to help you create a dining set that’s perfect for you.  From an elegant smooth dining table with a clean transparent stain, to a heavily distressed planked table top with the look and charm of an antique – there’s a range of looks to fit any decor.  Just choose from the following options to design your set:

Step 1: Maple and Cherry Wood Top Table Options

Choose one of the following top options:

1. Smooth top – just what the name implies, this is a classic dining table top without any texture applied.
   
   
2. Planked top – these tops are hand sanded by our New England artisans to create panels within the table top that are raised with varying thickness.  There are no grooves between the panels, so you don’t have to worry about dirt and crumbs accumulating on your table.
   
   
3. Hand Hewn top – mimics a time before machines made flat smooth table tops – it has a slightly uneven surface with a subtle texture and tactile appeal.

Step 2:  Choose your Distressing Levels
Many people choose to leave their table top smooth and chairs unmarked, with no distressing applied, but if you choose to add distressing to your furniture for a more distinctive design statement, we have 3 levels to choose from. They can be applied to a Smooth, Planked, or Hand Hewn top and any chair model:

1. Basic Distressing
   This is our lightest level of distressing with small nicks, dings, and dents.  It lends a subtle aged feel to the furniture.
2. Vintage
   This distressing is crowded with small scratches and other markings, while table edges have soft, subtle wear.  It gives the furniture the feeling of a time worn antique.
3. Heritage
   This is a heavy distress level with scrapes, splits, and deeply chiseled and worn edges.  It gives the furniture a strong rustic look.

Once you’ve decided on the nature of your table top and chairs, you can move on to the next step, choosing your finish color and sheen.  Keep in mind that you can choose to have any of the 3 distressing levels applied to any of our finish colors.  (Special note: Dings and dents will be difficult to see with a transparent stain such as Honey, because there is no glaze in this finish to highlight these markings).

Step 3: Choosing Your Finish Color
All of our furniture is available in a choice of finish colors from simple transparent stains to colors with glaze and fly speck, and our deluxe finish colors that feature rub through stains.

MAPLE FINISHES
Choose from the following finish colors for Maple product lines:

Standard Finishes:
Bleached - Buttercream - Chestnut - Chocolate - Clear - Currant - Ebony - Fennel - Harvest - Honey - Java - Marsh - Natural - Redwood - Spice

Premium Finishes:
Antique Onyx - Antique White - Distressed Cognac - Distressed Gold - Distressed Ivory - Distressed Mulberry - Distressed Nutmeg - Distressed Sienna - Distressed Walnut

Heritage Finishes:
Heritage Brandy - Heritage Cameo - Heritage Cocoa - Heritage Fruitwood - Heritage Regency - Heritage Sable - Heritage Tobacco - Heritage Topaz

CHERRY FINISHES
Choose from the following finish colors for Cherry product lines:

Cherry Standard Finishes:
Bittersweet - Blossom

Cherry Premium Finishes:
Distressed Black Cherry - Distressed Caramel

“CHERRY ON TOP” FINISHES
Choose from the following colors for “Cherry on Top” product lines:

TABLES TOP: Select any Cherry Finish color

TABLE BASE & APRON: Select any MAPLE Finish color

Step 4: Choosing your Sheen Level
To complete your design, choose the sheen level you’d like applied to your finish color:

• Matte (M) - a near zero gloss level
  (Please note: We do not recommend Matte sheen on very dark finishes such as Java, Chocolate, or Ebony as it will more easily show fingerprints and/or smudge marks on the finish.)

• Satin (S) – a medium sheen level

• Glossy (G) – a high gloss sheen

We also offer a “Wool Wax” (W) sheen which is an additonal rubbing process applied to the Glossy sheen on table tops. This has the same sheen appearance as Glossy, but gives the table top a smoother, silky hand.

Samples of the different sheen levels can be seen in your Saloom Samples Display.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll have a dining set built just for you by our New England Artisans.