Brown Dining Table Set in Carved Teak with Gold Picked Detail

Gold laid over a dark finish has a problem that gold on ivory does not: the dark comes through it.

A deep polish is a coloured finish, and until it is fully sealed it will continue to give up a little of that colour to anything laid on top. Put gold straight onto it and within weeks the bright metal has gone muddy and slightly brown from beneath - not evenly, which would at least look deliberate, but in patches wherever the underlying finish was thickest.

So the sequence matters. The dark polish goes on first over the whole piece, carving included, and is left to cure properly rather than to the touch. A sealing coat then goes over the areas that will be gilded, isolating the colour beneath. Only after that is the gold applied.

It means the gilding happens late, and it means a dark-and-gold set takes longer than a pale-and-gold one - the dark ground has to be genuinely finished before the bright work starts.

The alternative is to gild first and polish around it, which is faster and leaves a dark edge crawling into every gold line. We have seen furniture made that way. It looks acceptable in the showroom and wrong within a year.

Set: one dining table with six chairs, made together as one commission.

Frames: solid teak throughout, hand-carved by master Indian artisans.

Top: shaped with canted corners and a stone-effect surface over a carved frieze.

Base: turned pedestal with carved scrolled feet, clear of every seating position.

Chairs: carved crests above buttoned upholstered backs, leather seats, cabriole legs.

Finish: deep walnut polish laid and fully cured first, sealed over the areas to be gilded, then gold applied - so the dark ground cannot bleed into the gold.

Upholstery: cream leather seats with woven backs as photographed; any leather or fabric available.

Alternatives: un-gilded, for a set entirely in timber tone.

Joinery: mortise and tenon throughout, corner-blocked at every seat rail.

Dimensions: custom sizes made to order - final measurements confirmed in writing before production.

A deep polished surface is scratched by grit rather than impact, so every piece is wiped clean and wrapped in soft non-abrasive sheeting before anything firmer goes near it.

The gilded lines sit on the raised carving, which is the first thing anything touches, so the carved crests, frieze and feet are padded individually with foam formed to each shape rather than wrapped flat.

Chairs are crated individually and never nested, with buttoned backs covered loosely so no button is pressed in and leather seats covered separately.

The shaped top travels face-protected with a rigid board and edge-protected continuously, with the canted corners padded individually. Unpack the chairs first, then the base, then the top.

Delivery is free anywhere in India for the whole set, and every piece is guaranteed to arrive dent-free. If anything is wrong when the crates are opened, correcting it is our cost, and we commit to that before you order.

Production begins once the table size, chair count, upholstery and finish are confirmed in writing. A dark-and-gold finish takes longer than a pale one because the dark ground must cure fully before any gilding starts, and that is built into the schedule we give you.

Dispatch waits for the gilding to cure too. We update you as each stage completes and send tracking as soon as the crates leave us.

Open the crates with the delivery team present and check every piece. Send us your doorway, lift and stair measurements at the order stage and we set the top size to a dimension that will reach the room.

Every frame in the set carries a 20-year warranty on solid teak frame and joinery - the table, its pedestal and all six chairs on identical terms.

A lifetime warranty against termite damage runs on every piece, resting on teak's own oils rather than on an applied treatment, and issued in writing with the set.

Both documents are tied to your order and handed over on delivery, so the record stays with you. If a covered fault appears on one piece, send photographs and we repair or replace that piece alone.

Upholstery and finishes are wearing surfaces and are handled separately. A dark polish is among the easiest finishes to touch in locally, and we re-polish, re-gild and re-cover our own furniture at any age with your specification kept on file.