Handcrafted Dining Table Set in Teak with Two Tone Chair Frames

Setting a panel of one finish into a frame of another sounds like a painting decision. It is a joinery one, because the two are separate pieces of timber and they have to be able to move independently.

A panel glued rigidly into a frame on all four edges is a panel that will split. Timber moves across its width with the seasons - not much in teak, but not nothing - and a panel held on every edge has nowhere to go except apart. It is the classic cause of a cracked door panel in old furniture, and it happens on chairs for exactly the same reason.

So the walnut-toned panels here sit in grooves, not glue. Each is cut a little narrower than its opening, dropped into a groove in the frame with clearance at both sides, and held only at the centre of its top and bottom edges. It can expand and contract sideways within the groove and nothing restrains it.

The panel is also finished on all its faces and edges before assembly, including the parts that disappear into the groove. An unfinished edge takes up moisture at a different rate from a finished one, which makes a panel move unevenly and cup - and once it is in the frame, nobody can reach that edge to fix it.

None of this is visible. What is visible is a panel that still sits flat and square in its frame in twenty years.

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

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

Top: oval, with an inset centre inside a moulded gilded surround.

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

Chairs: tall shaped backs with upholstered panels, carved crests and swept legs.

Two-tone panels: polished walnut-toned teak panels set into grooves with clearance at both sides, held only at the centre of the top and bottom edges, and finished on all faces and edges before assembly.

Upholstery: cream damask as photographed; any fabric or leather available.

Finish: cream and gold frames with walnut panels; single tone throughout also available.

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

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

Two finishes on one chair means two surfaces that mark differently, so each chair is wrapped in fresh, soft, non-abrasive sheeting - the polished panels scratch from grit, the painted frames transfer marks from anything not clean.

The carved crests are padded to their own outlines and the swept legs padded along their length. Chairs are crated individually and never nested, with upholstered panels covered in soft sheeting.

The oval top travels face-protected with a rigid board and edge-protected around its whole curved perimeter, since a curve has no corner to absorb a knock. The pedestal's scrolled supports are boxed in shaped foam.

Unpack the chairs first, then the base, then the top. Nothing needs dismantling and no fixing has to be undone.

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, the two-tone treatment and the finish are confirmed in writing. Panels are finished on all faces before assembly, so the finish decisions are settled before the chairs are put together.

Dispatch waits for both finishes to cure fully. We share the schedule at confirmation, 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. An oval top cannot be angled through a doorway the way a rectangle can, so send us your access measurements at the order stage and we set the 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 each chair on identical terms, panels included.

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 hand-applied finishes are wearing surfaces and are handled separately. Because the panels sit in grooves rather than glued fast, one can be released and replaced if it is ever damaged - and your finish specification stays on file so a replacement matches.