I've had this Russel Wright / Conant Ball dining set for a very long time. It was set up here in the pad when we first moved in before we found and started collecting the Brasilia. If I ever come across a brilliant set of china cabinet and buffet to go with it I might just pull it out again!
Truth is...I kinda miss it! It's a beautiful set designed by the prolific Russel Wright. I had it set up with
a very nice Heywood Wakefield M-192 buffet that is long gone. I love Hey/Wake but I'd like to get
something a little more like an M1542 Tambour Buffet and china top and maybe an M 1543 side
board buffet. I don't know. Something some day will strike my fancy I'm sure.
The only thing wrong with this set is that someone in the past has slathered a layer of bright shiny
urethane on the top of the table in an attempt to refinish it. I've kicked around having it refinish by a
pro but got a choke inducing quote and banished that idea. I'll do it myself some day but I wanted to
get a little experience before starting in on it. I'd hate to REALLY mess it up!
The Hey / Wake buffet was in pretty sorry condition on top. You cant see it in these pics but there
was some water damage. Again, this is from before I started messing around with fixing wood
furniture. I got it cheap and sold it a little less cheap but still pretty cheap for what these go for. It
looks a little "old fashion" vintage modern for a '60s ranch house. I'll need something with a little
more "edge" and a little less aerodynamics. Anybody got any other recommendations? I'll need both
a buffet and a china cabinet.
I found the table and chairs (I have one more chair and a pair of leaf inserts that isn't shown here)
on a craigslist ad down in Jefferson City Mo. It was cheap enough to get me to drive an hour and a
half each way. It was basically at the Lake Of The Ozarks! The seller was actually a little rural
antique mall. I did a little more shopping around while we were there and found a cool biomorphic
aluminum salad set by Bruce Fox like this one but without the extra bowls in the upper half of the
picture or the candle holders. I ended up selling that to cover about half what I paid for the table!
The drive home was crazy though. I thought for a few minutes while loading up that I might need to
strap some chairs or the table top to the rack on top of Frank but it started raining. Then, while
driving home on this winding little two lane, it started STORMING. It was a painfully slow drive home
until it let up. It was worth it though. C'mon, it's Russel Wright!
That is a great dining set! It goes quite well with the HeyWake. But you might want to rethink the Tambour Buffet and hutch...I have it and it is a little small. The hutch that goes with it has only two shelves so if you have a lot of dishes (I do) it might not work so well.
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