Table Building Part 2

The tables are assembled and the only thing remaining is to decide on the finish, which is easier said than done. For this I defer to "A" because I am pretty easy going, or if you ask her "I don't care" :) Partially true, because she does have really good taste and our tastes are very similar. The whole trick to anything we do is she comes up with ideas and I am generally good with almost everything. Occasionally I have to veto something, maybe 10 ideas and I don't like 2, but in the end we usually have a really nice design. Courtesy of "A", I am just the hired help.

The choices are:
1. Wax.
     -We tried the wax and it does look good but it is easily marred with a finger tip. I guess it would be high maintenance and the need to continually buff. So this one is out.

2. Whitewash Stain using diluted white paint.
     -This looks pretty good and might be a contender for at least the dining table if combined with the oil. This would make the table lighter than just the oil.

3. Just polyurethane.
     -This one is out because we do not want it to look like "plastic".

4. Sun bleached stain.
     -Tried this, but didn't like the results so this one is out.

5. Watco Oil over raw wood. (My Favorite)
     -This was really nice but it might have made the wood a little too dark. This one could work for the breakfast nook since that room receives more natural light, but probably not for the dining room.

Below are the results of the oil and the whitewash with oil.

What do you think?