Seriously, have you used gel stain yet?!

Holy cow! Where have you been my whole life gel stain & topcoat?! Alright, I did use you a while back, but I didn't remember how lavish, how rich, how wonderful you were. I'm building this rounded bench for a client that has a round dining room table. I initially finished it with a regular wood stain in English Chestnut and then topcoated it with polyurethane. It looked good, but a bit flat. And when I brought it over to deliver it, the color was not as deep and rich as the table it was supposed to match - even though the color swatch matched the table.

Back to the drawing board. Back to my good buddies at Rockler who offer the best materials and supplies and I should remember to go there for these types of items - not HD.