About Wood Furniture
Wood is a natural for furniture. It can be shaped and joined easily. It's durable and beautiful. And it looks right in any room and with any style. The first wood furniture no doubt was made because it was easier to pick up and move a stump than a rock. As time rolled on, wood furniture was fashioned to reflect the art and science of the time.
Use wood furniture in your home for its warmth, durability and distinctiveness. Maintain it properly, and your grandchildren will appreciate it, too.
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Evolution
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The first wood furniture was simple. It was also disposable. People didn't start taking their furniture with them when they moved until society was stable enough to assume that you would have a house to come home to after a long day at the fields or a year or two in the wars. Each society builds a tradition of style, from primitive benches and tables to modern furniture. Through the history of style, different forms and materials come and go, but wood furniture is always prized, especially in areas without forests or access to wood.
Features
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The quality of wood furniture is determined by the type of wood used, how it is joined and how it is finished. Hardwood furniture is more durable and lasts longer, but many soft woods are quite beautiful and are used for decorative furniture. Veneers go in and out of fashion but are generally used to give furniture a more expensive-looking finish. Woodworkers have developed techniques to join pieces of wood that have been shaped to form chairs, tables, drawers and other articles of furniture. Look for dovetailed drawers, rabbited corners and tongue-and-groove edges. If hardware is used, it should be attached with screws or bolts, never nailed.
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Type
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Furniture is formal or informal, depending on its use. Dining room furniture tends to be built to look more formal than kitchen furniture. The way the wood is finished and type of upholstery used are also determined by how it will be used. Low-impact, formal furniture tends to have wax or oil finishes and fine fabrics. More informal-use furniture has more durable finishes like polyurethane and uses more sturdy fabric--and more of it. Formal furniture is more likely to be made in a recognizable period style, and informal furniture is more likely to be built in a style usually called "contemporary," or it uses a reproduction or revival style.
Size
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Wood furniture is built in sizes to match the scale of a room, from apartment-sized sofas to king-sized beds fit for a castle. Undersized-wood furniture will be lost in a large room, looking out of place. Furniture that is too large for a room will make the room look smaller, to say nothing of jamming against walls or other furniture. Some styles, like Jacobean and Mission styles, are massive by nature and look odd when built to a smaller scale.
Risk Factors
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Wood furniture must be maintained to preserve its strength and finish. High humidity or water can spot or soften a finish, and heat and winter dryness can ruin glue that holds joints together. Although wood finishes are designed to protect the wood, they are thin, and wood can be marred or burned through. Fortunately, wood, unlike metal or plastic, is a snap to refinish inexpensively. Furniture that is cleaned regularly and refinished or reglued when necessary should last for generations.
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Resources
- Photo Credit DRW & Associates, Inc.
