Express Yourself with Unfinished Wood Furniture

People who want high-quality furniture at an affordable price often purchase unfinished wood furniture. So do creative people who want to make a truly individual statement with their furnishings.

The high quality of unfinished wood furniture cannot be matched by prefinished furniture in the same price range. Unfinished wood furniture is constructed from real wood, not particle board – a product made of bonded wood chips. Real wood furniture can last for decades, providing service and pleasure to generations. Particle board seldom survives more than a decade of normal use. Much prefinished “all-wood” furniture is actually made of particle board covered by a wood veneer. You can check by following a seam in the furniture all the way to the end, where the end grain should be visible. If veneer has been glued over the end of the seam, there is a good chance that you are not looking at solid wood construction. Unfinished wood furniture is typically made from high-quality kiln-dried wood that has been carefully handled and is free of knots, cracks, and other weaknesses.

Some unfinished wood furniture is purchased fully assembled, but some requires partial assembly. Table legs and pedestals often must be attached using the bolts provided, and desk components often need to be screwed together. Assembly is usually straightforward and simple, and the necessary bolts or screws are included with the purchase.

You can find unfinished wood furniture with a variety of colors, grain patterns, and hardness, depending on the kind of wood the piece is made from. Furniture can be made from hardwood, softwood, or a mix of both. Botanically, hardwoods are the group of trees that have broad leaves, are deciduous, produce a fruit or nut, and generally go dormant in the winter. Oak, maple, birch, and mahogany are commonly used for furniture. Softwoods are conifers, from the Latin word meaning "cone-bearing." They have needles instead of leaves and are not usually deciduous. Cedar, fir, hemlock, pine, redwood and spruce are widely available softwoods.

Traditions in furniture-making often determine what woods will be used in building unfinished wood furniture. Pine is traditional for informal furniture, particularly kitchen furniture. Oak is the favorite choice for furniture in the Arts and Crafts style.

Unfinished wood furniture can be given a clear or natural finish, which shows off the beauty of the wood. It can also be a blank canvas for a variety of creative finishing techniques. It is a wonderful base for painted finishes of all kinds – it can be stenciled, colorwashed, ragged, antiqued, scratch finished, freehand painted, stamped, decoupaged, tiled, sponge painted, gilded, stippled, or even made into a chalkboard! The effect can be formal or frivolous, traditional or avant garde.

You can express your individuality or honor your heritage, revel in color or luxuriate in natural wood grain. Whatever you choice, you will have an heirloom piece when you choose unfinished wood furniture.