Opting for Quality Solid Wood Furniture
Guest Post By Harden Furniture
Solid Wood Furniture
Whether you live in an apartment, house, or condo, furniture is typically a necessity in order to make your living space more comfortable. In addition to adding comfort to your home, the right combination of living room, dining room, bedroom, office and storage furniture can also be aesthetically pleasing, thus transforming an ordinary space into something beautiful and luxurious. Solid wood furniture can often come with the quality to last a lifetime and the craftsmanship or detail that depicts elegance and beauty. Unfortunately, many American consumers have lost sight of the value that quality solid wood furniture brings to the table.
Over the past few decades, furniture has taken many shapes and forms. From heavy solid oak to lightweight plastic and everything between, furniture that is being produced today offers a varying level of quality. Some manufacturers (looking to maximize their profits) mass produce furniture. This furniture can be made with cheap parts and poor construction. Ultimately, consumers are offered a cheaper product but with little quality. The unfortunate aspect is that the economy is in bad shape causing most Americans to take a second look at their budgets and pinch pennies where necessary. Ultimately, Americans find themselves opting (or settling) for cheap, rather than quality, products.
What people should realize is that cheap furniture might seem like the better deal at first but that the cost to replace low quality furniture every couple of years will eventually outweigh the cost of purchasing a slightly more expensive, quality, piece of furniture that can stand up to everyday wear and tear for tens of years. If you have ever come across an old piece of furniture made several decades ago, you will understand exactly this point. More than likely, furniture made in the 1800’s or earlier was hand-crafted by a skilled craftsman or artisan using a few key tools. The furniture is still around today because it was made out of solid wood and constructed in a very durable manner. The artisan’s that made this furniture were experts in their field, dedicated to their work, and paid attention to detail. These very details that are shown in the design of the furniture are what make it beautiful.
Nowadays, beautiful solid wood furniture is being replaced by cheap plastic furniture that can’t withstand any reasonable amount of weight, wobbles, or falls apart easily. You may also get poorly constructed wood furniture that is mass-produced to cost less, such as, cheap wooden desks made out of fragile particle board that flakes, shelves that fall apart when you try to screw them together, tables that warp in the middle, and designs that are basic and identical to those that you might find as close as next door in your neighbor’s house.
Ultimately, a lot of modern furniture is cheap and lacks any sort of style or unique character. There is no pride that the owner can boast about by purchasing this type of furniture. Ultimately, when it fails, it becomes worthless. This is unlike solid wood furniture, which from decades ago may have since become an antique or collectors’ item and appreciated in value. At the very least, quality furniture with design and character will have some sort of sentimental value or surely stir a sense of pride in the owner that understands the making of the product and the amount of work and dedication that went into producing it.
The good news for everyone is that there are still some American manufacturers that produce quality, hand-made, solid wood furniture. While manual tools such as a plane, a chisel, are used to perfect details and create a custom look for the furniture, some modern day technology is used for some of the rough cuts of the wood in order to save time. In the end, the same level of quality furniture is delivered to the consumer at a much more affordable price.
Furniture can also be made out of many different types of wood including oak, cedar, and cherry wood just to name a few. This allows consumers to pick solid wood furniture that is perhaps both durable and lightweight. For instance, oak brags about its strength while cedar emits a very desirable scent and cherry wood takes credit for being elegant and enticing due to its’ gorgeous, cherry-colored hue. Ultimately, if you are looking for furniture for your living space, consider treating yourself (and the people that visit your home) to the comfort and style of solid wood furniture.
This article was donated by Harden Furniture. Harden is an American family owned and operated solid wood furniture manufacturer.
Todd, I couldn’t agree more with this assessment. We buy all solid wood furniture… and I’m quite positive that our dining room set will long outlast Kim and I. We picked a natural-stained oak. Should we ever get tired of the lighter color, the whole thing can be disassembled, sanded, and re-stained. Plus, it avoids the typical problems of laminate (like water seeping into cracks and swelling the board).
Harden Furniture is now on our shopping list.
Fred – Since we built our new home three years ago we’ve been slowly buying furniture. We always buy solid wood furniture. The craftsmanship of the solid wood furniture manufacturers makes such a difference. Our new bedroom furniture has English dovetail joints, dust trays, solid drawer glides and traditional furniture construction. I plan on only buying furniture once and solid wood stands up to that standard.