Wood can enhance any home or office décor, party due to the fact that wood is a naturally beautiful product. Its durability (depending on quality) can be and often is, timeless. Well-made pieces of furniture are often handed down as heirlooms, occasionally crossing over the span of centuries. There is no other natural product in the world like wood.
Wood comes in many varieties and qualities, and as is the case with most things in life, you get what you pay for. The most affordable type of wooden furniture available falls into the category of RTA (ready to assemble), where the customer assembles the flat-packed pieces to create the finished product. Most typical furniture consists of an amalgam of real wood veneers and solid woods. This usually works out well, as solid wood can and does crack, split, expand or contract depending on humidity and other storage conditions. The most expensive furniture is never 100% solid anything but is rather a blend of solid timber and high-quality veneers.
For furniture used both for the home and for the office
The standard types of woods utilized tend to be oak, cherry, pine, and maple. Exotic woods include mahogany and tiger maple, which are finely grained, highly durable woods that can resist swelling, shrinking and warping.In fact, there are so many diverse species of wood that a full listing of all their names would be virtually impossible. The properties of wood differ from one species to another, but there are two distinct categories – hardwoods and softwoods.
Hardwoods come from trees that shed their leaves in the winter (deciduous). Softwoods typically derive from evergreen trees such as fir and pine. All wood’s fall within the range of very soft to very hard. Of the hardwoods, walnut is strong and easy to work with and can adapt to most types of finishes. Mostly used to make solid and veneered furniture cabinets, wall paneling, and gunstocks, it gives a beautiful finish. Oak has the combined qualities of being extremely durable and yet being able to bend. It is often used for wooden desks, and because it resists moisture absorption, framing for boats and flooring. Maple is very strong and fine-textured and is best used in flooring and in fine furniture. Cherry becomes red when exposed to sunlight and is a close-grained wood that ages well and is used extensively in cabinet making.
Softwoods include pine, which is used in house construction and is easy to work with due to its consistent structure, and fir, which has a low resistance to decay, is non-resinous, and is used in furniture and interior trim.
The most affordable wood furniture is the RTA variety, which can be bought from your common suppliers.