Filling your home with furniture is special. You get to personalize each space by choosing furniture and accessories that tell of your style. Unfortunately, a fully furnished room does not reveal the challenges one faces when choosing tables and furniture.
If you have ever furnished your space or are in the process of doing so, you appreciate that there are several difficult choices you need to make. Should you buy custom furniture or identical mass-produced pieces in the stores? Which wood is most suitable? Can you afford the furniture you want?
These are some of the questions buyers struggle to answer when buying furniture, especially custom wooden furniture.
What is custom wooden furniture?
Custom furniture refers to any piece of furniture that reflects your unique preferences and personality. It could be a particular wood or furniture design. Custom wooden furniture is handmade and tastefully crafted by a skill that many buyers are discovering in their quest for unique furniture pieces.
Before deciding which furniture piece you’d like, it is best to understand the different types of wood.
Types of wood used in custom wooden furniture
Different types of wood have unique qualities. Manufacturers use these qualities to determine the suitability of a particular wood for certain furniture pieces. For example, some wood types are ideal for making tables but may not be the best choice for your seats or bed.
Hardwood
Hardwood is denser fibres because the tree grows slowly. This contributes to the “hard” feature in this wood, which also makes it durable. Types of hardwood commonly used in making custom furniture include oak, maple and walnut.
While hardwood shares similar properties, not all are ideal for making furniture. Some are preferred for wooden flooring because of the range of colours, fibre patterns, and style.
Oak, Maple, Mahogany, and Cherry are some of the popular hardwood used for making custom wooden furniture. Oak is a strong wood, chosen for its durability. It is often used on high-use pieces like chairs and dining tables.
Maple, on the other hand, has a creamy off-white colour. It is often preferred by people seeking more colour and pattern on their furniture. For example, wormy maple has streaks made up of knots and veins, usually created by boring beetles.
Mahogany is a popular hardwood used for custom wooden furniture. It is preferred for its durability, beauty, and colour.
As cherry ages, it changes colour. It gets darker with age, with some taking on a deeper brown or red hue. Manufacturers choose this wood for its enviable complexity.
Softwood
Softwood has less dense fibre. This makes it easier to cut and manipulate. Since the trees grow tall and straight, they are also easier to cut into long wood planks. Examples of trees with softwood include pine, cedar, spruce, redwood, juniper, and fir.
Softwood is often used in making structural frames, cardboards, floor coverings and fittings. Since it usually absorbs adhesives quickly, custom furniture made from softwood have an attractive finish.
Other softwood features include a higher sap content, light in colour, lightweight, and fine texture. Unfortunately, unlike hardwood, softwood has poor fire resistance.
Manufactured wood
Some custom wooden furniture is made from engineered or manufactured wood. Manufactured wood comprises different types of wood. The main types of manufactured wood used in making custom furniture are plywood and particleboard.
Plywood is made by combining several layers of thin lumber using an adhesive. The more layers the plywood has, the more durable the custom furniture.
Particleboard, also known as fiberboard, is made using lumber that has been broken down into tiny fibres using a wood chipper. The fibres are then glued together with an adhesive.
How the type of wood influences the cost of custom furniture
Many buyers assume that custom wooden furniture is expensive. Some hardly ever consider customizing their furniture because of this belief. However, the cost of custom furniture varies depending on the type of wood used. Some of the most expensive woods in the market include rosewood, elm, maple, mahogany, and Ebony.
Pine is the cheapest wood for various reasons. It grows quickly, so there is hardly a shortage of pine wood. Since it is soft, it is susceptible to damage. However, it blends well with other types of wood and stains, so furniture makers consider it ideal for custom wooden furniture.
While hardwoods are generally preferred for custom wooden furniture, your choice of wood should be a balance between wood density and beauty. You should also consider the wood’s natural colour and how easy it will be to stain it to suit your interior decor.