Modern Homes Designs

Teak wood is widely known for its hardness. This woody plant that grows well in Southeast Asian nations. The chemical composition of teak – silica, rubber and oil – contributes to its versatility and strength plus its honey-brown color is distinctive among any other kinds of wood, thus teak wood symbolizes beauty and toughness at the same time.

There is a whole range of teak furniture that can be crafted indoor or outdoor – form teak bedroom furniture to teak patio furniture even construction of boats because it can be very adaptive to extreme weather changes and sturdiness. Teak woods possess a healthy deposit of natural oils, thus, it develops a protective shin from termites and other wood rotting fungi and maintains its luster and beauty as time prevails. Given this property, teak furniture only require minimal amount of cleaning.

There are other kinds of wood furniture that are popular and are perfect furniture that suits well in the different parts of the house like oak dining furniture or pine bedroom furniture but these types perish if left untreated and exposed to natural elements. If these kinds of furniture are tarnished, you could have treatments but they can be expensive and time consuming. Whilst in teak furniture, it has the capacity to repair itself because of its natural composition.

Pine and oak are softwood and hardwood, respectively. The former is made up of wide grain that is susceptible to splitting and denting, hence, this is not a good centerpiece for dining table. Hence, having pine bedroom furniture should not be used for people who have active bed lifestyle, especially for kids who are fond of playing in their beds. The latter is more durable than pine but has open phloem and have the great tendency to rot if neglected. Though these two woods are good in other aspects, there is nothing that could surpass teak furniture when it comes to durability, versatility and aesthetic value.

The bed we sleep on is quite possibly one of the earliest pieces of furniture. The original beds used by our primitive ancestors were little more than leaves or straw piled up on the ground. But once they learned to work with tools, they placed these leaves on top of stone shelves so that they could sleep out of the draft. Today, we sleep on top of wooden beds made of beech, pine, oak and other wood substitutes. Not only that, but other pieces of furniture have joined our beds in the bedroom.

Modern furniture is mainly made from plywood and/or fiberboard. Partly, this is because real wood has become very expensive. But another reason is that wood substitutes like plywood and fiberboard do not last as long as real wood even though they look just as solid. This enables furniture manufacturers to sell more beds and wardrobes and make more money.

One of the earliest woods used for furniture was oak. Oak is a hardwood that is extremely hard and strong. It is also resistant to insects, fungus and rot. Not only was it used to make furniture, it was also used to build large ships. Oak is famous for its toughness, and we can still find antique oak bedroom furniture in use through many generations of a family.

But by the mid-1600s, too many oak trees had been cut down, and not enough oak was left to build furniture for the common man. Besides that, oak was a hardwood and difficult to work. With the increase in the numbers of the middle class, there was money to be made by selling cheap furniture to the masses. The furniture makers turned to softwoods like beech. These types of wood were easier to work, so their productivity greatly increased.

In the mid-1800s, pine overtook beech as the most popular wood for furniture. In the United States and other countries with sizeable forests of cherry wood, this too vied with pine for dominance. Both of these woods, when freshly cut and used to build furniture, released a pleasant fragrance. Unfinished furniture made from pine and cherry wood quickly became popular.

Today, fast-growing softwoods like pine are also grown in plantations. Quality pine bedroom furniture made of wood grown in plantations is more ecologically friendly than most wood substitutes even though they are more expensive. Another advantage is that solid pine wood lasts much longer than cheap alternatives like plywood and fiberboard.

Although alternatives to wood like plywood and fiberboard are “green” in the sense that they make use of low quality wood that would otherwise be burnt or thrown away, the problem is that they also need extensive use of increasingly scarce petroleum compounds. In the case of plywood, this is the glue (made from petroleum products) that is used to stick the thin sheets of wood together. In the case of fiberboard, it is the hydrocarbon-based resin that is used to hold the powdered wood together when it is being formed.

As you can see, we have come a long way since our primitive ancestors. They slept on the ground in a pile of leaves or straw, and now we are sleeping on top of wooden beds and have other pieces of wooden furniture in our bedrooms.