When buying wooden furniture, you may need to consider several things. Here are some tips to help you with your decision:
1. Type of Wood
Wood furniture can be made of several options like softwood, hardwood, or engineered wood. Hardwood offers excellent strength and durability. However, they can be very expensive. The best engineered wood choice will be plywood that offers strength and nice look as well as long as it uses good veneers or good quality laminates. MDF and Particle Boards are other kinds of engineered wood, but their durability is generally not as great, and not as resistant to humidity and high temperatures.
2. Wood Characteristics
Knowing the wood source will help you identify if your furniture has the wood characteristic. Each kind will be different. You need to check if the grain looks right. More distinctive pattern will be more valuable and expensive. Hardwood makes the best pattern on this.
3. Furniture Construction
Construction defines how your furniture will look, how long it will serve you, and how it handles the entire functions on the right way. Check on those three major parts, and make sure that it works well too. Engineered and handmade furniture will be different entirely.
4. Finishing
Finishing on wood furniture will include 3 things. You will need to check on the sanding. Then, you will also look how it gets the staining. At last, the final finishing will be a crucial part too. You will get smooth surface, but the grain is still visible. It should be flawless as well.
5. Color of Wood
Even though the wood furniture will get finishing, it should look like a real tree on its natural real color. If the one you see does not look like that, forget it. Not only you need the grain to be visible, you will also want to have the natural color because it makes the real masterpiece of the furniture. Using natural finishes instead of opaque dark walnut or dark mahogany or dark ebony finishes on lighter woods like teak, is a good way to ensure that the wood used is the right one, through a simple visual inspection.
6. Design
Simple design but which is done professionally with flawless and smooth result will keep the natural beauty of the wood. This is the best but the price can be expensive. You need design that works. So test it.
7. Warranty
Check if you will get warranty for the furniture. Wood furniture is commonly strong and durable, but warranty is your right so you should ask for it for your furniture as well. This will help you on maintenance as well.