Understanding Wood Finishes: Which is Right for Your Furniture?
As the name suggests, a piece of wooden furniture isn’t really complete until you apply a finish! It may seem like an afterthought compared to the furniture’s design, size, type of wood, and colour, but the finish is a crucial part of any solid wood furniture.
The finish you select will impact your furniture’s aesthetic appeal, durability, and more. Let’s take a deeper dive into wood finishes to help you select the right one for your furniture.
How Deep Into the Wood?
Furniture finishes soak into the wood at different depths. For example, a penetrating wood finish soaks into the wood very deeply, so it takes on a sheen, and the wood has a type of glow as if from the inside. Oils like tung oil can be applied with a rag so there’s an even coat.
In contrast, surface finishes are applied to the top surface of the wood, adding an important layer of protection for furniture that is used a lot every day. These types of finishes help add durability to the wood and also give it a beautiful look. There are many types of surface finishes, from shellac, lacquer, varnish, wax, polyurethane, and more.
Each type of finish has its own combination of ingredients. For instance, varnish contains drying oil, resin, and solvent or thinner.
Colour and Style Matter
The finish you select will really impact how the furniture looks. Not every concern about furniture needs to be practical! You have to enjoy the way it looks, too.
What type of effect or look are you going for? Solid wood furniture can create a wide range of styles and tones. In general, lighter wood creates a sense of space and openness, whereas elegant, darker woods encourage more contemplation and introspection.
Imagine a bright kitchen with lighter tones versus a library or study in dark, rich mahogany. The finish you choose should complement the overall style aesthetic. When you buy solid wood furniture from Woodcraft, you can choose whatever type of finish you want.
This makes it easy to ensure any furniture you buy will match the room’s overall look.
Durability Is Key
It’s important to ensure that the furniture in your home doesn’t just last for years but looks great down the road. If you maintain your furniture and get a solid protective finish, it will hold up very well to daily wear and tear.
Kids (and even adults!) can cause nicks and scratches or watermarks. You shouldn’t have to feel like the furniture in your home is delicate and needs to be kept behind glass to preserve it — you should feel at ease and comfortable in the space you spend the most time. Getting a protective finish is an excellent way to help ensure that your furniture will look great years from now.
Refinishing Services
If you’re buying new furniture, choosing a finish or stain is easy. You may think refinishing or touching up old, existing furniture is considerably harder.
Woodcraft offers a wood refinishing service that will give new life to furniture you’ve had for decades and maybe written off. Applying a new finish will add to the furniture a fresh sense of self. It will look considerably different, upgraded, and modern. Plus, it will be more durable with its extra layers of protection.
Our refinishing services are more than just a cosmetic facelift. A new finish can really minimize or mitigate most small scratches, dents, nicks, and gouges. We fix loose joints and minor repairs by hand.
Our experts do all the old “stripping” by hand, rather than dipping or soaking the furniture in tanks, to prevent joints and glue from getting loosened. Doing it slowly, carefully, and by hand also prevents the wood from drying out and keeps the veneer in good shape.
It’s great to learn more about wood staining, as different types of wood respond to the same finishes differently, but you can also choose to leave it to our experts. They’ll work in consultation with you and give their expert advice and opinions. However much information you learn about staining and finishing on your own, you can always lean on 35+ years of building beautiful, custom furniture.
The way solid wood furniture can be updated and restored is one of the material’s greatest attributes. If you’re buying brand new furniture, know that it will last you for generations. If you already have older wood furniture, don’t forget that it can be given new life — within limits.
A table top can be sanded down to bare wood, so the scratches are gone and it can welcome a new natural stain. However, if the table has a very dark finish, it should probably be refinished in a dark colour. Woodcraft has a “butternut” colour, which manages to lighten up old, dark furniture, giving it a lighter tone that modernizes the piece.
Furniture in Places of Business
Are you furnishing your home, your office, or a commercial space? A custom piece of solid wood furniture is a beautiful thing to elevate the space where you work, while furniture for commercial spaces should be inviting and alluring.
Woodcraft has exciting furniture for every room in the house, the office, and your commercial space. Select whatever finish you want to ensure your furniture complements its environment and serves its practical function.
A table or bookcase in a commercial space should heighten the mood you’re going for, not just provide storage space. After you select the type of wood you prefer and the colour, talk to us to ensure you get a finish that provides the final touch on your solid wood furniture.
Understanding how wood responds to the ingredients in every type of finish is a real art, and it’s complicated. However, choosing the right finish doesn’t have to be. Talk to our expert builders and we’ll make sure that your furniture has everything it needs to look beautiful and stand up to daily wear and tear, so it looks great for years.