What we call oak is actually a large variety of both deciduous and evergreen hardwood tree species that live in both the cold northern latitudes as well as the tropics of Asia. Oakwood has very high density and is both very strong and very hard. This makes them suitable for making very robust furniture. Certain species of oak also have a very high tannin content, hence making them very resistant to insect and fungal attacks. Such oak wood was traditionally used to make outdoor furniture as well as battleships in the Age of Sail. The highest grade of oak bedroom furniture uses wide quartersawn boards which show off the beauty of the grain markings very well.
When you buy solid wood bedroom furniture made from oak, it tells the world that you value quality and permanence. It shows that you appreciate the beauty and are the type of person who invests in the future. Solid oak bedroom furniture that has been passed down for several generations can still be found in good condition. Old families value the use of oak for their master bedroom furniture for this very reason – grandparents handing over their old wooden bedroom furniture to parents and parents in their turn handing them over to their children.
In these modern times, oak is only recommended for master bedroom furniture. Solid oak wood bedroom furniture is often too expensive to use for young children’s bedroom furniture. After all, children grow up so fast and need frequent changes to larger-sized furniture. Modern homes are too small to store their old furniture. This is quite different from the old days when houses were large and children’s oak beds and wardrobes could be safely put away until needed by the next generation once again.
When buying contemporary oak bedroom furniture, one must be very careful indeed. Most oak furniture nowadays is actually made of fiberboard covered with an oak veneer. Before you hand your hard-earned cash over to the bedroom furniture retailer, you should get them to guarantee that the furniture you are buying is made from solid oak wood.
Contemporary master bedroom furniture packages normally come with a king-sized or queen-sized bed, a standard-sized double wardrobe, a bedside cabinet and a chest of drawers. More traditional oak bedroom furniture designs include gothic styles inspired by the Victorian or Queen Anne era, all the way up to the minimalist country and mission styles.
Most adults spend about one-third of their lives in bed, so it is often worthwhile to spend a bit more on something that is more solid and gives a sense of security and permanence like oak master bedroom furniture. While softwoods like pine and beech also make beautiful and good quality bedroom furniture, they have a certain hard-to-define deficiency compared to oak. Of course, the deficiencies of MDF and plywood need not be mentioned.
Whether you buy white oak bedroom furniture or red oak bedroom furniture, they are both beautiful and robust. When you own quality bedroom furniture made from oak, it demonstrates a depth of character that is getting harder to find in modern man. As long as you properly maintain your oak furniture following the manufacturer’s instructions, you can be certain of being able to safely pass them down to your children and grandchildren.
Buying The Best Quality Oak Bedroom Furniture
Everyone has different tastes when it comes to furnishing their bedrooms. There are those who like the metal and glass look of modern styles, then there are those who favor the traditional look of solid wood bedroom furniture. Three kinds of wood come to the fore when thinking about quality bedroom furniture – pine, cherry wood, and oak. Pine and cherry wood unfinished bedroom furniture releases a sweet and natural fragrance into the air. They also look beautiful. But oak bedroom furniture is a bit different – it is still very beautiful, but it has a very ageless and permanent feeling about it.
When you buy oak bedroom furniture, you can choose from the Old World sumptuousness of the gothic look (of which the Victorian and Queen Anne styles are the most well-known) or the clean lines of the country, rustic and mission bedroom furniture styles. All of these different bedroom furniture designs look great in solid oak wood, unlike the softwoods like beech and pine which can’t quite support the elaborate carvings and moldings common in the old-fashioned gothic designs. This is more a matter of psychological feel rather than a matter of real physics.
Most bedroom furniture retailers sell both oak bedroom furniture packages as well as standalone pieces of furniture. They often offer discounts when you buy a full set of bedroom furniture which usually includes at least a bed and a wardrobe. There are often additional accessories as well, e.g. nightstands, side tables and/or storage chests. If you do not like some of these accessories and would like to exchange them for other pieces, it is sometimes worth negotiating with the bedroom furniture outlet. Especially when it is a discontinued line of bedroom furniture, the sales manager may be quite willing to show flexibility in order to clear his stock faster. A similar argument holds true if the bedroom furniture collection which you like does not have enough of the accessories you like, e.g. some people like to have extra storage chests. In cases like these, the manager of the furniture store may be willing to offer a discount on the extra standalone pieces you buy together with the bedroom furniture set.
Hardwoods like oak make very long-lasting and fine bedroom furniture. Many of the species of oak commonly used for making furniture are resistant to both insect and fungal attacks. However, some species like the northern red oak “Quercus rubra” have open capillaries which make them vulnerable to fungal attacks. Because of this, you need to be careful about the specifications and maintenance instructions of the oak bedroom furniture you buy. This does not mean you should not buy red oak bedroom furniture. It just means that you need to take extra care to maintain the oak furniture you buy.
However, there are also unscrupulous manufacturers and furniture salesmen who try to pass off oak veneer on fiberboard (MDF) as solid oak wood bedroom furniture. If in doubt, i.e. if they are not willing to provide you with a certificate of guarantee as well as written assurance, it is better to assume the worst. This is one advantage of personally visiting your local bedroom furniture retailers. You get to see the furniture in question with your own eyes, and you are also able to ask the difficult questions that will not be entertained when you buy bedroom furniture online.
High-end oak bedroom furniture is usually made from wide quartersawn boards. Lumber sawed this way shows off the grains of oak wood the best. Some furniture craftsmen stain the wood to bring out the beautiful grain patterns even more. Luxury oak bedroom furniture of this kind is usually only waxed or finished with a clear varnish. They clearly require a lot more care and maintenance than painted oak bedroom furniture.
You no doubt have your own preferences when it comes to decorating
your bedroom. Perhaps you like modern styles like glass bedroom furniture, or perhaps you prefer the more traditional wooden bedroom furniture. If you like wood bedroom furniture, you will never go wrong choosing oak. Even if you cannot afford to buy an entire oak bedroom furniture package, it is worthwhile supplementing and slowly replacing cheaper pieces of furniture with standalone oak furniture.
What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses Of Gothic-Style Vs Country-Style Oak Bedroom Furniture?
There are many different styles of oak bedroom furniture and what you ultimately choose is a matter of your taste. Some people like to shop around and browse the different bedroom furniture designs available at their nearby bedroom furniture outlets, but others may already have an idea of what they want to get. For example, some people had previously bought a particular bedroom furniture package, and they now want to buy an additional piece of furniture like a dresser or storage chest to supplement what they already have.
Those who like to buy their bedroom furniture online have a big problem. There are thousands of different models on offer by hundreds of manufacturers and bedroom furniture retailers. How can anyone possibly look through so many different bedroom furniture designs even if they have a fast internet connection? At the very least, they need to have an idea of how to classify different styles of oak bedroom furniture.
Solid wood bedroom furniture designs generally fall into two different groups – the gothic styles and the country styles. Within each group, there are further variations. For example, the two most popular gothic styles are the Victorian style and the Queen Anne style. And the country styles can arguably be divided into the mission style and the rustic style. Of course, different “experts” have their own ideas of all these variations and differentiation. As a shopper, you only need to know how a retailer might classify a certain group of bedroom furniture designs. For example, many manufacturers and retailers use the terms “country bedroom furniture”, “mission bedroom furniture” and “rustic bedroom furniture” interchangeably. Americans might also be exposed to the term “Amish bedroom furniture” from time to time.
So what do all these overly clever words used to describe different oak bedroom furniture designs actually mean? Let us start with Queen Anne styled bedroom furniture. This is a type of gothic design, meaning that there are a lot of ornate and elaborate carvings and moldings. This was a design that originated in the early 1700s, during Queen Anne of England’s reign. Despite the fanciful design, this style of oak bedroom furniture has graceful and moderate proportions. The furniture legs are usually cabriole-style, and the drawers have batwing handles. While the originals often used dovetail joints, other joints may well be used in modern versions of these fine bedroom furniture designs.
Victorian-style bedroom furniture is another popular gothic design. It originated in Queen Victoria’s reign in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was at this time that furniture began to be mass-produced. Furniture legs usually had round coiled ball feet or ball-and-claw feet. Unlike the graceful Queen Anne furniture, Victorian furniture feels heavy and ponderous. This weighty feeling can help to anchor a large master bedroom in an old house but is probably less than ideal if you have a small bedroom in a modern apartment.
Mission bedroom furniture followed from the Victorian style. Mission-style furniture was a backlash against the weight and darkness of the Victorian style, which is why they are comparatively minimalist and spartan. When compared to the gothic designs, there is very little ornamentation. For many people, the first thought that comes to mind is how clean the lines are for this style of furniture. As mentioned earlier, many bedroom furniture retailers alternately use the terms “country-style” and “rustic-style” for this type of furniture. While a purist might dispute the correctness of this lack of distinction between the different types, as usual, the needs of sales and marketing trumps academia.
American Amish bedroom furniture can be argued to be a country-style. They are usually handmade and have to be ordered specially from Amish furniture craftsmen. Amish furniture workshops are often jammed with orders and mostly serve their local communities. They make their quality bedroom furniture out of oak and other woods to which they have ready access, and you need never worry about the use of plywoods, MDF and veneer. Unfortunately, there is the obvious downside of made-to-order custom bedroom furniture – slow delivery.
The best quality oak bedroom furniture is made out of wide quartersawn boards which best show off their grain markings. Furniture of this kind is usually stained to further bring out the beauty of the natural grains and knots, and then either waxed or varnished. Quality of this level is never painted. It would be a terrible waste. Obviously, the simpler and cleaner lines of mission-style and Amish bedroom furniture benefit the most from this kind of quality wood. The gothic styles have too much ornamentation which detracts from the natural beauty of the oak grain markings. On the other hand, the gothic styles are ideal for oak wood that is still solid but not as naturally beautiful. Their complex designs make up for the lack of naturally beautiful grains, and once painted you cannot tell that they are not made from the highest grade of oak wood.
When shopping for oak bedroom furniture, it helps to have an idea of the different styles of bedroom furniture available in the market. Whether you favor the gothic styles or the country styles largely depends on your taste. On the other hand, if you are buying used bedroom furniture, it is much easier to recondition the simpler lines of country-style furniture designs.
