Reasons to Choose Solid Wood Furniture Over Veneer Alternatives

Solid wood furniture is beautiful and classic. Whether you love contemporary or rustic designs, a solid wood piece of furniture will look fantastic for years.

Oak furniture is probably the most popular and has been cherished for hundreds of years.

Although it undoubtedly looks good, are there any other reasons to choose solid wood? Well yes, there are.

Solid wood is more expensive than particle board covered in a wood veneer but there's a reason for that - the quality is much higher. Solid wood is structurally stronger and will not bow like a veneer piece of furniture can - this is particularly important if you are looking for a bookcase.

Another plus point for wood is the fact that it can be repaired fairly easily if it gets damages. The broken areas can be filled and finished with wood treatments. Particleboard on the other hand is very difficult to repair. This is often due to structural failure and this sort of thing is too major a fault to patch up.

Moving particleboard furniture can be a problem because it ideally needs to be dismantled first to protect it from knocks.

Solid furniture will last for many years and can be seen as an investment. A good-looking piece also makes a great family heirloom and it can give pleasure to your relatives long after you have no more need for it.

Should you have no-one to pass your furniture on to, solid wood will have a much higher resale value than particleboard (which often has no real value at all).

There are many different types of wood such as pine, ash and oak so you can choose something that suits your needs. All of these woods have their own characteristics and charm so make sure you find a showroom to see a good selection and you will find that you are attracted to one wood over all of the others.

It can also be finished with a natural wax or a tinted wax. Stains and paints can also be applied but wood is so beautiful anyway that you should consider changing the colour very carefully, however it can always be sanded back and given a natural wax or varnish at a later date (something you can't do with veneer).

On balance, wood by far outweighs veneered particleboard as the sensible choice for any home. So long as you can afford it, invest in solid wood - you won't regret it. If the price is initially off-putting, remember that in the long run it could even work out cheaper because you are unlikely to ever need to replace it.