Pine Bedroom Furniture

Real wood bedroom furniture is always a fine choice. The two types of wood you most often see in use are oak and pine. Which one you choose is sometimes a matter of preference. However, both of them have their own advantages and disadvantages, and this should be considered when you are choosing between pine bedroom furniture and oak bedroom furniture.

Pine is lightweight and pliable which makes it easy to craft as well as maintain and repair. It is considered a softwood, at least in comparison to a hardwood like oak. Do not let that term fool you, though. If someone hits you with a pine 2x4, it is going to hurt ... a lot.

Pine trees grow much faster can be found in greater abundance than oak. There are even pine plantations, making pine bedroom furniture a very eco-friendly choice. For those who value the environment and favor eco friendly decor, beds and wardrobes made from pine are an excellent choice. Using these two core items of bedroom furniture as a base, you can slowly add additional accessories like side-tables, vanities and storage chests, all made from eco-friendly pine grown in plantations.

Pine has naturally beautiful grains and knots. This makes them very suitable for use in making simpler styles of wooden bedroom furniture like the Mexican, southwestern, mission, country and rustic-styles. Unlike the elaborate gothic Victorian and Queen Anne styles whose complex carvings and moldings hide the beauty of the pine wood, these simpler styles (e.g. rustic bedroom furniture) help to bring out the beauty of the grains.

Pine wood is naturally light in color, so furniture craftsmen use a variety of stains to highlight the grains and knottings in the boards they use. Boards from different trees have different grains. Higher quality pine bedroom furniture make use of similar boards in the entire set to give a more coherent look and feel. Nevertheless, there is still a certain amount of variability. However, this is also part of its charm.

While most pine bedroom furniture is finished with a layer of varnish, or even painted, there are unfinished bedroom furniture sold. Sometimes this is for reasons of cost, or for DIY enthusiasts. But in the case of pine, there is another reason. Fresh-cut pine releases a natural fragrance that many people like, and hence there are those who are willing to pay more for new unfinished pine furniture sets.

However, leaving your pine furniture unfinished does pose some risk. Pine is not very resistant to the elements, so if you live somewhere with high humidity, you might find your unfinished pine bedroom warping or rotting within a few years. If you live in the country-side, you may also find your unfinished pine furniture quickly attacked by insects.

Even finished pine bedroom furniture is not a good choice if you live in a place where there is a high variation in temperature. For example, deserts are very hot in the day but can drop below freezing at night. The same goes for places with very hot and humid summers but very cold and dry winters. These extremities in weather conditions can cause the pine boards to shrink or warp. Because different boards will shrink and warp differently, the joints of your bed frame, wardrobe and other furniture will quickly weaken.

Unlike pine, oak is a very durable and solid hardwood. It is very resistant to the elements and rotting, having been used to make barrels and ships in the past. Unfortunately, it grows very slowly and has become scarce. As a result, oak bedroom furniture is a great deal more expensive than pine bedroom furniture.

Oak does not scratch or dent easily and is difficult to work. This is another reason for the higher cost of oak bedroom furniture. However, oak offers tremendous value for its higher price - it is naturally resistant to fungi and insects, and it does not warp or bend easily. There are sets of solid wood bedroom furniture made of oak that have been passed down through several generations. All that the new owners do is to strip away the old varnish or paint and refinish it, leaving their oak bedroom furniture looking almost as good as new.

Both pine bedroom furniture and oak bedroom furniture make a great choice for the home. However, besides your own preferences, you need to consider the climate of the place you stay as well as your budget.