The final thing you should consider when shopping for quality wood furniture is the finish. (If you haven’t read our blogs on wood types, veneers, and joinery, start there to get a complete picture about how to identify high quality wood furniture.)

Bad finishes can ruin a piece of furniture (it’s hard to admire the quality of the wood or design when there’s a peeling finish or an unsightly water mark). The good news is that finishing has come a long way and much of today’s furniture is resistant to liquids and scratching. So what is a finish exactly? It’s actually a combination of a stain and clear top coat. Keep reading to find out more about finishes (and check out our selection of gorgeous wood furniture here). (more…)

When you’re talking about wood furniture, joinery is how the pieces of wood are connected to each other. If done well, it can create a stable piece. If don’t poorly, you’ll have a wobbly table in the not-so-distant future.

If you’ve ever assembled a piece of flat-packed furniture from Ikea or Target, you’ve actually participated in the process of furniture joinery (and you’ve probably discovered that kind of joinery isn’t the best if you want a sturdy final product). There is a great explanation of furniture joinery here, but we wanted to give you a quick rundown of what to look for and what to avoid. Keep reading to find out more about joinery (and check out our selection of gorgeous wood furniture here). (more…)

You’ve heard some about veneers in our recent post about wood types, but we want to dig in a little deeper and tell you what they really are. And that includes debunking the main myth about veneers: Not every piece of furniture that uses veneers is poor quality.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Keep reading to find out more about veneers (and check out our selection of gorgeous wood furniture here).

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It’s hard to go into any furniture store these days and not see lots of pieces made from reclaimed wood. But like any trendy material, it can be hard to know what the phrase “reclaimed wood” actually means. Allow us to explain. (more…)

We recently dove into the types of wood products that can create a piece of wood furniture, covering solid wood, plywood, particle board, and MDF. But there was one thing we didn’t have room to get into—the difference between solid wood that’s grown here in the US and solid wood that’s grown in another country. Keep reading to find out more about why it matters where wood comes from (and check out our selection of gorgeous wood furniture here). (more…)

While there are so many different kinds of furniture—loveseats, china cabinets, ottomans, benches, dressers—they can really be classified into two major groups: Those covered in fabric (a.k.a. upholstery) and those made of wood (what we call “casegoods” in the industry). We have a series of posts discussing upholstery furniture quality, so if you’re shopping for a sofa or chair, check out our posts on frame material and construction, springs and suspension and seat and back cushions. But if you’re shopping for wood furniture and want to make sure you’re buying something that’s high quality, you’ll need to learn about four elements: wood, veneer, joinery and finishes. First, we’re going to dive into the main material of casegoods: the wood itself. (And check out our selection of gorgeous wood furniture here.) (more…)