Wherever you look throughout the country, you’d be hard-pressed to find a home without Australian wood furniture. There’s just something iconic about the warmth you feel when you see or touch a skillfully made wooden desk, cupboard or anything of the sort. Wood is also incredibly malleable, as you can fit it in any sort of room and it will make its presence felt.
Most importantly – wood is far from a fad. We humans have been using it to build things for over ten thousand years, so you already know it should be a staple in your household. But before you decide to buy a custom-made table and upgrade your home, it’s worth taking a look at the benefits of having wooden furniture.
Durability
Don’t let anyone pull the wool over your eyes – wood is just as strong as metal or some artificial material. If it’s regularly cleaned and kept in good shape, there’s no reason why a piece of wooden furniture wouldn’t last for at least a decade. Did you ever wonder why trees are able to survive all kinds of weather conditions and outlive people? Well, now you know.
And there are also levels to this durability. You can pick either hardwood or softwood. Don’t be fooled by the words ‘soft’ and ‘hard.’ They are but mere ways to express the way the tree reproduces. Softwood is used for timber coming from evergreen trees that carry cones, while hardwood comes from trees that have their flowers pollinated by insects.
What this all means is that your softwood desk won’t break in half or that your hardwood chair is indestructible. Instead, you get to choose from a variety of timber species, each having its own distinct colour, pattern, and various properties.
A direct outcome of this high level of durability is that the resale value of Australian wooden furniture stays the same for up to a decade. If you want to sell your bespoke dining table, you won’t be at much of a loss, if at all.
Even today, you can find old wooden churches in England and Norway that date back to the 9th or 10th century. This is yet another testament to why wood will never go out of fashion.
Eco-Friendliness
Wood is still one of the only renewable building materials. You can always plant more trees, as long as the weather is suitable and there’s enough space. Therefore, if a chair or table are thrown away, they won’t pollute the environment or remain in that state for all eternity.
However, it’s important to buy furniture that’s made out of ethnically sourced timber. We at Naturally Timber use only timber from naturally felled, reclaimed, or grown on special plantations. This means that our tables, chairs, and other products don’t come from illegal deforestation. These trees are specifically planted to serve as timber, so chopping them down won’t disturb the ecosystem around them.
Also, buying Australian wood furniture helps support local businesses. By buying from them, you don’t only support the craftsmen, but also the local timber industry. And when you buy locally, you won’t finance shipping via large cargo ships or plains, which are notorious for their carbon emissions. It’s a win-win.
The Aesthetics
How does wood actually transform a room? To put it simply – wood is one of the most malleable materials in use today. It doesn’t matter if you have brick walls or smooth white stone. Australian wooden furniture will match it perfectly, as long as you pick the right timber species. Since there are thousands of different trees, their timber comes in a variety of colours.
Sure, we’re mostly used to seeing light brown tones, but wood furniture can be in any colour – from light beige to burnt umber. Therefore, you will always have a sizeable colour palette to work with. This makes it very easy to plan the design of your entire home just around a few pieces of Australian wood furniture.
Unlike metal or stone, wood has a natural feel to it. Not only do the brown tones remind us of nature, but timber always boasts a unique texture. Whether it’s the mesmerizing lines of River Red Gum or the calming straight lines of Camphor Laurel, you can pick any pattern you like. And no matter how many pieces of wood you look at, you’ll never find the exact same grain. Trees were, at the end of the day, living beings and no two are alike.
Easy to Maintain
Given that your Australian wooden furniture has a proper finish, you don’t have to invest a lot of effort into cleaning it. Just buy a quality wood cleaner and scrub the surfaces once every 3-4 days. This will not only make your tables last longer, but it’ll also look brand new even if you’re constantly putting coldies on them.
Make sure you wipe any liquids or dust from the surface as soon as possible. While quality finishes help the water just slide off, but prolonged exposure to any sort of liquid may cause damage. It’s also okay to put hot stuff on wooden surfaces, but not without a coaster.
And that’s basically it when it comes to maintaining wood. Metal experiences rust, plastics are notoriously fickle, while other materials don’t have other advantages that would account for their ease of maintenance.
It Can Be Customised
Perhaps the most underrated benefit of Australian wood furniture is the fact that it comes in all shapes and sizes. Wood is relatively easy to work with, so craftsmen can create chairs, tables, and other things that fit your exact needs.
And it just so happens to be that custom-made wood furniture is our specialty over at Naturally Timber. Even though we do offer pre-made collections from time to time, our biggest passion is catering to the specific needs of our customers. Whether it’s your home or your office, our experienced woodworkers will transform the room with just a single piece. If you want to see how that can happen, contact us and book a quote. It’s the first step in turning timber into magic.