Why You Should Choose Oak Furniture!

With its golden look and heavyweight, Oak furniture brings a large price tag but its benefits are worth their weight in gold! While it may be appealing to go for cheaper alternatives, oak furniture should be considered an investment rather than ‘just a purchase’ as this blog article covers the various benefits of choosing oak furniture over other styles!

Durability

Notice how before we said that “oak furniture should be considered an investment”? We weren’t kidding when we said that, oak furniture is built to last! If you look for a high-quality piece with features such as dovetail joining in the drawers and mortise and tenon back paneling, then expect that piece to last for years to come.

When it comes to furniture, the amount you pay should always reflect how long you should expect the unit to last. If you paid only $100 for a TV unit, expect it to start breaking down in a couple of years whereas if you spent $800 for a TV unit that unit will last for many decades let alone years.

Looks

While it might be appealing to go for that flashy desk made from cheap wood, those looks will quickly go once the unit starts deteriorating. Most cheap furniture is made from MDF and only achieves its looks by using ‘wood-style’ decals on each surface area. But after some use, these decals peel and rip revealing the ‘true’ look of the wood underneath. 

However, an oak desk will always look great since the manufacturers know it’s designed to last. Often times oak desks will be styled in a ‘traditional’ look that while a bit plain, means that the desk will always look great, no matter the room, lighting, setup, or placement.

Maintenance

Great looks will always be appealing, an elegant black glass table can really become a showpiece of whatever room it’s part of. However, this elegance can quickly be cut short in only a couple days once the table accumulates some dust, now you have imprints of whatever was placed on the table before the dust collected. This isn’t also mentioning the accumulated fingerprints and skin markings from use, you best stock up with the glass cleaner because you’re going to be cleaning this table a lot!

But if you chose to purchase an oak table, however, the most cleaning you’ll have to do is the occasional dust when you notice it. The obvious rebuttal here would be cleaning water marks left behind from un-coastered cups, but the great thing about wood furniture is this can quickly be remedied with a bit of varnish and elbow grease. Furthermore, we’ve never heard of an oak table shattering because it was left in the sun for too long, just saying.

Customization

The other great thing about Oak furniture is its ability to be tweaked to the owner's liking! With either a bit of know-how and some DIY-knowledge or giving a call to a professional, you can quickly alter the looks for your needs. Want a darker stain on your golden-Oak coffee table? Just give the table a light sanding and apply a different stain! Not a fan of the handles it shipped with? Just take a trip to the hardware store and get some new ones (granted they fit the holes left behind or you have some filler).

In more destructive customizations, you can quickly add engravings and bevels if that’s something you’d like or adjust the height of your desk if it’s just a little too high. We’ll obviously recommend purchasing the perfect unit before you consider the above, but the fact that it’s an option is the benefit of oak!

Resell value!

For whatever reason, you might have to sell a piece of oak furniture, be at ease knowing that you’ll be able to recoup some of your cost when the time comes to hand it over. Due to the above reasons to buy oak furniture, oak furniture is able to hold its value since it is so desirable. While you might not get that original $800 you bought the unit for, you can quickly sell the unit for $100 on Facebook marketplace guaranteed. Compared to cheaper wood furniture, especially MDF, oak holds its value far more as it will have a life span far longer than other pieces of furniture!

It’s eco-friendly!

Oak is a slow-growing wood, and as such is grown on controlled plantations with each tree being used for a purpose. Since oak furniture is also easily available second-hand, that also means one less dining suite to the landfill once it’s no longer in need. It’s also more fire-resistant than most woods, so in the instance that your house catches fire and leaves your invaluable oak sideboard a bit charred, by sending it to a quality restorer you can rest assured that your piece will return like new with a bit of TLC.

Oak furniture is designed to avoid the landfill at all costs, and with its great looks and build quality, you’ll have no reasons outside of personal to ever consider throwing one of these pieces out!

Conclusion

If your budget allows for it, an Oak piece of furniture will always be a great investment! Its high build quality, great looks, and low maintenance make them excellent for taking up permanent residency in your home. Whether it’s a TV unit, chest of drawers, or even a bed frame, oak furniture will never fail you in your day-to-day living. Then when the time comes to pass the piece on, either to a relative, offspring, or internet stranger, rest assured they won’t be calling back anytime soon to complain that it’s broken on them unexpectedly!

FAQ

I can’t afford Oak furniture, what’s my next best alternative?

As a luxurious and long-lasting material, Oak brings a heavy price. As such, for those on a budget a good piece of soft-wood furniture made from Pine can bring amazing value. A good pine unit can bring a lot of the great build quality of an Oak unit but for a fraction of the cost! 

As such, we would say that for furniture you always get what you pay for! So if you want a long-lasting piece of furniture, the more you pay should generally equal how long the piece will last. So skip the budget $100 MDF rubbish if you want to get your money’s worth!

Where can I find Oak furniture?

If you’re in New Zealand and looking for oak furniture, then we know just the people to go to for quality oak furniture. Outside of New Zealand however, we would definitely recommend going for your brick-and-mortar furniture stores compared to your big box Ikeas and Wal-marts. Talk to the staff there and figure out how they get the furniture/ how it’s made, if they can give a definite answer then you’re in luck!

For those looking for second-hand deals, Facebook Marketplace and other online buy-and-sell services such as eBay and Trademe are great for finding absolute steals from people who are moving house and simply want the piece gone! You can also try local thrift shops and donation centers to see what they have available, however, the prices at these places can vary wildly and may not match the actual quality of the piece!