The recent surge of people embracing ecofriendly practices and products has led to a resurgence of interest in wood furniture. Many people would prefer to buy handsome and well-crafted wood furniture rather than prefabricated plastic pieces. Many younger people have also been taking up woodworking as a hobby.
When you want to decorate your home, you should consider using not just any ordinary wood furniture but dark wood furniture instead. This type of furniture can be just the thing you need to make your home as elegant as you want it to be.
Today, learn the different types of dark wood furniture, why you should use them and how can you maintain them.
Types of Dark Wood Furniture
There are many types of dark wood furniture, and almost all of them are hardwoods. This means that they are more fire-resistant than softwoods and many times more durable.
The following tree species are some of the most common types of dark wood used in furniture construction.
- Ebony
Ebony wood has a lovely, rich dark hue that highlights is expensiveness. Dark wood bedroom furniture made of ebony tends to be heavier because the wood itself is incredibly dense compared to similar types of furnishing. The heartwood of the tree is colored and unbelievable jet black. The interlocking grain of the trees also make furniture made from ebony to shine. Unlike reclaimed wood furniture, ebony pieces are resistance to insect infestation and from termites.
- Walnut
Walnut dark wood furniture has a rich earthy color, like very dark chocolate. This spectrum of rich, deep earthy colors is one of the reason walnut wood is highly sought after for office furnishing. The structure of a walnut tree’s cells also ensures that the wood is dense and provides a measure of shock resistance. This means that it can take impacts and drops well. Finally, unlike ebony, walnut still shows surprising bending abilities, meaning it can be shaped in to curved chairs and the like.
- Mahogany
Mahogany is still a dark wood, but its heartwood is colored not a glossy black or a deep brown but in a rich reddish hue. Mahogany furniture is very expensive because it is quire rare and there is only one species of true mahogany left. Just like most hardwoods, mahogany wood is resistant to decay from water and from insect attack. Its reddish hue also deepens in time, making it glow after being treated.
Why Use Dark Wood Furniture?
Dark wood is an incredible material, not only because of their appearance but also their various enhanced properties. If you are still on the fence about using dark wood living room furniture in your house, here are some compelling reasons you should know about.
- Increases Elegance
Dark wood furniture looks and feels a lot more sophisticated than softwood counterparts. The material lends weight to any room’s ambience that no reclaimed wood furniture can ever hope to emulate. The way these types of furniture are also constructed feature clean lines and minimalistic cuts that enhance their simple beauty.
- Complements Colors
Dark wood can be the right hues to ensure you maintain a consistent color scheme in every room of your house. If your living room is heavily inspired by somber Victorian design aesthetics, it may have deep green wallpaper and burgundy carpeting. Your dark wood living room furniture will fit right in and highlight the deep colors you put in the area.
- Contrasting Pieces
The right dark wood piece can highlight the brighter color schemes in the room you put them in. For example, if your bedroom uses rich yellows, subtle golds and creams, think of how dramatic the dark wood bedroom furniture would look surrounded by these light colors? It can also make a space that’s full of white and off-white colors look less sterile and more sophisticated.
- Lasts Longer
Finally, dark wood furniture tends to have properties that ensures they last longer than other types of furnishing. They are resistant to insect attack, ensuring you don’t have much to worry about from wood weevils and termites. They don’t decay as quickly or as bad as softwoods. With proper maintenances and care, items made of dark wood can last for years if not decades.
How to Maintain Dark Wood Furniture?
If you haven’t owned dark wood furniture before, you may be wondering how you can maintain them to ensure they last a long time.
Here are a few essentials tips on how to clean wood furniture.
- Use Natural Cleaners
Even with their finishing varnish and similar protective coating, you should avoid using synthetic chemical cleaners when polishing your dark wood furniture. Instead, use substances like white vinegar, lemon oil and similar chemicals. These will remove stains and leave pleasant odors without damaging the wood.
- Dust Before Cleaning
You must dust your wood furniture often to ensure they retain their shine. Dust can fill up the handsome fine grains of the wood, obscuring their natural beauty. Use clean rags to carefully remove dust and debris from your wood furniture before using any cleaners.
- Avoid Abrasions
Abrasive materials can scuff up your wood furniture’s lovely finish and remove their beautiful shine. Don’t use scrubs or brushes when cleaning your wood pieces. Instead, wet and clean rags will do the job just fine.
- Use Coasters
Water stains can ruin the surface of your favorite dark wood furniture as surely as using steel wool. These stains typically come from people putting their wet glasses on top of the furniture without protection. Ensure that you leave an ample supply of coasters nearby to prevent water stains.
- Apply Wax
You can ensure that your furnishing retain their lovely shine and hue by regularly applying furniture wax. This keeps harmful substances from staining or damaging the wood and prevents moisture from slowly decaying the wood. Dark wood furniture pieces make lovely additions to almost every home. This information can help you understand how best to integrate them with your décor and make sure they last you for years to come.
