Unfinished Bedroom Furniture

Hi, I'm thinking about getting an unfinished dresser so I can match an old bed I already have, but I wanted to know if the particular dresser I'm looking at is made out of good wood or just something junky. It's made out of white spruce. Would you say that's an okay wood? I know cherry and mahogany are really good woods for furniture, but aside from that, I'm clueless. Thanks.

White spruce is not the best furniture wood but can be acceptable. The details of contruction for the dresser are probably a better indicator of how well the piece of furniture will last.

Are the drawers made with dovetail joints? That is a sign of good construction.

Are the sides, front and back put together with mortise and tendon joints? Another sign of good construction.

Are the draw sides and bottoms made from solid wood or are they particle board, MDF or other similar material? They should be solid wood or at least good quality plywood.

2006-11-19 11:24:54 by Chrissy B

One Sunday, I decided that my bedroom just wasn't what it should be. I had a twin bed, no drawers, and not nearly enough storage space. These ...

Looking for a good quality supplier of solid hardwood (no particle board, etc.) unfinished furniture.

I would prefer American made, no imports. Chairs and tables mostly, but also casegoods (bedroom items, etc.)

Thanks.

Go to www.unfinishedfurniture.org

This will give you a listing of every major unfinished furniture manufacturer in the US, plus a great dealer locater to help you find a source near your home.

I would not recommend www.woodyou.com as most of their offerings are made in Brazil, Malaysia, Vietnam, China or Mexico. They have very little American made furniture.

2006-10-31 09:23:04 by Kyle D

I bought two sets of shelves from IKEA, and a table, which were untreated. As I am paranoid about humidity and mold I didn't want to take any chances, and I bought some sealant stuff there as well, which we applied. It was enough for one shelves and the table, so we left the other shelves for later, and so far have not got round to doing them.

When we put the gloss on, it seemed fine, but since it's dried it smells nasty. Sort of a sickly sweet and burnt smell.

Soooo, I am not really looking forward to sealing the other one, at least not with this stuff, but it looked like it was a reasonably "healthy" one.

Question then: Would be really so bad to have a set of bookshelves that are from unfinished wood? I would take care not to spill drinks or food or cream or whatever onto them, and they don't hold anything that's not bone dry. But they are obviously still in a room, where food is eaten, people sleep and hair is dried, so there will be some moisture. I guess in general I am most concerned about whether this means a happy breeding ground for molds. If it's more about the wood not looking supershiny etc, that doesn't bother me. The smell of this gloss bothers me.

Thanks!! :D

Actually, raw wood is a fine product for the home. As long as the wood was properly dried prior to being made into furniture, nothing need to be done to it. It will develop a patina as it is used and ages. For centuries, wood furniture was unfinished and served quite well.

I'd be more concerned with what you bought as a sealer. Once applied and allowed to dry, there shouldn't be any odor. Once the solvents out gas and the finish is hard, there shouldn't be any smell. Did you follow the instructions carefully when applying the sealer?

2009-03-08 07:04:33 by Jennifairy

We have a small 3-bedroom split-level "starter home". The walk-in level has a living room and a dine-in kitchen. The bottom level is a (half, by dint of the structure of the house) basement intended for use as a family room (which we use jointly as a studio and office). The unfinished sliver of the lowest level is where the washer and dryer and utilities are. There is no room in there for an ironing board.

Presently we do our clothes ironing in the spare bedroom, as there is hardly any furniture in there at this time. However, at some point that bedroom will no longer be a spare. ...Where will we then do our ironing?

I figure that I am not the only one whose house doesn't have an exclusive laundry room ample enough for an ironing board and who will/does not have a spare bedroom... If either you were in this situation or you know someone who was, please share!

Thanks in advance for your help!
Thanks, all! These were great answers and VERY helpful! I appreciate it... So hard to pick a "Best Answer", but I guess I'll have to... Know that I appreciate them all!

I understand, we have a tri-level that has a small laundry/half bathroom combo. I fold up my ironing board and store it next to the dryer and bring it out into the living room when I iron.

They do make ironing boards that have small little legs that go on a table top. I've seen people use them in their bedrooms on their beds. If you wanted to iron in the laundry area then consider one of these. You could set it on top of your dryer and iron there and then store it in the area between the dryer and a wall. Below is a link to one at Bed Bath and Beyond and it is only $9.99!!

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product. asp?order_num=-1&SKU=10213975

2008-02-15 20:42:16 by Making Of A Crown

I received a bedroom set made by Lane, manufactured 20 or 30 years ago. It is gorgeous Walnut Burl and high quality furniture. The wood itself on the inside appears to be intentionally unfinished.

There is something wrong. The smell of the wood inside is seriously off--not quite like bad perfume. It gives me toxic/allergic symptoms, like brain fog and head rush and tingling.

I know definitively that the previous owner did nothing to the wood. Perfume would never be put inside it, nor would there be a need to treat it for pests. This is either natural or something that the mfg added a few decades ago.

What could be in the wood (or, is it the wood itself--could it be walnut or cedar under the veneer/inside)?

How can I tell with which wood the furniture is made?

How is it that it did not off-gas after this time, or if cedar, does it smell weird after a couple of decades and cause physical symptoms to sensitive people?

Could it be sealed with AFM Hard Seal, for example?
It is a veneer. I am feeling pretty certain that the inside wood under the veneer is cedar, but taking it to a wood worker is a good idea. I don't think that the wood would have been left unfinished inside if it weren't cedar in this quality of furniture.

Thanks for the link. It was informative. Never thought about wood being so dangerous before. Interesting that the author states that certain woods would not even be considered for use in jewelry, I guess that is what they are making, due to their dangerous properties.
So, if it is determined to be cedar or something like it, can it be safely and effectively sealed with something like Hard Seal?

The walnut burl could very possibly be veneer. At any rate, it sounds like you could possibly have a wood allergy. I just read some statistics that 2-5% of the population have an allergy to some type of wood. That would put the numbers in the millions. The problem for you would be finding out what kind it is.

You may find a woodworkers guild member near you that might come and look at it and see if he/she could properly identify the wood. Unfortunately, if you are getting symptoms, the serious part is not the identification of the wood, but rather eliminating the furniture that is causing the problem. While it is not common, you could have an anaphylactic reaction that could possibly be fatal.

I did find one site that has a lot of information on which woods cause allergies and what chemical is responsible. I didn't find Walnut burl specifically, but I think the article could still be relevant. Other walnuts have toxic properties including black walnuts. Here's the link:

http://www.esotericbody.com/wisdom.htm

2008-05-06 21:19:37 by Tapas