Solid Wood Furniture: A Perk.

These days it seems people are into buying disposable furniture like Ikea or dare I say...Pottery Barn. Trying to save a few bucks on furniture in the short run will only result in you having to replace the piece in the future because furniture made from plastic, MDF (plywood) and veneers simply does not hold up over time.

There are several perks to investing in a solid wood piece of furniture. One of those perks is that the finish on a solid wood piece can be changed over time as the decorating style of your home evolves. Changing the finish on a solid wood piece of furniture can be rather easy to accomplish other than the elbow work that goes into it. A piece of furniture made from MDF (plywood) with veneers does not offer the same flexibility.

To make my point I have a little story to share about a sofa table and it's transformation over the years.

Once upon a time a rather fantastic couple had a little solid pine sofa table built for their first home. They had the piece built specifically for a small space near the front door of the tiny house. The piece was built from new pine wood and had a dark wax finish. The table featured 2 drawers, a bottom storage shelf and turned legs with the dimensions: 3' wide x 12" deep. It was such a cute little sofa table and the fantastic couple couldn't be happier with it.

Not a great picture, but out of hundreds of photos it was the only picture found of the sofa table's original look. 

As with anything in life there is change. In 2004 after 3-1/2 years in their first home the fantastic couple moved into their 2nd (current) home. The little sofa table made the move and found it's new resting spot in the family room just under a cut-out that looks in/out of the kitchen. It was the perfect spot for the sofa table, but the color of the piece seemed to blend in with the Tobacco Road paint color on the walls. Can you say boring?! The solution was to paint the piece the same sage green color as the kitchen to help give the room a nice burst of color. 

The sofa table's new look for the new house... 

The sofa table was lightly sanded with a fine grit sandpaper (220) and then the entire piece was painted. From there it was lightly sanded again to give it an aged look and then rewaxed with a product called Flag Wax.

Now, let's fast forward this story to the Spring of 2012 when the fantastic couple decided their kitchen and powder room needed a facelift, which ultimately led to the little sofa table getting another new look. Since there was so much paint left over after adding white stripes to their black powder room the couple put the paint to good use by repainting their sofa table yet again. Wanting something funky and fun they decided to not only repaint the piece, but to add chevron stripes! 

The most current look of the little sofa table that was bought so many years ago by the fantastic and can I add good looking couple...

To achieve the look the sofa table was lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper, painted white, taped for the chevron stripes, lightly sanded again after painting the stripes and then rewaxed. 

If you would like to see more steps on how the chevron stripes were painted click here:  Chevron Stripes

The End!

The moral of the story: 

Be fantastic and don't invest in throw away furniture...

invest in furniture that will last and can change as you change.

One final note: It is much "easier" to repaint a solid wood piece of furniture than it is to completely change a stained solid wood piece of furniture. If your heart is set on completely changing the stain color on solid wood furniture know that you have your work cut out for you as the piece has to be stripped/sanded completely down to bare wood. It's not impossible to do, but it does involve a whole lot of work. 
Our suggestion is to go with a painted finish!