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What You Need To Know About Choosing Wood For Your Design

All it takes is a stroll through your local hardware store to realize there are numerous types of wood. However, all types aren’t ideal for all projects.

Choosing wood means thinking about your design and interior theme, wood quality, budget and how staining or painting affects the wood. Knowing your options for handcrafted furniture helps you choose the best wood for you.

With hundreds of woods available, use this guide to narrow down your choices and get your dream furniture faster.

Understanding Interior Design Themes

Before diving into the types of wood, it’s important to carefully consider your interior design theme. For instance, a contemporary design works best with a wood that holds paint well, while a rustic design should use a wood with a darker grain, which creates that more rustic style.

Plus, some themes require a lighter color wood, such as pine or white oak, while a theme like transitional often incorporates darker woods, such as cherry and mahogany. Rochele Decorating does an incredible job of explaining the different nuances of the most popular interior design themes. It’s also a good way to see which theme you like best or whether you want to get creative and mesh themes.

Pine

Pine is often a popular choice for rustic or country themes. It’s both lightweight and inexpensive. However, one problem is it dings easily. It does hold paint well, so it’s perfect for contemporary themes too.

Oak

Oak is often used for custom furniture that’s prone to abuse as it’s a solid hardwood. Plus, the natural grain looks beautiful in almost every design. Red oak has a darker tone, while white oak offers a brighter counterpart. It is slightly difficult to stain due to the darker grain, which creates an odd two-tone color you might not want.

Maple

Maple is ideal for themes that require a brighter wood. The white hardwood is even harder than oak, which makes it ideal for frequently used furniture, such as cabinets and dressers. It’s a budget-friendly wood that holds stain well. Many people actually use a darker stain to make it seem like a more expensive wood.

Cherry

Cherry is often sought out due to its beautiful reddish brown color. It’s perfect for more elegant furniture, such as carved chairs. It is one of the more expensive woods, which means it’s usually used to create centerpiece style furniture or heirloom pieces.

Cedar

Cedar works well with most any theme. It’s a softer wood that works perfectly with stain or paint. It’s also naturally resistant to rot, so it lasts longer. Most people prefer it for chests and closets due to its natural scent that repels insects.

Walnut

Walnut is often used to in interior designs that require dark furniture. Contemporary and mid-century modern may feature walnut furniture. The dark streaks stand out, making any project look stunning. However, it is one of the more expensive types of wood.

Ash

Ash tends to bend easily, which is why it’s often used in furniture parts. Despite being a hardwood, it’s easy to work with. Plus, the color varies from a light white to a reddish brown. It’s not widely used, but it’s moderately priced and serves as an alternative to more expensive woods.

Birch

Birch is considered maple’s more expensive counterpart. The two have a similar look. It’s best for lighter themes, such as Scandinavian styles. Much like maple, it’s easy to customize with stain.

Sycamore

Sycamore is a moderately priced wood, which makes it popular for all types of furniture. It’s most often used in less expensive furniture designs. The natural pink to red tint makes it ideal for a wide variety of styles. Darker reds work well with a French country style.

Mahogany

Mahogany isn’t a budget-friendly wood and as such, is typically used for fine furniture only. The deep brown and reds create beautiful pieces. Much like sycamore, it would work well for a French country style or as a standout piece in a transitional theme. It’s a durable hardwood that’s made to last, so it works well for any furniture you’d love to pass down to later generations.

Elm

Elm stands out for having noticeable light and dark areas. It would fit perfectly in a shabby chic style. Due to its popularity, it’s become harder to find. This makes it a more expensive choice.

Are you considering using any of these woods for your cabinets, hutch or library shelving? Contact us today to find out which works best for your dream design.

Image: Stefan Cosma

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prepping you kitchen for most money at resale-edgewood cabinetry-raleigh nc

Prepping Your Kitchen for the Most Money at Resale

If you’re getting ready to sell your home, you may already know that a really great kitchen can help ‘seal the deal’.

But how do you get that great kitchen without investing a lot of money, time, and effort into a home you’re leaving behind?

To help you get your home sold, we’ve rounded up some quick, easy ideas that can update your kitchen and give it a fresh look. Make a list of the changes you want to make in your kitchen and then prioritize your list according to what’s needed most, your budget, and your timeline.

Do your research

It’s a good idea to know what buyers in your area are looking for and what your competition looks like. Devote a little weekend time to visiting open houses in your area. Who knows? You might get some great ideas for your house!

Break out the paint rollers

A fresh coat of paint does wonder for making your kitchen look fresh and new. Just make sure that you properly prep your surfaces before painting. Fill and sand all nicks and holes or your fresh paint won’t look so fresh!

Choose low VOC paint. Its lack of odor won’t bother home buyers who might be sensitive – and it won’t have people guessing what you’re trying to cover up!

Upgrade the lighting

Add lighting wherever you can or at least upgrade old light fixtures. Brushed stainless steel and nickel are popular choices for many buyers.

Remove or replace window coverings

Take down window treatments and leave them off if you can. If you need something for privacy, choose something light and minimalist. It’s important to bring as much natural light as possible into the kitchen.

Add a new backsplash

Invest in glass, mirror, or metal tiles for a modern looking backsplash that bounces light around the room.

Change your kitchen hardware

Replacing cabinet hardware, switch plates, etc. is one of the most cost-effective changes you can make. This article has tips for choosing new cabinet hardware and you can find installation instructions here.

Add at least one power outlet with USB ports

Replace at least one regular outlet with an outlet that has built-in USB ports. They’re easy to install and are especially popular with younger buyers.

Just don’t install it near a sink, stove or baking station; water, grease, and flour don’t play well with electronics!

Clear off those counters

Clutter makes counters look smaller and indicates there might not be enough cabinet storage. Don’t scare away potential buyers by letting them think there’s not enough room for their kitchen items. Remember, less is more.

This is a great opportunity to start packing and the more you pack now, the less you’ll need to do later!

Add storage

If you don’t have a pantry, it’s time to create one! There are many options available for adding extra storage to your kitchen or making it more convenient. Remember, buyers need to be able to picture their stuff in your kitchen. Don’t cram your newly organized cabinets – keep them looking as spacious as possible.

Keep it smelling fresh

If you can, leave a window open to let in fresh air. Use odor neutralizers in sink cabinets and near the trash.

Pots of herbs smell nice and help buyers picture themselves cooking in your kitchen. If they can picture themselves using a kitchen, they’re more likely to remember that kitchen when it’s time to buy.

Contact us if your kitchen needs more extensive work. Our experience and expertise will let us design a kitchen that could start a bidding war!

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edgewood cabinetry

Avoid Setting Your Remodel Schedule Close to Holidays or a Planned Event

Remodeling around the holidays can be a risky endeavor when there’s always a chance a room won’t be ready in time for holiday entertaining. The last thing you ever want is to have your kitchen, family room, or bathroom torn up while having family and guests over. But that could easily happen if you don’t leave the proper amount of time needed to get the job done.

Take a look at some scenarios where a remodel requiring a set number of weeks could end up colliding with arriving guests and Christmas Day.

Remodeling the Kitchen with New Cabinetry

Adding new cabinetry to a kitchen is a frequent wish by many to give new style to a home for holiday entertaining. Building and installing custom cabinets, however, requires a set number of weeks that should never be cut close to Christmastime. When a time estimate is given, it’s best to think of the contractor’s schedule and not expect the project to be done right on Christmas Eve or Day in the fourth week.

When you go that close to a deadline, you risk having your kitchen torn up on the day your family and friends arrive for the holidays. If you want cabinets done by Christmas, your better bet is to start in November or waiting until the new year.

A New Bathroom Vanity

The same thing can happen when designing a new vanity for a bathroom. While it can bring a real advantage to a bathroom in custom design and storage space, cutting the remodel too close to Christmas can bring worse problems than the kitchen. Even if the kitchen might be the most visited part of your home, the bathroom would have to be second if not tied.

You need to allow plenty of time to get your bathroom vanity done or face a bathroom torn up when family and guests arrive. Considering you have to use that bathroom to get ready each morning, you don’t want it out of commission on Christmas Eve or Day.

Holiday Entertaining While the Remodel Takes Place

Another common occurrence is starting a four-week remodel, then throwing a large party one day after the work begins. Unless your guests are understanding about seeing things torn up in one part of your house, you don’t want to be doing holiday parties in the middle of a remodel. This could be especially bad if you’re in the middle of having shelves built for a family room or a new fireplace mantle. These are the rooms where you’ll likely be spending the most quality time after dinner.

Here at Edgewood Cabinetry, we see the above scenarios all the time around the holidays. We recommend you allow some breathing room on the scheduling so you can enjoy your remodel at least a week or two before Christmas.

At this point, it’s best you wait and contact us in the new year to get your new remodel done. Nonetheless, we’ll make sure that it’s the best decision you ever made for starting the new year off right.

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