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Engaging Grains
A Pennsylvania furnituremaker’s unlikely veneer combinations result in stylish pieces that have a beautiful, natural appeal.
by Lisa Whitcomb
Veneers may showcase a tree’s great grain, but it is a masterful furnituremaker’s ability to take that grain and expand upon its natural beauty using spatial designs to create something breathtaking.
Custom furniture designer and maker Lorna Secrest of Works of Wood in Pittsburgh, PA, has a natural propensity for mingling veneer species and grain patterns in her work. “I will use any species of veneer in my work. I collect samples and let my customer make the choices for the piece,” Secrest says. Since every tree is different, she very rarely builds the same thing twice, except for dining chairs.
Using Veneers Galore May Mean Veneers No More
Veneer choices, like other things in today’s society, are driven by trends in popular culture. The quest for certain ordained “species of the moment” is driven by furnituremakers who advertise, a practice that can lead to the draining of precious species, Secrest says. “There are some wood species, like quilted moabi, that I have used quite a lot in the past because of its popularity. But then the supply ran out and that is a problem,” she says.
“I can only use it [in a piece of furniture] if I find someone who still has it in stock or if another tree has been found with a really great grain pattern,” she adds. For this reason Secrest must exercise caution when showing a new customer an older veneer sample because the species may no longer be available.
Likewise, showing them photos of finished furniture pieces from previous customers can also lead to disappointment. “They want [something exactly like] it, and I have to say, ‘Well you can’t have it because the species is no longer available.”
Right now, Secrest says that wenge is a really hot veneer. “I haven’t built anything out of wenge in about 12 years. Now, everybody wants it,” she notes.
Patterning the Grains
Secrest mainly designs and builds dining sets, but will build other furniture pieces such as desks, hutches, sofas, headboards, jewelry cabinets and night stands. “We do a lot of dining tables in different species of wood. I usually get orders for tables because I take them to furniture shows, and people like them because the designs and inlays are so fancy and eye-catching,” she says.
“The veneers’ colors are often so striking that people will ask me, ‘Did you paint that?’ I think that they cannot believe that there are woods that look that pretty, especially the three-dimensional grains after they have a shine put on them. People rarely know how many veneer choices there are.”
Often, Secrest blends species in unique combinations for the overall artistic effect using color, shapes and grain patterns. One good example is her use of swirling grains of moabi veneer with the straight-grained sapele, thus creating an interesting visual experience.
“We try hard not to stain anything because the woods are so nice,” she says. She prefers to use Super Kemvar M from the Sherwin-Williams Co., either filling in the grain and polishing it to a gloss or leaving the finish as a satin.
In the past, the studio has used some pre-dyed veneers from Tabu, but they haven’t been in fashion since the 1980s. “They are dyed all the way through, so the veneers can be sanded and finished without having the dye worn away,” Secrest says. “However you must keep the piece out of direct light because some of the dye colors will fade."
Complementary Attributes
Secrest only uses non-backed veneers from Certainly Wood, available in stacks, which allows her to match other pieces of furniture for uniformity if need be. The veneers are laid up on MDF using a custom hydraulic press (see sidebar). In recent years Secrest has been using an ultra-light MDF to reduce the weight of some of her heavier, bulkier furniture pieces.
How flitches are matched depends on the overall desired effect of the final project, she says. Commonly the studio will slip-match veneer pieces, but will also book-match, box-match or use other unique patterns that complement a piece. “First I design a table’s pattern and then I try to combine the woods’ grains in ways that are different and aesthetically pleasing,” notes Secrest.
“I love using veneer because there are so many more possibilities for its use than there are for solid wood,” she says. However, Secrest says some people are turned off by the word veneer because they think that the furniture quality is not as good as if it were constructed from solid wood. She says it can be frustrating trying to convince customers about the benefits of using veneers, such as cost effectiveness and limitless design potential, not to mention that it is a forest-friendly practice.
“Veneering is the way to go because there is so little waste,” she adds. But practicalities aside, it is the stunning visual “special effects” Secrest creates with her veneers that ultimately keeps clients coming back for more.
Warburg, Will (2005). "This Old House Website". Retrieved July 25, 2005.
MDF: The Rest of the Tree
How wood scraps become a smooth, sound building material for the 21st century.
by Will Warburg
About 65 to 70 percent of a tree can be used for solid lumber, but what about the rest? In the past the answer was simple: It was burned or dumped in landfills. Today more than 95 percent of a harvested tree can be put to good use thanks in great part to the increased use of engineered wood products. Among these, medium density fiberboard, or MDF, has enjoyed remarkable success over recent years. As the MDF supplier for the Charlestown house, I'm in a good position to tell you about the material's history.
The material got its start in the United States in 1966, at a plant in upstate New York. As it became clear that making MDF offered a far better use of residual wood than disposing of it, production soared. Today there are some 27 plants in the US and Canada, and more than 100 worldwide. Recently the industry has expanded its use of recovered materials to include agricultural by-products such as wheat straw and post-consumer recycled wood.
MDF is typically made from sawdust, planer shavings and other waste that remains after a tree is milled into lumber. The wood is then cleaned and mechanically refined in a process that reduces it into fine, uniform fibers. Excess moisture is removed and an adhesive resin is added to hold the fibers together. This mix is then formed into a long, thick, homogeneous mat, which is compressed under intense heat and pressure. The resulting MDF panel is sanded to a fine, even smoothness, and cut to the required width and length. Computer-controlled sensors monitor the entire manufacturing process to measure slight variations that even the human eye cannot detect. Finished panels are tested for uniformity, strength and other structural soundness.
MDF is used extensively indoors in furniture, cabinets, doors, moldings and flooring. Like other engineered wood products, it has a distinctively flat, dense surface that holds paint well. It doesn't move like wood, so its joints stay tight and paint doesn't crack. But the glory of MDF is its uniformity; it can be machined into every conceivable shape to create architectural details such as balusters or moldings. Unlike real wood, MDF has no knots, grain or warping that can make intricate woodworking difficult. While solid wood is better suited to structural applications such as floor joists, MDF tends to be cheaper than solid wood so it's well suited to interior doors, bookcases and kitchen cabinets.
In the Charlestown house, Dan and Heather chose MDF interior doors that we custom cut to match the house's other large doors. We made and shipped the doors in only a few days, at a significantly lower cost than solid wood doors. Once the doors are treated with a faux-wood grain finish, they will have all of the benefits of MDF with the look of solid wood.
Get Comfortable!
Furniture is often the central element that anchors and defines a space. A sofa or armoire creates a focal point in a room, and can determine the other decorating choices you make. Whether it's a comfortable loveseat or an expansive dining table, our sturdy, well-built furniture only gets better with time. Each element - cushioning, seat angle, upholstery fabric and wood finish - is a personal decision, but all should come together so that your house feels like a home.
To ensure that the furniture you choose suits your needs, remember to measure the space you plan to fill, and be sure to take these measurements along when you shop. In this guide you'll find other useful information to help you select furniture that fits your style and your home.
Form + Function
Our wood furniture includes occasional, dining and bedroom pieces. Choose all of your pieces from one collection or mix with accent pieces for an eclectic look.
Occasional Furniture
Occasional collections include matching coffee, console and side tables that provide accessible storage and useful surface space for any room. A console table works well in an entryway or behind a sofa. Media cabinets and armoires neatly conceal audio equipment and TV's behind losed doors. Individual accent pieces add variety and interest to a room.
Dining Furniture
An extension table with removable leaves provides flexibility to accommodate parties of different sizes. A buffet or console table provides extra storage and serving space.
Bedroom Furniture
The material and design of your headboard or bed frame (which includes headboard and footboard) can help create different looks. Headboards or metal bed frames offer an open, airy feel, while wood bed frames add warmth to the room. For a clean, simple aesthetic, a platform bed is a good choice. Dressers, armoires and bedside tables are the most flexible pieces in the bedroom. They store clothing, blankets and TV's, and provide surface space for lamps and books.
Dressers, armoires and bedside tables are the most flexible pieces in the bedroom. They store clothing, blankets and TV's, and provide surface space for lamps and books.
Finishing Touches
When deciding on the style of your furniture, you will also want to consider the finish. The finish you select will have a large impact on the overall feel of the piece and your room. Wenge Veneer, the deepest of our wood stains, its rich hue lends an air of sophistication to furnishings and makes a room feel chic and modern.
Burney, Kim & Fair, Maria (2005). "Denver Business Journal". Retrieved July 28, 2005.
Lofty expectations: Tips for decorating these unique spaces
by Kim Burney & Maria Fair
Loft living is catching on, but knowing how to blend traditional and modern styles to create the ideal interior loft space can be tricky. Decorating a loft takes a different flair than decorating a traditional home.
Today's lofts present architectural features such as concrete floors, exposed piping and brick, among others, that add interest to a home but can also add challenges when decorating. Not dealt with well, a loft's décor can sometimes compete with its architectural features.
But decorating a loft also has great benefits. Designers can play with many styles and are able to mix in pieces from several genres. A loft's unique character lends well to "out-of-the-box" design. There are also fewer rules than there are with a traditional home, which makes the process entirely creative and reflective of the owner's spirit and style.
Define your "rooms." Most lofts have very open floor plans that often include only one great room in addition to the bedroom and bathrooms. This can be both a pro and a con. Openness allows the resident to be creative and customize the area to his or her needs. On the flipside, it can be intimidating and challenging to decide exactly how to use your space and where to create "rooms."
Therefore, the first step in decorating is to determine the function of the space. How will you use it?
Walk around the loft and decide the best areas for working, living and entertaining. Once you've devised a space, plan. It's easy to divide the open areas into "rooms" through the placement of partitions, large pieces of furniture or area rugs.
Maximize your space -- even the most posh lofts are typically smaller than a traditional high-end home. This means the owner has to maximize the use of space and give the home enough storage room without letting it look cluttered or, on the opposite end, cold. One way to do this is by using furniture that doubles as storage.
Ottomans that lift up into file drawers and trunks used as coffee tables are very loft-friendly. Armoires and vintage cabinets are also perfect ways to add character to a loft's interior while creating additional storage options.
If your loft has a very industrial feel to it, contemporary interiors work well. Sleek pieces with defined shapes play nicely off industrial architectural elements like exposed piping and concrete walls or floors.
Paying attention to the materials used in your décor is critical, too. Combining wood, glass, chrome and stainless steel creates an interesting look that blends nicely in an industrial-themed loft.
However, some lofts have a more vintage, warm feeling. These spaces are typically found in older, refurbished buildings. They are known for their exposed brick, decorative moldings and gorgeous columns. All of these elements give great character to a loft and can enhance a room's interior décor.
In older loft spaces, contemporary furnishings might not be the only, or even the right option. Think about incorporating turn-of-the-century antiques or even re-productions. Feminine, glass chandeliers can be prefect in an older loft. Hand-carved chests and rich upholstery on furniture with curved lines also work well to play up the character of the space.
Have fun with your art. The high ceilings and large windows that often adorn a loft make them perfect homes for all kinds of art. Don't let a particular style or genre dictate your selection; have fun with your art collection and choose pieces that you love.
Contemporary or traditional, paintings or prints, the art in a loft can give it an intense amount of personality. If gallery-type art is not your thing, you can think beyond the obvious and use vintage ads or movie posters to give your walls punch.
Let in the light. Suspended lamps can be a fun way to integrate a high ceiling into the room's décor. It is important, though, to have a good mix of up and down lighting so that the flow is balanced. Canister lights are also very effective in a loft area.
At the end of the day, create a space that you find comforting and inspiring: The beauty of loft living is that one size never fits all. And one style shouldn't either.
Measure Your Space
How To Measure Your Room
Before choosing furniture, consider the windows, closets, heating vents and electrical outlets in the room. Does a door open into the space? What about lighting - will you use table lamps, or would floor lamps work better? Next, measure the perimeter of the room and draw a simple floor plan to plot your furniture placement.
In addition to each room's standard furnishings, you'll want to plan for other items such as armoires, ottomans and accent tables. Don't forget the details. A bench at the end of the bed or extra storage can make a difference in any room.
How To Measure For Delivery
Once you've determined that your new furniture will fit your space, it is important that it can be delivered through all entryways, elevators and up all stairways.
Follow these simple guidelines to help ensure an efficient delivery:
Measure the height and width of your entryways, including elevator doors and interiors.
Measure the furniture to be delivered and determine if it can go straight through entryways or if it will have to go in at an angle or on end.
For upholstered furniture, such as sofas and chairs, measure the overall length, depth, back height and diagonal depth. Diagonal depth is helpful when determining if the piece can be brought in on end. To determine the diagonal depth, measure from the top of the back to the front of the arm. Find the mid-point of that measurement and measure from the mid-point to the lower back leg.
For wood furniture, such as armoires and bookcases, measure the overall height, width and depth. Diagonal height (from top left corner to bottom right corner) is helpful when determining if the piece can be brought in on a tilt.
Make sure that there is a clear and unobstructed path in front of and beyond each doorway. Make note of any fixtures, decorative moldings, interior walls, ceiling heights, stairwells and banisters that may pose an obstacle once inside.
Care + Longevity
Proper care ensures a long life for your furniture. Follow these tips for easy maintenance.
- Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for proper upkeep.
- Clean spills immediately. Blotting rather than rubbing will keep the stain from spreading on wood or fabric.
- Avoid placing furniture in direct sunlight, as it can cause fading.
- To avoid damage when moving furniture, lift it rather than dragging it.
- Dust wooden furniture frequently with a clean, soft, dry, lint-free cloth.
- Never use a saturated cloth for cleaning. Moisture can get trapped in the wood and damage it.
- Wood can be affected by climate and exposure. Avoid extreme temperature fluctuations that can cause wood to shrink and expand.
- Periodically rotate cushions for a more even wear pattern.
- Clean all slipcovers at the same time to retain uniform color.
