One of the more popular types of wood for building furniture is oak.  I grew up living next woods that were filled with old growth red oak trees and my Dad had a background in carpentry, so I used to hear a lot about the strength of oak and how it had been used for so long to build furniture.  I guess I was kind of dorky, but I used to walk through the woods and stare up at those trees in amazement.  It wasn't the sheer size and strength of them, it was also the fact that they were used to build so much of what we depended on every day.  Hey, I was seven or eight and we didn't have cable TV, OK?

When my wife and I started looking for bedroom furniture to put into our house after we got married, she specifically started looking for oak bedroom furniture.  I thought that was kind of neat for the reasons I just mentioned, but she just shook her head and seemed to resign herself to getting used to me as we browsed through furniture stores.

I've mentioned before that although I can appreciate contemporary furnishings, I really sort of prefer a simpler, even rustic look.  We started checking out some Amish furniture that was beautiful, but it was beyond our budget at the time.  The antique furniture we checked out was also a bit pricey, but in hindsight, we really should have gone and checked out some estate auctions to see if we could find something.  I've seen solid oak bedroom furniture go for very low prices at auctions.  I mentioned this in another post, but it bears repeating.  If you can get the furniture moved quickly, you can sometimes grab a great deal at auctions and if you go out looking for antique oak bedroom furniture in any other setting, you will probably run in to some people asking a hefty price for furniture that people were trying to get cleared out at an estate sale.

Oak furniture has been popular since man first realized its wonderful properties.  It is a heavy, dense wood and it is also quite strong.  All characteristics that you would like for a piece of furniture.  It has a beautiful grain and takes well to having relatively intricate details carved into it.  If you have ever cut wood from different types of trees, it is hard to miss the sturdiness compared to softer woods like pine.  If you decide to look for solid oak bedroom furniture or any other type of oak furniture, be certain that you are getting what you pay for.  Solid oak is heavier than oak veneer, which is other types of wood with an oak finish on the outside.

Actually, when we started looking, I expected the prices of oak bedroom furniture to be pretty expensive.  I was surprised to find that they actually compared well with similar pine bedroom furniture.  If you are in a position like we were of not having a whole lot of money to work with, you might want to consider looking for used furniture or for unfinished oak furniture as an alternative.  It is up to you and your budget but I figure that bedroom furniture is one of those things that most people intend to hold on to for a while.  We only recently got rid of the old bed that had been my brother's and then mine.  It was originally purchased back in the 1950s and was still in fine condition.  If you buy quality, its durability can pay for itself many times over as the years go by.

Here is a short video describing the pros and cons of different types of woods used for making furniture.