There are stranger pastimes, honest: spending my weekends in the quest for or nurture of antique pine furniture is not only relatively tame in the scheme of things, but actually lends itself to being the perfect pursuit for restful weekends!  Intrigued?   I’m happy to share …

*     Weekends are about relaxation, right?  But many of us find it hard to relax without a purpose: for some it’s going out for retail therapy – so the purpose is shopping; whilst others relax by yomping across several states – for the combined purposes of health, fitness and enjoying the great outdoors; for others still (like me) the purpose is the hunting down the suitably priced antique pine furniture with which I wish to gradually furnish my home!

*     Popular relaxation techniques frequently include procedures that appeal to our senses: take aromatherapy, for example. If you have ever walked into an antique pine furniture suppliers outlet, you will know that the sensory effect of being in the store is astounding and has its own very therapeutic effects at the end of a busy working week.  The smell of the wood, mingling with the wax finishes which many antique items boast is a truly aromatic experience, offering both warmth and calm.   And that’s without the sensory therapy of running your hand across the glowing grain of pieces!

*      The weekend pursuit of your new ‘old’ furniture can also include the fun of identifying items that link through a particular period of history, which can actually be a relaxing way of doing a little history homework with your kids.  For example, having found the ideal antique pine chairs, it can then become a new quest to find a dining table that carries a matching barley-twist design to the legs!

*    ‘Dressing’ the items is also a fun and purposeful way to relax at the weekends.  Ambling around flea markets and thrift stores looking for the exact items to put onto the antique pine dresser can be a whole quest in itself which can be really companionable if you take others along with you.

*  Of course, not all weekends need be spent in pursuit of the perfect item – this might get boring after all! Alternative relaxation can be found in organizing the perfect backdrop for a special item: for example the new addition of an item of American antique pine furniture could be enhanced by taking inspiration from its design in making over the rest of the room – there’s a few weekend’s worth of fun there!

Lastly, if you like the ideas but find that the search for the perfect item leads to frustration, rather than relaxation, then don’t panic.  Instead, if you find the right size and shape of furniture, but as an item of antique look pine furniture rather than the real thing, you can still have fun stripping it, waxing it or distressing it, until you get the look that blends in well with your other genuine antique pine furniture, as well as giving yourself another relaxed and purposeful weekend with something really useful at the end of it!

Pine wood is an abundant natural resource and because it is so readily available, tends to cost less than other woods such as oak or mahogany. Because it is in high supply and is also sustainable as well, pine trees are not in danger of extinction and therefore, pine wood is an eco friendly material from which to create pine bedroom furniture or other home furnishings. Some of those furnishings include everyday items such as desks, dining tables and chairs, kitchen cabinetry, benches, and pine outdoor furniture to name a few. An interesting fact about pine is that the older the pine tree grows, the darker the wood it will yield and that no two trees will produce the same grain wood.

Since pine is a soft wood, as opposed to mahogany which is a hard wood, it is vulnerable to denting and scratching. However, on the upside, the soft grain of pine wood makes it excellent for carving and for designing intricate engravings. This attribute lends itself well to finely detailed pine bedroom furniture such as carvings in headboards, footboards and dressers. The soft wood of pine bedroom furniture necessitates that it be kiln dried to prevent it being warped when exposed to extreme temperature changes. To get the most life expectancy out of pine bedroom furniture, it should be waxed or coated with varnish to protect the surface.

Pine bedroom furniture is available in a diverse array of colors, textures and grains. Many manufacturers and furniture designers choose to stain pine. The technique is much like painting however the stain is much more water containing and comes in various shades of wood tones such as cherry wood or walnut. The stain is brushed on and then wiped off with a cloth leaving the desired shade behind. This process can be repeated to darken the shade as preferred.  Pine bedroom furniture in a light stain are often chosen for southwestern, country or French country décor while deeper darker stains are more suited for traditional and modern décors.

When shopping for pine bedroom furniture, start your search online where the most diverse selection is offered at often the lowest prices available. Also, be sure to check for free or very low cost shipping offers. Most online and local furniture retailers offer free delivery and set up as well. Many local furniture retailers offer online purchasing so be sure to check their websites too.

Many people nowadays prefer to buy cheap goods that look good and have famous brand names even if they do not last long. No matter what they say, not many people are actually willing to pay for good quality products that can last a lifetime. This is as true for bedroom furniture as it is for hi-tech electronics like televisions. This is why most furniture that you will find in the shops today are made of cheap plywood or fiberboard that can barely even last a decade of normal use. Pine bedroom furniture, as well as any other furniture made of real wood, are now luxury items.

Pine wood is beautiful – they have natural knots and grains. That is why branded furniture stick a veneer of pine on their outer surfaces. But beds and wardrobes made from solid planks of pine wood do not need to use such tricks to look good. Furthermore, the natural grains of the wood can be further highlighted through the use of stains. Unlike a bed made from fiberboard, there is no need to paint a bed made from pine wood. That is not to say that white-painted bedroom furniture made of pine does not look good, just that it is such a waste.

In terms of esthetics, pine wood furniture have another advantage over fiberboard furniture. While fiberboard can be molded and carved to a certain extent, there is a practical limit to how much they can be worked. That means there is a limit to how elaborately they can be decorated. Furniture made from pine does not suffer from this limitation. If you compare two beds with gothic-styling like the Victorian style side by side, the one made from solid pine is always more sophisticated and beautiful.

Visual beauty is not the only point where pine furniture trumps fiberboard furniture. Freshly cut pine releases a pleasant fragrance. This is why there is a demand for unfinished pine furniture which is sanded to a high smoothness but not waxed, varnished or painted in any way.

Like all solid wood furniture, quality pine bedroom furniture needs to be properly maintained. Even furniture made from a hardwood like oak needs proper care, what more furniture made from a softwood like pine. Pine scratches and dents more easily than oak. Pine also warps, bends, or cracks when exposed to extremes of weather. Fortunately, there are many good products on the market that can protect wood furniture – waxes, varnish, lacquer, etc. Long-time owners of pine furniture find that a good annual polishing is often good enough to keep up the good condition.

Based on this need for maintenance, one might start to think that pine is weaker than fiberboard. This is not true. The reasons for taking more care with pine furniture are that they are more expensive, and they can last so much longer than cheap fiberboard furniture. After all, when was the last time your cheap fiberboard furniture lasted more than a decade? But pine furniture can easily last two or three decades if you take care of it properly.

If you can afford the higher price tag, it makes sense to invest in pine bedroom furniture. After all, you spend one-third of your life in your bedroom. Isn’t it worthwhile to reflect this importance in the quality of your bedroom furnishings?