Whilst there is a huge selection of wooden furniture on the market these days, the wood that is most sought after is oak. So the question has to be asked: why oak? To answer that seemingly simple question we need to ask several others.
What influences us when choosing oak furniture?
It may seem obvious, but when deciding on what wooden furniture we want in our home, the first thing we think of is appearance. Oak furniture has a universal appeal that few other materials can match.
For example, there are those who see mahogany furniture as the height of opulence, but others don’t like it. This is probably because of it’s striking colour and generally grand designs.
Other people love the rustic appeal of dark mango furniture. But again, whilst it is undoubtedly beautiful furniture, it’s the sort of finish that appeals to those with a more exotic and adventurous pallet. Oak furniture seems to transcend this, but retains its luxurious charm.
Oak Bedroom Furniture
Is oak furniture is more than just a pretty face?
The grain of real solid oak, with its subtle variegation that hinges around a distinctive sumptuous light golden colour, is not just a thing of beauty. The tightness of the grain is a clue to its strength and durability. It also means that it can be worked into intricate forms without causing weakness.
Again, these intricate details needn’t be purely decorative. A feature of truly high quality wooden furniture is the use of hand crafted dovetail joints. Usually hidden away in drawers, these joints are traditionally very strong, and can only be made using high quality wood. Oak is perfect for this kind of joinery.
Is oak furniture easy to live with?
In a word, yes. In fact, as long as you steer clear of poor quality furniture (which is built using oak veneers, not solid oak), then you will find oak furniture is one of the easiest types of furniture to care for.
Simply dust your oak furniture without using spray cleaning products (these will crack the timber), and give it a light coat of Danish oil every so often and you don’t have to do anything else at all! Simple.
Oak furniture at Oak Furniture Land
As the name suggests, at Oak Furniture Land we have built a company around oak furniture. With hundreds of items in many different styles, and over 20 years experience in the UK furniture industry you can be confident that you are getting high quality furniture, backed up with our extensive specialist knowledge and superior customer service.
The Cotswolds have a rich history of design, especially in the fields of Cotswold furniture, arts and crafts. Inspiration is said to be due to the stunning scenery and beautiful architecture of the area. There is one person who should also be given credit for the reputation of high quality Cotswold furniture: Ernest Gimson (1864 – 1919).
The Forefathers of Cotswold Furniture
Modern Cotswold furniture owes much to Ernest Gimson, as he helped kick-start the movement. Born in Leicester and trained as an architect, he moved to the Cotswolds in his early thirties “to live near nature” where it is said his creative stimulation was at its highest.
After a brief stay work took his to Somerset, but it wasn’t long before he moved back to Cirencester in Gloucestershire where he set up a Cotswold furniture workshop to indulge in his true passion of Cotswold furniture design. This Cotswold furniture was hand crafted from solid hardwood by highly skilled craftsmen under the renowned cabinet-maker, Peter van der Waals.
Painted Solid Oak
Cotswold Furniture
Cotswold Furniture has an Exceptional Reputation
The Cotswold furniture that he designed in this time was highly structural and obviously drew on his architectural experience. A reputation quickly grew that Cotswold furniture was strong, well crafted, high quality and attractive. This reputation lasts to this day with original pieces fetching thousands of pounds at antique auctions.
Oak Furniture Land Continues the Cotswold Furniture Standards
Oak Furniture Land is based very close to where Ernest Gimson set up his Cotswold furniture workshop. Our designers are influenced by the same idyllic scenery and the history of the Cotswold furniture industry. We use this to blend Cotswold furniture traditions with other international and modern designs to create a vast choice of unique designs and ranges.
The legacy of beautiful, sturdy, high quality hand crafted Cotswold furniture runs through the company and our staff.
The tub chair has a longer history than you may think
In the first of this two-part special on tub chairs we looked at the place a tub chair can hold in your house, in this second part we look a the place tub chairs hold in furniture history.
What put the Tub in Tub Chair?
There are various theories about the origin of the name tub chair. One popular belief is that it came from the shape of the tub chair itself being like a bath tub.
However, the term bath tub is chiefly American, and as the original tub chairs hail from Europe it is far more likely that the name tub chair is actually a variation of the name club chair.
The term club chair came directly from its most popular usage – in the gentlemen’s clubs of northern Europe. The shape and style of the tub chair leant itself well to the relaxing nature of these establishments, and the tub chair is still a staple part of the scenery in many golf clubs and hotel lounges.
Tub Chairs – Luxury from The Ruling Classes to Your Home
The general design of the tub chair has been around for hundreds of years, but only as a wooden frame without upholstery. It’s strange to think that up until well into the 17th Century upholstered chairs were only generally available to the upper classes, so it was only the master craftsmen who were initially manufacturing what we would recognise today as a tub chair.
Over the years tub chairs have been made from countless materials in a whole variety of colours, however, the highest quality tub chairs are those that are hand made using real leather over a solid oak frame – just like the best antiques that now sell for tens of thousands of pounds.
Tub Chairs in a Golf Club
Tub Chairs at Oak Furniture Land
At Oak Furniture Land our tub chairs are the modern day alternative to buying expensive antiques. Our tub chairs a hand crafted from A-grade solid oak and top quality leather, as well as deep, cosy padding that brings you the same luxury as an antique tub chair at a fraction of the cost.
We also sell leather care kits that make it easy for you to keep your tub chairs in perfect condition for years to come.
Mirrors are all too easy to overlook when it comes to furnishing a room.
The possibilities of mirrors throughout the home should never be underestimated.
There are, of course, the practical uses for mirrors – most especially in the bathroom, where virtually everyone has a mirror. Many people have a mirror on a dressing table as part of your bedroom furniture for applying makeup and a mirror in the hallway. All of these applications for mirrors could be seen as purely practical. However, when you look at them from a home decor point of view you will notice the benefits mirrors have in their given rooms, and apply that to the rest of your home.
Mirrors – simple mind control!
Mirrors and Space
Of course, you may just want to use it to look at yourself in, but the use of mirrors around the house is also a wonderful way of creating the illusion of space.
Obviously, unless you’re standing directly in front of a mirror the reflection you’re seeing is a general image of the room, and when the eye is drawn away from the mirror this image is perceived by the brain as being just another part of the room, which in turn makes your subconciuos think that the room is larger than it is.
Mirrors and Light
Another great way of using the natural properties of mirrors is to throw light into dark spaces of your home.
How many of us have at least one room in the house that has a dull corner where the natural light struggles to reach? You can’t even liven it up with a vase of flowers! I’d say most of us.
One way of reinvigorating it is to put a lamp in there. This then takes up space and you end up illuminating an area of limited use, even during the day. You also need to run mains power there if there isn’t any already. This is not only a poor solution, but it’s not very environmentally friendly either!
By far the simpler solution is to hang a mirror so that the ambient light from the rest of the room is reflected into the dreary area. The mirror will give you a more balanced feel to the room and make it look bigger at the same time.
A nifty way of softening this effect is to put a small, leafy pot plat directly in front of the mirror, making the plant seem bigger than it is whilst also shedding a little dappled shade at floor level.
These are great tricks that interior designers use all the time, and are well worth remembering if you’re selling your house.
Buy Mirrors at Oak Furnitureland
The New Year has seen the introduction of a whole new selection of mirrors at Oak Furniture Land. With a wide variety of solid oak mirrors and solid mahogany mirrors in various sizes to choose from, you’re sure to find the ideal finishing touch to your room.
