If you’re serious about working from a home office, you probably won’t have much success doing your work from your kitchen table or in the corner of your living room. You need a dedicated area to work in and most people will get an unused bedroom or even divide part of the garage. But you’ll need more than just a room. You’re going to need furniture too.
When we start our home office, we usually buy the standard hardboard desks or even take an old table and chair as a desk. However, after a while, you may want to go for quality real wood office furniture. But even wooden furniture varies in quality and there are some tips to know when buying this type of office furniture.
Tip 1: Quality wooden office furniture should feel solid and heavy.
The first thing to keep in mind is that quality wood furniture should feel solid and heavy. Good wood will be solid. You will be able to feel the solidity. And along with solidity goes weight. Just like closing the car door of a luxury car. It has a different feel and different sound than a cheap economy car.
Tip 2: Drawers in wooden home office desks and filing cabinets should glide smoothly.
You will be able to tell the quality of the craftsmanship if the drawers slide in and out smoothly and without sticking. Another thing to consider when it comes to drawers is how easily you can remove them and put them back on their guides. Many times they are easy to remove but very difficult to put back on the sliders. If they seem to stick together, there could be problems later with the liner coming off.
Tip 3: Consider veneering over the solid wood core.
When you start shopping for wooden furniture, you may want to go for the pure solid wood type. But there are also types of furniture that have a solid wood core with wood veneer on the surface. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, with solid wood office furniture, if it gets scratched and water stained over the years, it’s very easy to remove, sand, and restore. It is very difficult to do the same with wood veneer.
With wood furniture covered in wood veneer, you actually get a stronger product. Many people mistakenly think that veneered wood furniture is inferior, but this is actually not the case. The veneer is bonded to the surface of the solid wood core with an adhesive used in the shipbuilding and aircraft industries, making it also very strong and waterproof. Also, the veneer is made from the finest wood grain material and can be very elegant.
Tip 4: Consider the substrate for wood home office furniture.
The substrate is the core material of the desktop. In other words, it is the material under the veneer. On wooden furniture, the substrate could be plywood. Plywood is nothing more than thin sheets of wood glued together. Just take the time to make sure the substrate is of a good quality and find out exactly what kind of wood it is.
Tip 5 – You still need to consider utility.
Even though we are looking for the best wooden home office furniture in terms of looks and durability, we still have to keep in mind the usefulness of it. File cabinets must have metal locks. If you need a wooden home office desk to be used with a computer, make sure the computer can be mounted inside the desk. If you still have to place your computer on the floor, then you’re not getting the utility you need from your wooden home office furniture.
Tip 6: Check the height and leveling adjustments on the furniture.
The leveling adjustment is especially important. Some wooden furniture will have a tendency to warp if the floor is not level, for example. Therefore, the legs must have some type of hardware that allows a level state to be achieved for the piece of furniture. Believe it or not, but if the floor isn’t level (which is common in older houses and buildings), the frame of the cabinet will try to level itself by warping and you could end up with stuck desk drawers. Also, when greeting a customer, they will see a ‘shabby’ appearance. Think about how light looks when it reflects off a nice desk.
Tip 7 – If you are dealing with wooden computer office furniture, make sure you can hide the cables.
Wood is great for allowing the ability to create routing guides and access holes to be able to hide power supply and computer cables. So unless you want to keep those unsightly cables in plain sight, make sure your wooden home office furniture has them.
Tip 8: Do not judge the quality of the furniture by the joints of the drawers.
It used to be that the dovetail joints or pins used to assemble drawers were an indication of high quality. They are still a high quality indication and are much better than staples or nails for joining angles. But don’t just use that standard to judge quality. Today there are highly advanced adhesives and pneumatically drilled staples that provide the same quality of bonding but cost less to manufacture.
Tip 9: Evaluate local climate and environmental controls.
When the wood is cut and dried, there is still a trace of water left on it. Take a look at the weather in the area where you live. If you live in a dry climate, the wood will tend to dry out and shrink. There is no way to really know the water content of the wood, but be prepared to stabilize the effects of weather on the wood. Drier climates can use evaporative coolers to keep the wood in the home and in humid climates, refrigerated air and dehumidifiers can be used to prevent the wood from absorbing too much moisture and swelling.
Your home office wood furniture will last you for many years if you buy high-quality furniture.