Unfinished Furniture

When you’re young and on a limited budget, you may find yourself in the dilemma of either going into debt to furnish your home or simply doing without the furniture. This dilemma can be solved if you’re willing to do a little work yourself. Unfinished furniture costs a fraction of the department store prices and can be customized to the desired look and feel of your home. All it takes is careful selection and a little elbow grease!

Almost all home furniture is available unfinished. Bookshelves are a good case in point. If you’re a college student, you know you’ve got more books than space to store them. The trouble is, nice bookcases you’ll be proud to own for years to come are pricey, sometimes surpassing the cost of the books they shelve! One way around this is the unfinished furniture market. You can buy kits for bookcases that come in a “you assemble and finish” form. The key to gaining a piece you’ll keep for many years, indeed a lifetime, is buying a solid hardwood kit. This assures that the finished piece will stand up to the weight of books, which can be substantial, while looking elegant enough for a lawyer’s office.

These unfinished furniture bookcase kits usually include required hardware and screws, in fact everything you’ll need to assemble the bookcase. Once you’ve completed the assembly, you can use fine sandpaper to burnish the wood and prepare it for staining and oiling. You’ll find the project to be both fun and a source of pride. Your next step is a visit to your paint store or Home Improvement center, to peruse the available stains and wood oils. Hardwoods are versatile in this respect. If you plan to fill your home, eventually, with cherry wood pieces, look for a matching stain to complement your plan. If you favor oak or walnut, look for quality stains that will complement your wood. Home improvement centers usually have wood chips showing the result of a particular stain applied to various woods.

Just follow the instructions for the particular stain you’ve selected for your unfinished furniture and follow up with a good oiling. You may need a few coats of stain followed by in-between sanding and the rubbing in of oil. Your unfinished furniture will be transformed into a showpiece that no one would guess you did yourself.

Bookcases are not the only possibility in the unfinished furniture market. Night stands, toy chests, coffee tables and kitchen tables are untapped resources for those of you looking to enhance your home furnishings without breaking the bank.

Unfinished furniture can be your way to a well furnished home on a shoestring budget. Develop your scheme, in terms of desirable and attractive finishes. Apply that ingenuity and elbow grease and you’ll soon find your home filled with attractive long term pieces you’ll be happy to own a couple of decades from now!