Choosing the Right Walnut Nightstand

Is Walnut a good choice for your bedroom?

 The History of Your Walnut Nightstand

For thousands of years the walnut tree has been chosen as a premium hardwood for furniture and high-quality woodworking. Genetic traces of the common walnut tree (Juglan Regia) Has been found between western Europe and the Balkans, and has been traced back to the stone age. In this period, cultures have used the properties of this wood in tools, doors, and as they advanced, in furniture. While there are many differing types of walnut wood, the general characteristic is the same. It is one of the best woods for when beauty has to meet strength, density and durability. Walnut is very solid, with a tight grain structure. This gives it a unique patina when worn over time, adding a classy luster to the already rich colored wood. The colors vary in the grain of the wood itself. Walnut is often characterized as having a creamy sapwood, that changes in a gradient to dark chocolate in the outer layer. These colors fade and get darker as the years go on, with any extremes in the color becoming more muted. This makes walnut furniture a good choice for stately, refined craftsmanship, matching differing environments depending on finish.

Qualities of Walnut Wood

These qualities confirm that walnut is ideal for a durable bedside tables. And, by extension, walnut nightstands. Properly cured walnut wood is resistant to moisture, making it ideal for a surface where liquid could spill. In addition, the piece will deepen with age, becoming tighter, denser and richer, increasing the heft of a given piece of furniture. On top of this, the density of the grain structure has a propensity to absorb more force. Impacts will sound a little softer with good walnut hardwood. While it is true that this is partly due to the wood's softness, and that extreme impacts will mark the surface, this is only for excessive blows. In reality, it takes more than expected to truly ruin walnut furniture. Some would even argue that dents and scrapes show that the furniture is useful, and this in turn adds character.

So, in a nutshell, walnut wood is special because of its unique collection of properties. These combinations make up for some of the  downsides of a dense, softer hardwood. While it is structurally strong and dense, it is not a very hard wood. Part of why it is so popular to craftsmen is that it is easy to shape and carve. For this reason it does not have good scratch resistance. There are only a few things a craftsman can do to make the impact resistance of walnut higher. You cannot heat treat it like metal, nor is putting a protective coating on it god for longevity. Thick coatings tend to yellow and streak over time, and in the worst cases they crack if exposed to too much sunlight. The secret to a durable walnut piece is proper heat treating and a good tongue oil finish. These steps are  usually enough to mitigate the softness of fresh walnut.

However, walnut makes up for this drawback by its strength, durability, ease of crafting, and looks. No other wood looks quite like walnut, nor ages like it. It is a wood that is flexible, not brittle, with remarkable staying properties. For this reason it is a great choice in a nightstand for your bedroom. For these reasons we stock walnut wood to make many pieces of our furniture. If you wish to order any of our pieces, contact us to make almost any change that you would like to an existing design, or to order something truly custom.

Fitting Walnut Pieces to Your Room

Part of finding out if a piece will work for you includes measuring your space to make sure that your dresser is sized correctly. Take a page out of the designer's book and check if the piece will fit between your bed frame and the wall. Don't make the mistake of calculating the space you have from the mattress. Many bed frames are wider than the mattress, so clearance could be an issue if you are not careful. Another step in checking on whether your choice will work is to think about what features you need, including the amount of storage you would like. This includes thinking about the number of drawers, including how big they are. With a little planning, we can make the perfect piece for your bedroom. Contact us to request almost any change to our designs that you would like.

To build off the previous section, match the style of the dresser to your room. This cannot be stated enough; check sample images of your nightstand against the pieces in your room, matching modern contemporary to modern contemporary, rustic to rustic, etc. If you feel that the style matches, also consider that the grain and stain of the wood matching helps to keep the room cohesive. Make sure to check that the unique features of each piece do not clash with each other. To create a stylish furniture setup, the options for every piece in the room should be similar, or at least should complement each other. For example, having a piece with round edges and a piece with straight ones will not clash with each other so long as the edges are not too acute, and the arcs of the round pieces are not to dramatic. In a similar way check your drawers so that they can get a similar drawer width and height. Looking for unique features, like custom drawer pulls and custom chamfering, can show your personality and taste. Too much customization, however, will look forced and eclectic. Do not forget that many times, less is more.

Mid century modern nightstands have recently seen a rise in popularity. These pieces combine modern Scandinavian designs with mid-century modern elements. Designs also draw from classic pieces from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Here is an 18th century lowboy that was recently valued at $20,000 dollars. Note the bold architectural lines that suited the times, and elements that were forward-thinking enough to not look dated. Elements that we do not usually see include the hyper curved lines and ornamental wood fixtures below the door, as well as a really wide overhang on the dresser top. We do not have many designs that offer this style because it is really hard to match this piece with modern furniture. What continues on to this day is the main cabinet body. This piece features a design that is commonplace now, but did not always exist. The drawer face alignment is set in a modern way. While the styling is not modern, the idea of it was enduring. To match a variety of tastes, we can attempt to match some elements to the customer's wishes. Mid century modern nightstands were often painted white. While this style is not particularly popular today, there are still many who request this design element for their home. Talk to us to see if we can modify your design to incorporate this.

In conclusion, walnut is the perfect wood for your nightstand. It is soft enough to shape into any design that one may wish, while being dense and strong enough to face all the things that a bedside table could face. A properly made walnut nigh stand will last for generations. Who knows, when people talk of our time as we would the stone ages, maybe they will be discussing it next to the nightstand we made for you.