Bedroom Furniture - Lacquered against Waxed

If you still couldn't decide between a lacquered or waxed finish for your furniture, you'll do great looking into both the good and bad sides of the two in order to arrive at the better choice. But no hurry. You'll want to look into each single detail as you work on giving your wood a more welcome presence.

Giving your furniture a lacquered finish means it will be coated with chemical called polyurethane to give it either a glossy or matte finish. Most people go for glossy, although it really does depend on a number of things, including the color you choose. The good thing about lacquer is it doesn't only give your furniture a nice and neat look. It also serves as a very strong protection by practically sealing the wood, including cracks and holes while leaving it air to breathe through the uncoated side.

For the most part, lacquer wood will keep damages at bay such as liquid penetration; staining caused by hot cups put directly on the surface without the use of a coaster, and, of course, crayons. However, even as you've coated your wood with lacquer, it is still extremely suggested to wipe off the liquid as soon as it contacts the furniture. That's because constant exposure to liquid tends to wash off the coat and makes the wood look dull and spotty. You can use a dry, soft cloth for wiping or damp cloth if the furniture gets really messy, but it's always best to let wood dry up as quickly as it can. Daily cleaning can consist of dusting with a buff cloth and spraying with a standard polish.

Alternatively, a wax finish will not be as strong a protection for your oak bedroom furniture or any of the other solid wood varieties as lacquer is. The color is just applied and a liquid wax is used for the final finishing. With wax, the wood is not sealed and can still be exposed to environmental elements that could affect its quality. Temperature and humidity extremes, for example, can openly affect the wood's quality as compared to a lacquered finish which almost seals in everything.

A waxed finish will also still need regular waxing which depends on the amount of wear and tear it's subjected to. If you want to use colored wax, be aware that the effect won't be permanent and, in fact, is expected to fade or change over a short time, almost certainly six to twelve months. Twice a year should be a good routine for waxing.

In spite of its laborious status, though, wax boasts of its unique ability to keep wood moisturized and, its color, looking sharp as ever. Should you decide to go for this finish, you do have to religiously maintain it since wax pulls in dust and grease from anything. Leaving wax-finished furniture not maintained could have the wood cracking in places so you'll always want to keep it to a healthy polish constantly.