Wood Selection Guide for Corbels and Wood Carvings

Posted By: home-lover  //  Category: Home Repair

InvitingHome.com offers a wide variety of are all made from select hardwoods, which are durable but also pliable enough for woodworking. Our Wood Selection Guide takes a look at seven hardwood species: alder, beech, cherry, hard maple, oak (red and white), poplar, and white hardwood. Which is the right wood species for your corbels? It’s not always an easy choice. But our Wood Selection Guide can help you pick the best wood for your home improvement project, with a particular eye toward corbels. Whether you’re a homeowner, designer or builder, we hope you find this guide to be a valuable resource.AlderAlder, a hardwood grown in the Pacific Northwest, is a common choice for corbels as well as cabinetry and furniture. This wood is prized for its consistency in color and ability to take stain well ? two factors to keep in mind if you’re considering alder wood corbels.A beautiful wood that is growing in popularity, alder is relatively soft compared with other hardwoods and thus easy to work with. It features graining and rich tones that are similar to cherry, but at a much lower price tag. (Note: Alder wood corbels are a new addition to the InvitingHome.com catalog.)BeechBeech is a cream-colored hardwood that grows primarily in North America and in parts of Europe. Perhaps best known as the wood used in baseball bats, beech is also found in wood corbels and hardwood floors. Three factors that make beech a popular choice for corbels: it takes stain well, is easy to work with, and has an excellent finish. (Note: Beech wood corbels are a new addition to the InvitingHome.com catalog.)CherryA perennial favorite among homeowners, cherry has been used by furniture-makers for literally thousands of years. This beautiful hardwood brings a classy touch to corbels, flooring, cabinetry, butcher block countertops, and other home furnishings. Strong and relatively hard, cherry is known for its durability. But its beauty is the primary reason it’s so often chosen for corbels. Initially light brown in tone, cherry gradually darkens over time to display warm, reddish-brown hues. If you’re looking to add a special touch to your cherry corbels, this wood looks spectacular when finished with a clear polyurethane varnish. Hard MapleWhatever your family can dish out, hard maple can take it. This wood is used in flooring and even cutting boards, so you know it’s more than tough enough for corbels. Its hardness and stiffness make hard maple more difficult to carve, but these features also enable crisper detail and more intricate carving motifs.Hard maple generally has interesting graining that adds life to corbels. A relatively clear wood that ranges from light brown to creamy tan in color, it takes nicely to natural or light finishes. Honey brown stain tends to complement hard maple corbels particularly well. Oak (Red and White)Oak, the most abundant hardwood species in the United States, has been a favorite of craftsmen for hundreds of years. Very hard and durable, oak is a popular choice for corbels, cabinets, floors and many types of furniture. The species comes in two basic varieties: red and white. Both red and white oak stain beautifully in most any color and sport distinctive grain patterns ranging from straight lines to wide arcs. Red oak, the more common of the varieties, has a pinkish tint and open grain pores. White oak has a slightly greenish hue and smaller pores. PoplarPoplar trees can reach heights of 150 feet, making them the tallest of all U.S. hardwood species. Prized for its durability, the wood is used in corbels as well as kitchen cabinets, mouldings and doors. You’ll also find poplar in many musical instruments. Poplar is pale yellow to white in color with a greenish tint in the sapwood and open grain pores. It stains well across a range of colors (including a honey tone with darker colors) and holds paint quite nicely too. A reasonably priced option when choosing a wood for your corbels. White HardwoodWhite hardwood, or basswood, is used for corbels, mouldings, furniture and even Venetian blinds and shutters. In terms of appearance , this wood is fairly plain: very light cream in color with little to no grain.What makes white hardwood stand out ? particularly for crafting corbels ? is that it’s so easy to work with. The softness and straight grain of white hardwood make it the ideal carving wood. It also takes well to paint or a polyurethane finish.


An Almost New Kitchen With Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

Posted By: home-lover  //  Category: Home Improvement

You may be tired of looking at the same old kitchen day in day out. You spend most of your time when you are at home in the kitchen, after all and it would be nice to have a new look to your kitchen. This is the place where we not only prepare, cook and eat meals, but it is often the place where we just hang out and relax. To do a whole kitchen makeover is an expensive proposition, especially if you need to change all of the cabinets and furnishings. There is an alternative. You can enjoy the look of a new kitchen without all the work, mess and outlay of funds if you choose to reface your kitchen cabinets. This is one of the best ways to upgrade your kitchen without replacing the cabinets and therefore saves a lot of money. The transformation of a kitchen with cabinet refacing is amazing; you will not believe what a difference it can make. Even if you are on a tight budget, you can have the look of a new kitchen with this method.


Kitchen Cabinet Refacing - Getting New Cabinetry

Posted By: home-lover  //  Category: Home Improvement

If you are hoping to remodel by tearing out your current kitchen furnishings and fixtures then you may feel you are facing a difficult task. However, for most people all they need is a fresh feel and look for their kitchen, meaning that they are facing wasted money and time replacing all their old fixtures. The best and most cost-effective solution is to use kitchen cabinet refacing to get the fresh look that you want. Cupboards and cabinets that are in reasonable condition can benefit greatly with refacing because you are simply giving them a super an improved appearance and new life. Other people will never realise that you have not completely replaced your cupboards with new ones because there are so many choices available. This will let you benefit from saving money by getting a cost-effective makeover for your kitchen, and one that you can show to friends and family alike.


Kitchen Cabinet Refacing - To Do List

Posted By: home-lover  //  Category: Home Improvement

Replacing your kitchen cabinetry can be far more expensive than doing simple kitchen cabinet refacing. If you current kitchen layout is to your satisfaction, then this will be a good choice. It is one type of job that can be achieved a lot faster than remodeling, and the overall process is not as intrusive.

When you reface your cabinets you will have to install new drawer fronts, drawers and cabinet doors. Once the old doors have been removed you will notice the remains of the old refacing materials, possibly plastic or wood veneers.


Recent Cabinetry Trends

Posted By: home-lover  //  Category: Home Improvement

1. One of the more popular looks today is the new antiqued look: Antique styles are in, basically buying cabinetry with distressing and glazing is a popular finish options for cabinetry. There are a lot of options for this particular look, you can use older woods, hand wiping, and distressing with various tools, or use a dry brushing technique.

2. Cut down on wall cabinets: Believe it or not one of the most popular and one of the latest trends in cabinetry is not having as many. Not having cabinets on the top of the wall means that your kitchen can be more open and airy. Having a kitchen that is open and airy does not mean that you have to have a lot of space. Less cabinets, more openness, with more windows, is popular.