For many people, the idea of spending hard earned cash on a piece of unfinished furniture is a little amusing. The main reason would be that the purchaser feels that his or her skill level would hinder the process of obtaining a desirable finish. One that would grace any room, and look as elegant as a factory finished showroom piece would. Well in fact, with the right guidance, tools and of course time, anyone can achieve the finish of professionals. The beauty of solid wooden furniture is that it can be re-sanded should you feel that you’re not happy with the result. Although this is a costly exercise from not only a financial point, but also it would also be very time consuming, depending of course on the size of furniture involved.

The benefits of buying this type of furniture are many. Manufacturers often sell this type of furniture at considerably knocked down prices. Often in the region of 35- 50% less than a finished item. Now imagine if you had the knowledge on how to transform this unfinished item to something that would compliment your home, the savings would be huge.

Over the past few years, many retailers specializing in this type of furniture have sprouted up around the country allowing the public to purchase all types of styles to take home & finish to their own tastes. You no longer have to make do with a color or stain you never really wanted in the first place. And it doesn’t have to involve a stain. Many country type residences often get a much warmer effect if the piece were painted. This is definitely the case with say, a Welsh Dresser. That would often be adorned with family crockery, giving the room a cottage type feeling.

A lot of these small retailers are often just a means for larger companies to display their goods. Lets face it. If a company had a manufacturing facility out of town, but had a small retail outlet to push the stock, the overheads are greatly reduced leasing a smaller area. They don’t require a huge showroom to exhibit. They just replenish the small store after sales. Another beauty of the way this works is that most of these companies not only let you finish the product, but most of them will custom make something for you. The choice really does belong in the hands of you the customer.

One other advantage to buying unfinished is that you get to see the furniture in its raw state, thus enabling you to see any imperfections that may be present in the grain. Dents etc. would be very difficult to hide with fillers, as would be the case if it were finished & lacquered.

The term flat pack is probably the most widely used and actually came from Europe. This type of furniture grew in popularity in Sweden due to the Ikea Company. One of its employees, Gillis Lundgren, a Swedish draughts person came upon the idea while trying to fit a table in the back of his car. He struggled to achieve his objective, and decided to break the legs off the table, thus re-assembling them at his destination. He later discussed with his company the practicalities of what he’d done, and without hesitation, the company embraced his idea, and this became the concept for Ikea.

The benefits of this idea appealed to not only the retailer, but also the consumer.  The merchant could not only buy ready-to-assemble furniture that was in flat packages, but found his costs incurred for storing was also reduced, as he no longer had to fill his warehouse with bulky items.

Not only was the benefit of a cheaper product passed onto the retailer, but also the ease at which he could take the product home. Because of the size, most items would easily fit in a family sized vehicle, thus avoiding the restraints imposed from a delivery company, who very rarely decide on a delivery date or time, which a customer can agree on.

Although the term ready to assemble means precisely that, meaning, you get the product home and assemble it, and enjoy.  Many companies however including Ikea often leave the items untreated, so that one does have the choice to stain and finish to match existing furniture. This is especially the case in the garden department where you will find outdoor furniture left untreated. Depending on what part of the world you live in, you can apply a preservative that is adequate to your particular climate.

When buying flat pack furniture, generally it’s a straight forward process of taking out the contents, and assembling them together according to the manufacturers instructions. However one should be prepared for the often inevitable which is upon assembly you may find an item missing. This isn’t so much as a problem, but more of an inconvenience. These pieces are generally designed with specialized fixings that are only available from the place it was purchased from, and more often than not, needs a return trip to the store. So before undertaking any assembly of this type of furniture, be sure to do a complete inspection of the items boxed, against the items listed with the assembly instructions.