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Room dividers are a great way to add extra “walls” without doing real renovating, and they’re often more useful, too. For instance, a backless shelf provides storage and allows as much or as little light to penetrate as you like. Simona Ganea has the scoop on different ways to make the most of inexpensive and contemporary IKEA room dividers.

Find her at Homedit.

The Berkley L-Shaped Desk will be sure to draw compliments. This desk has a finished back with three panels on each side. In addition to six desk drawers on each end, there is a pencil drawer and a keyboard drawer on the right and left sides of the middle. Be sure to watch the video to see how the keyboard drawer’s front flips down to create a keyboard tray. The left side of the desk top has a handy wire grommet so you can elegantly conceal your screen wires inside the desk instead of running them down the back. For more elegance, consider the optional hutch. The Berkley L-Shaped Desk boasts solid construction and will create an office of distinction.

By Tobin Dimmitt

Wood joinery is the art of putting two or more pieces of wood together with a common fastener that links them. Common methods of joining wood are the everyday screw or nail, but there is a more refined way of connecting wood together that provides a professional appearance that is pleasing to the eye. No matter if you are building furniture, cabinets, or the backyard tree house, the art of joining is going to become one of your most proficient tasks. The more you do, the better you get.

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By Tobin Dimmitt

Furniture made of wood has a special warmth and depth that is impossible to duplicate with other materials. There is a wide variety woods that also can be used to construct this type of furniture. Each provides its own unique look to whatever piece in which it is included. Enjoy reading the list below to the characteristics and uses for each wood listed.

List of Woods:

1. Oak – This wood part of the hardwood category of woods. It is one of the best-known woods for furniture. It is strong and durable yet easy to work with, as you make your piece. There is both red oak and white oak, but white oak is typically preferred. This type of wood is ideal for chairs, dressers, chest of drawers, end tables, coffee table, desks and many more things. I have had a chest of drawers that was my grandmother’s for many years that is still in excellent shape today. This shows how durable the wood is. Many American styles of furniture include oak. Oak is one of the pricier woods though, used in making furniture. This has to do with the fact that an oak tree grows to maturity slower than some other trees do.

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By Tobin Dimmitt

Red Oak, or Oak is an extremely durable wood with a distinct open grain. This wood is very popular among Amish furniture craftsman due to it’s universal appeal, warm look and feel, uniform color, staining ease, and durability.

The colors of Oak can vary from pink, light brown, and sometimes show hint’s of green.  This variation in color is due to the many subspecies Oak is harvested from.

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By Tobin Dimmitt

Amish horse and buggy rigs are a rather common sight all over the country. In southern Iowa, within 30 miles of our office, it’s not uncommon to see Amish buggies driving along the shoulder of state highways as the regular traffic passes by. I must say that I thought all Amish buggies were completely black in color, as all the buggies I’ve personally seen looked black to me.

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