AT THE TABLE
At the table
Everything you should know about solid wood tables
A solid wood table is more than a piece of furniture. It is the place where you come together at the end of a long day. Here is a short guide to material, care and the question of which table suits your home, from MEYER to WEDEKIND to RICHTER.
A solid wood table is usually where a home begins. This is where you eat, work, argue and laugh. Everything comes together here, quite literally. Which is exactly why this one piece of furniture deserves a closer look than most. Tables like MEYER, WEDEKIND and RICHTER come out of that thought: a table that meets the highest design standards and stays with you for decades.
Why solid wood and not stone or metal
You feel the difference immediately, in your fingertips. Wood feels warm, not cold and lifeless the way stone or metal can. That is not a small thing. It is precisely this tactile quality that so many of us associate with childhood, with our grandparents' table, with the idea of being together. A feeling we like to pass on to the next generation. Wood is a living material. It breathes, it changes, it responds to its surroundings. That is what sets it apart from everything that stays smooth and unchanged forever.
A love of material: why we work with oak
Oak has a warm honey tone and a grain that differs from one tabletop to the next. No two pieces are alike, because this is nature and not factory output. How beautiful a tabletop looks in the end comes down to the composition: how the individual staves are brought together. We sort them by hand, grain by grain, so that the finished surface reads as one coherent image. It is one of the details that tell you a solid wood table has been properly made.
Waxed or lacquered: what is the difference
Our tables are usually waxed rather than lacquered. That means the surface can be sanded back and re-waxed again and again. Scratches, marks, the traces of everyday use, all of it can be worked on. A waxed solid wood table is close to indestructible, and it is exactly the kind of table you hand on one day instead of replacing. We have our own care set and instructions for this, so you can refresh the surface yourself at home.
Common questions about care
Should you dry laundry in the same room?
Better not, at least not permanently. The moisture released into the air can affect the wood over time.
What about an open fire in the room?
Air near a fireplace tends to be very dry, which draws moisture out of the wood. It is worth re-waxing a little more often than you would in a normally conditioned room.
How often should you clean the table?
Not with a wet cloth all the time, just as needed. Solid wood does not like constant contact with water or cleaning products. The less of it, the longer the surface stays beautiful.
How often should you re-wax?
By feel. In the instructions we recommend re-waxing once as soon as the table arrives, especially in the winter months when heating dries out the air. If the table still feels velvety soft, there is usually no need. If it feels slightly dry and less velvety, that is a good moment to re-wax. It works like a good leather shoe: at some point the pores are so saturated with wax that you barely have to do anything. In the first few years, roughly twice a year is enough, depending on use.
Small room, big table: a mistake many people make
Instinct says small room, so a small table with as many chairs as possible around it. The opposite usually works better. A slightly larger table with fewer chairs makes a room feel airier and more generous than trying to squeeze in every possible seat. Here, less really does mean more room.
Made to measure: your table, your dimensions
All of our tables can be made to your dimensions. Because we produce by hand in Bavaria, custom sizes are not a special request, they are everyday work. You also have a choice of height: 73 cm for a particularly relaxed way of sitting, or 75 cm, the classic German standard. Which one suits you depends on your chairs and the way you sit, and we are happy to advise. Write to us here in the chat, by email at info@out-design.com or simply call us on +49 30 44673800.
Whether MEYER, WEDEKIND or RICHTER, every one of our tables carries the same attitude: honest material, refined craft, built for a lifetime. Have a look at the collection, or talk to us about your own dimensions.
