It might seem like a rare, idle luxury to have real fossils decorating your home, but petrified wood is both a charming callback to simpler (okay, prehistoric) times and a fun, functional material for furniture. Petrified wood tables make great statement pieces for any living or dining room, and these days you don’t have to be a museum curator to get your hands on a decorative slab. New manufacturing processes not only make petrified wood easier to create and bring home, but also much more affordable.
Naturally petrified wood is a type of fossil, formed after a tree is rapidly buried and filtered through with materials in the ground that will eventually form as various kinds of stone, but preserved in its original form by silica. The petrification process transforms wood into stone, which can be polished and carved for jewelry and furniture uses. That said, despite being one of the most common fossil types in the world, petrified wood can take millions of years to form naturally – which makes it both rare and pricey to obtain.
The good news is, since 2005 we’ve developed techniques to petrify wood in mere days instead of eons. This drives down the price of petrified wood and makes it more accessible, thus lowering the price of the resulting furniture made this way. This comes along with the added benefit of stone being a much more heavy and durable choice for furniture than initial wood used to create it, making petrified wood tables a solid investment.
Despite being more affordable than ever, petrified wood is admittedly still a luxury and a fairly pricey way to craft a functional, glass-top table; but you do get what you pay for. The resulting fossil’s appearance is largely the same as it was in life. That means the detail work on your table is as intricate and fine as a hand-carved sculpture. It makes a standout centerpiece in your living or dining room due to its one-of-a-kind nature.
While it’s more spectacular to have fossils of ancient creatures and glittering geodes, there is a quiet allure to the simple yet intricate form of the forest. No two trees grow the same and no two designers cut the same log the same way either, making every glass top table utterly unique. The neutral colors of nature also pair well with most home color palettes, making it an easy inclusion with your existing furniture.
Glass top tables allow for you to get the most visually out of the wood grain, rather than hiding the table underneath an opaque surface. They also give you a more even surface than setting objects on the wood itself, which can be a real boon for dining. The tabletop is both easy to clean and a protective layer for your fossilized wood, making it a natural choice for petrified wood tables.
Glass top petrified wood tables are a beautiful way to incorporate nature and history into your home while not skimping on its durability or sophistication. If you want to add a standout piece to your living or dining room, consider petrified wood.
