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When it comes to materials used for sofa tables, veneer has received a bit of a bum rap over the years.

Often perceived as being inferior to solid wood, veneer has actually been around for thousands of years. In fact, pieces in King Tut's tomb had exquisite veneer work in ebony and ivory. In the Renaissance, royal furnishings had lavish veneers, using rare and exotic species of wood known for their beautiful grains.

That's one of the reasons why veneer is so popular today. The ability to match grains, create amazingly intricate designs such as sunbursts or detailed borders is something solid woods simply can't duplicate.

Sofa tables lend themselves to veneers well. Many of the most beautiful woods in the world are not strong enough to become great looking furniture. They are either too soft, too fragile or lack the stability to build large pieces, such as sofa tables, for everyday use.

By using a veneer, craftsmen get the best of both worlds. They can choose a solid wood or plywood base for its strength and finish it with lovely veneer marquetry, borders and other flourishes that add to the design and value of sofa tables.

For those that aren't familiar with veneer sofa tables, let's start with the basics. First, veneer is wood. It is a thin layer of wood, for instance, maple, ash, rosewood or bamboo or any number of more exotic woods, such as Makassar ebony. On sofa tables, this layer can be as thin as 1/90 of an inch thick. That's why it can be difficult to repair once it is damaged.

That's not to say that sofa tables in your home aren't durable if made with a veneer; quite the contrary. Thanks to modern manufacturing techniques, veneered sofa tables are as strong as or stronger than their solid wood counterparts. And they are far more beautiful for far less cost.

When looking for a veneered piece of furniture, you want to look closely at the veneer itself. If the piece has a design, look closely at the seams between the individual pieces of veneer. Are they tightly pieced together? Is the spacing consistent or are there gaps in certain parts of the design? Are the grains of the woods matched if they are supposed to be mirrored? Is the finish even over the entire piece? If you're looking specifically at sofa tables, does the veneer look the same on the legs and on the top? Where they fit together, is the design consistent?

With these things in mind, shopping for one or more sofa tables for your home should be a snap. Just remember that veneered sofa tables can be as good if not better than solid wood pieces these days.

Ironically, Tutankhamen may have been onto something all those thousands of years ago. Veneers were popular because fine woods were rare and forests few and far between. Rather than making an entire piece of furniture from these rare woods, they used the veneers instead to add charm and beauty. One could say that the Egyptians were into being 'green' long before the rest of us.