It might be because I am an earth sign, but I love wood. The real kind, from trees. I love the sound it makes burning and crackling in a fireplace, I love the smooth cool feel of it under my bare feet, and I love the way it looks inside my home.

According to Wikipedia, humans began crafting furniture out of wood and stone around 30,000 years ago. It’s no accident then, that my semi-evolved brain still responds best to dining on natural surfaces. Through millennia of touching, feeling organic materials like this, our brains have associated it with home and comfort.

In recent years, the rise of plastic lumber, aka synthetic wood and PVC, make me yearn for the good old days. It seems like every new condo or hotel these days is bereft of all organic materials. These spaces feel alienating to me. Like nothing in the room comes from where I come from.

I began reflecting on this sentiment at a recent dinner party where I was seated at a long concrete table, very cool certainly but definitely not cozy. I kept getting rushes of cold when my skin brushed the legs and my elbow just never got comfortable perched on top. Marble, iron, steel etc. can be beautiful, but when you want to sprawl out and linger over meandering dinner conversations, wood feels the most nurturing. It’s inherently sturdy and grounding like a relaxing journey to visit our less evolved, less stressed-out Paleolithic brothers.

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In New Orleans, there are quite a few places to find a beautiful wooden table for yourself. Along Magazine Street there are tons of antique and fine furnishing stores and if you yearn for something custom, that can be arranged too.

Here are a few places to call for something custom:

Dop Antiques

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