Courtesy of: godalwayshungry’s photostream at Flickr

Question: Dear Maite,

I’m having a 10 foot dining table designed for my formal dining room with 100 year old wood from an old Virgina Farm with what they call a bread board top (two pieces of wood that run perpendicular to the long boards of the table at each end) The dining room is quite bright, and there is a very large floor to ceiling picture window with Mahogany molding with a gorgeous view. When the designer came to look at the room she mentioned the wood could actually shrink and crack due to the amount of heat coming in, and suggested drapes or shutters. I don’t understand how one hundred year old wood could still crack. Is she just trying to scare me into buying more of her product?

Signed, Suspicious

Answer: Dear Suspicous,

Looks like you have us designers right up there with lawyers; your designer is absolutely correct. Remember, the sun cracks rocks and concrete pieces of wood glued against the grain-fighting each other as it were. From personal experience I’ve seen tables with bread board ends shrink 1/2″ on the sunny side , but be perfectly true on the shady side. If your dining room gets that hot the sun will affect you table along with any flooring or rugs. This designer your working with is a keeper- I’d take her advice.