what type of wood to use... (newbie)

[simo sentissi]

Hello there

I want to redo our bedroom set and it seems like the wife likes "white furniture".
I am looking at starting from the bed and go to other pieces, the bed will probably be frame and panel, but I am confused to what would the cheaper way to go since every thing gotta be white.

excuse the newbie question

Cheers !

[Jim Becker]

Tulip poplar or soft maple for the solid stock and 1/4" MDF for the panels would be my choice.

[Eric Gustafson]

Popular paints well, is cheap and easy to work. MDF also paints well, machines well, and is cheap.

[Bill White]

Poplar/soft maple, though I like poplar better.
Bill

[Robert Goodwin]

Ditto what the other folks have said. Poplar and MDF. Make sure to wear a dust mask with the MDF

[frank shic]

Ditto what the other folks have said. Poplar and MDF. Make sure to wear a dust mask with the MDF

why stop there? you might want to consider wearing a full body suit so that you're not caked in the sticky MDF powder!

[Peter Stahl]

I would do Poplar too. It's much nicer to work with than pine or mdf. Never cut any maple.

[Jerry Olexa]

This is heresy here @ SMC but if you're going to paint it, why not ply or pine? You have to prime it and paint it in any case. I recently built 3 bookcases and I used standard cab grade ply and pine for the face frames. When painted it's hard to tell what's under there. Not my favorite way either but save you some $ IMHO. Further, ply is stable. No movement issues..

[Tyler Purcell]

I personally prefer pine over poplar, and while my experience is limited compared to some on this forum, I have found it to be more stable and a little nicer to work with. Also, MDF is extremely easy to cut and machine, and in order to get plywood that flat and smooth, you'd have to buy say a $40 sheet of plywood, as opposed to a $15 sheet of MDF.