It's arguable that some contemporary furniture designs are feats in engineering, while others are clever and aesthetically take on traditional designs that are already familiar to us. When it comes to contemporary oak furniture, the natural effect of the oak is retained, but the straight lines and functional nature of the piece allows it to fit comfortably with any contemporary room design.

Of course, there is a difference between modern and contemporary design in furniture. Modern designs are not actually so modern, since the style has been in existence for around half a century. Contemporary refers to today's designs: the truly modern. It means that if someone is looking for contemporary living room furniture, for example, they're not really looking for 'modern' but furniture that brings together influences from a number of sources and styles.

In the contemporary design field, oak bedroom furniture is amongst the most desirable as they successfully marry the traditional feel of oak and the striking aesthetics of a contemporary structure. The same can be said of oak kitchens, and oak living room and oak dining room sets, of which the most contemporary make use of secondary materials to enhance the aesthetic impact of the design, without compromising their simplicity.

It would be simple to believe that anything contemporary loses some of its appeal by its failure to provide an ornate quality but, in fact, it often comes down to a simple point of preference. It is true that a sense of history or a certain vintage quality is lost, which even in modern-day manufacturing is valued and mimicked through distressing methods, and is manifest in rustic furniture.

However, the principal of contemporary is that it changes with the times, altering as the tastes and needs of the next generation of artists, designers and consumers develop. In being this way, there are less rules to their design, meaning that a marriage of the ornate and the practical can bear a single design.

Take, for example, the Avignon bedroom range, which combines solid oak with a blend of Acacia wood internals to effectively age the piece in appearance. Combining woods is a contemporary method, as is the light colours that the range comes in. But, its warm, earthy quality is partnered by the straight-lined simplicity of vintage shaker design. The result is a bed that can fit either the contemporary or the traditional bedroom theme.

Similarly, the Orly Oak range of bedroom furniture is contemporary in style. Its 2-door wardrobes are made of thick solid oak and oak veneers, but it uses the traditional dovetail joints in its construction. Also, the Alaska Oak chest of drawers set uses shaker design but joins with it an ivory finish to create a two-tone effect. Both of these items of bedroom furniture, though contemporary in the nature of their design, work perfectly in contemporary and traditional settings.

When it comes to dining room furniture, there is also a multitude of examples of contemporary designs to choose. Amongst the favourite techniques adopted is the use of sharply contrasting materials to complete a furniture set that is both striking and calming in its effect. The Moreno range of dining room sets is amongst the most celebrated and affordable, particularly its selection of solid oak tables with stainless brushed steel legs. This partnership creates a soft urban feel that fits a fresh, eco-friendly themed dining room just as well as a cool, industrial themed one.

Fine examples of contemporary oak dining room sets are equally embodied by the Flavia range, which also uses brushed steel with solid oak for a combined effect. However, its legs are made of one length of steel at each end of the oak table top that is curved along the floor to hold the top up. In both the Flavia and Moreno ranges, the dining room tables come with a choice of chairs - solid oak and leather in black, cream or brown in colour - to complete the contemporary effect.

The combinations of materials are almost endless, though the aesthetic result is, of course, important. However, it makes for exciting designs that can bring added character as well as style to a home. Whether it is oak bedroom furniture or oak kitchen cabinets or even oak occasional furniture for anywhere in the home, the partnership of old and new, of wood and steel, of functional and elaborate, creates contemporary oak furniture that is fulfilling to the eye.