Traditional furnishing materials like oak or pine are sometimes dismissed as being too dated or old-fashioned, or that they might be too expensive for the modern household. Because of its strength and beauty, oak has been prized as a material since the Middle Ages. Today, contemporary designers have transformed the material and translated the qualities of oak into fresh, imaginative new styles, making oak a highly desirable and fashionable material in contemporary furnishing, alongside more modern materials like plastics and glass.