Most people think of particleboard as a cheap slab of wood chips and glue.
Dixie Roberts Junk thinks warmth and texture. To prove the point, Junk Architects, the business she runs with her husband, used caramel-colored squares of particleboard to cover the floor of its office. These boards have long lurked under veneers, laminates or foils printed to look like solid wood. Now, in some cases, they are shedding their skins and appearing on the surface of furniture, cabinets, closet doors and molding. Particleboard Exposed Michael Love, a designer in New York, uses exposed composite woods for cabinets and closet doors.