My Grandmother has a wooden ironing board. My dh's grandmother had an incredibly heavy iron ironing board with vented top I have the iron one.
On both are layers of old woollen blankets. The iron one has 3 layers of blankets and a duck canvas cover. I bought the cover and it is about 10 inches too short.
If I ever get the wooden one I will strip it to the bare wood, refinish it and use it as a display.
The iron one is very functional, and will never tip due to it's weight, but not nice to look at.