Our Sarah Trestle Dining Table is a great choice for a rectangle dining table shape!

Selecting the Right Dining Table for your Home Décor

With our fall dining sale just around the corner, I figured what better time to talk about dining tables! We have all of these shapes and sizes, but how does that apply to your dining space? What will look best in your room and will you be able to accommodate the right amount of guests? I’ll admit, it can get a little confusing trying to guess what kind of table is best for your situation. Hopefully this post can help to remove some of the mystery about what you’re getting when you order one of our fine, hardwood dining tables.

Rectangular Dining Tables

Rectangle tables are the most common dining table shape since they are ideal for accommodating large numbers of people for dinner parties and fit best in most dining rooms. Whether choosing a solid top or extension rectangle table, you’re sure to always have space for that extra guest. My favorite rectangle dining table would be the Sarah Shaker Trestle table. I love the curved leg work and simple shaker style, plus the added benefit of it being an extension table.

Catalina Walnut Solid Top Dining Table

Square Dining Tables

Square tables create a more intimate dining experience. Perfect for small dining rooms or eat-in kitchens, a square table allows you room to entertain small dinners and conserve much needed space. My pick for a square table is our Catalina 40×40 Solid Top Dining Table. It’s elegant, simple and looks great in walnut wood. What more do you need?

Vermont Shaker Cherry Round Dining Set

Round Dining Tables

Round tables are also great for small spaces or modest dining rooms. Round tables are my favorite option for entertaining guests. A round table allows everyone to sit comfortably and also maintain eye contact with other guests. I would pick our Vermont-made Shaker Custom Round Table. It has an extension option, it is simple and durable and comes discounted in our Vermont Shaker Cherry Round Dining Set!

Vermont Modern Wave Table

Oval Dining Tables

An oval table incorporates the best parts of a rectangle and round table. You can still accommodate large groups, like that of a rectangle table, while saving space with the rounded corners. An oval table can also be created by opting for a round extension table, which gives you the most versatility. I choose the Vermont Modern Wave Table. It can be dressed up or dressed down, but no matter what, it always looks classy and is sure to be a conversation piece.

One factor that all of our table shapes have in common is that they are completely green and made from sustainably harvested hardwoods. No matter what dining table shape you choose, you want it to last a lifetime and here at Vermont Woods Studios, we promise just that.

So there you have it! Our four traditional dining shapes, broken down and analyzed so you can find the perfect one for you. In addition to these, you can also find boat shape tables, live edge slab tables and glass top tables on our site, so be sure to check out all of your options before purchasing. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call our sales team and have Liz, Heather or Douglas work with you on dimensions and help you build your dream dining room.

Let us know in the comments what table shape works best for you and how it’s helped to bring your friends and family together.

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Have you been looking everywhere for the perfect hardwood furniture to fit precisely into your dining rom or bedroom space?  If you're still coming up short, maybe think about customizing!

We had a customer purchase this Copeland Horizon bed over the weekend, but when he gets it, the bed is going to look very different than it does here.  That's because he customized the finish and changed it from the dark chocolate stain shown to a natural maple color which is very light. 

I love working with customers who have the vision (and courage!) to imagine how customized furniture will look in their homes.  Maybe he'll send us a photo once it's installed in his bedroom so I can share it with you.  I hope so.

The Horizon bed above is made of solid maple hardwood and can be customized in 8 of these finish colors: natural maple (no stain) or white maple, cocoa maple, dark chocolate
maple, dark honey maple, chestnut maple, black maple or slate maple.

At Vermont Woods Studios we customize furniture routinely.  Customization can be as straight-forward as changing the stain or substituting different drawer pulls.  Or it can be substantial for instance modifying  dimensions, leg style, configuration of drawers-doors, adding inlays and more.

We've tried to build our fine furniture website so you can use pull-down menus to see possibilities and prices for popular customizations. 

What many people don't realize is that customizations are often free!  Or in this case, it was two hundred dollars less to customize the bed in natural maple, as opposed to having the dark stain.

So if you're still searching for that custom dining set or bedroom set for your home, check out our furniture at Vermont Woods Studios and give us a call to see how easy it can be customized to meet your needs.

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Ken (on left) and the management team at Lyndon Furniture:  Christine Drown (sales and marketing manager), Dave Allard (owner and founder) and Brian Ball (general manager)

Ken and I traveled up to Lyndon, Vermont today to meet with Lyndon Furniture.  We carry all of Lyndon's line of Shaker, Mission, Modern and Traditional hardwood collections.

That's Lyndon's owner and founder in the middle, Dave Allard. 

Dave started Lyndon Furniture over 30 years ago, building his first woodworking shop from timber he cut on his family farm and had milled locally.  Since then his business has grown and earned a reputation for producing high quality, eco friendly furniture that lasts a lifetime.

One of the things I love most about Lyndon Furniture is that when times got tough and all the other American furniture companies fired their employees and went to China to cash in, Dave Allard and Lyndon Furniture stayed right here in Vermont.  They remained true to their employees, their community, their integrity and their quality.  I see that integrity in their furniture.

Lyndon Furniture in Lyndonville, Vermont. American made hardwood furniture made to last for generations

It's interesting because we're seeing another mass exodus of so-called "American furniture companies" now.  But it's from East to West.  They're all hurrying back to American from China now that Chinese wages and trans-oceanic shipping are so costly.  But I have to wonder how long they'll stay.

I think it's safe to say, though, that regardless of global economics, Lyndon Furniture will remain right here in Vermont making high quality, handcrafted furniture and contributing to their community.  It's the Vermont way.

The post Lyndon Furniture: The Real (American Made) Thing appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

One of my favorites is this Vermont Modern Pedestal Table.  Pretty charming, don't you think? I love the quiet curves and contemporary cottage styling.

It's definitely a high-end piece, handmade of eco-friendly, solid organic wood: natural cherry, walnut, oak or maple. And it works well in either a formal dining room or casual kitchen.

Here's another version of it:  the rectangular table.  The shape of the table top can be customized in round, square, rectangular or oval. 

So many possibilities!  You can customize online or give Shannon a call.  And Lyndon Furniture is furniture you can feel good about.  It's eco-friendly, 100% made in America and backed by a lifetime guarantee.

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The National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) puts out a brochure periodically that reports statistics for the American hardwood industry.  Are we harvesting our hardwoods sustainably in the USA? 

According to NHLA the hardwood inventory in the USA has grown by 98% during the past 5 decades.  I'd say that's pretty sustainable.

Here's another cool fact NHLA cites: Wood represents 47 percent of all raw materials used in the United States but the energy used to produce wood products (including furniture) accounts for just 4 percent of the energy used to make all manufactured materials.  Wow!  It makes sense though when you consider all the hard-core industrial processing that's required to make a piece of metal or plastic furniture, right?

At Vermont Woods Studios Furniture we specialize in organic, eco-friendly solid hardwood furniture that's made from local and regionally harvested wood.  To help keep our forests healthy and sustainable, we're excited to be supporting the Vermont Council on Rural Development and their ambitious Vermont Working Landscape Partnership Program as part of our forest conservation mission. 

I just have to throw in one last random but amazing reason why wood is the greenest raw material for furniture-making:  the EPA estimates that each year our American forests remove the greenhouse gases emitted by 139,000,000 cars!  You gotta love wood.

The post Eco Friendly Organic Furniture: Why North American Hardwood Is The Best Raw Material appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

Wondering how to select the right hardwood for your furniture?  For most of our customers, wood color is the first priority when selecting a hardwood, followed by strength and durability.  At Vermont Woods Studios we offer exclusively American hardwoods that are harvested responsibly from well managed forests. 

Our favorite woods are black cherry, sugar maple, white oak and red oak, and black walnut.  We've assembled lots of information about each wood to help you make your decision.

One of the characteristics that customers are often surprised about is that some woods change colors over time, as they are exposed to light.  Black cherry is the most notable of these woods.  It can start out almost as light as maple wood, but over time it will mature and ripen to a deep, rich reddish brown color.

Have any questions about furniture hardwoods?   Give us a call!  We'll look forward to hearing from you.

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