High quality, real solid hardwood furniture is expensive, no doubt about it.   But customers are still buying this cherry and walnut bedroom furniture set and other hardwood furniture pieces.  Their reasons have to do with longevity, value and beauty.

Top 3 Reasons To Buy Hardwood Furniture

High quality, real solid hardwood furniture is expensive, no doubt about it.  It’s not for everyone.  College students are more likely to find suitable furniture at IKEA- that’s for sure.  But if you landed on this blog post, you’re probably a homeowner looking to feather your nest for the long term, right?  Well we talk to people like you everyday and so we’ve learned a few things about why our customers are looking to buy hardwood furniture.

First – It’s Beautiful

Check out our cherry and walnut hardwood bedroom furniture set.  You just don’t get this kind of smooth, refined patina on pine, spruce or other soft wood furniture.  When hardwoods are sanded properly and finished with a clear, non-toxic lacquer or hand-rubbed natural oil, you can run your hands over the wood and it almost feels like skin.  No softwood, metal or plastic furniture can give the same tactile sensation that high quality, handmade hardwood furniture does.

Second – It’s Durable and Lasts a Lifetime

Hardwoods like cherry, walnut, maple and oak wood are from deciduous trees that grow slower than coniferous softwood trees like pine, spruce, larch and fir.  Thus hardwoods are typically more dense, heavy, durable and, well… hard.  They also are fairly non – resinous and close grained so they don’t leak sap and split like pine does.  If you take care of your hardwood furniture it will hold up beautifully for many years, even many generations.  We are confident enough in our hardwood furniture to back it with a lifetime guarantee.

Third – It’s a Natural, Organic Part of a Healthy Home

Many people, especially those with young children are looking for natural, organic furniture to be a part of their healthy homes.  They often talk to us about where their furniture comes from too.  Hardwood furniture that’s made in America is typically built with wood that’s sustainably harvested from well-managed American forests.  Families enjoy breaking bread over a dinner table that’s made in harmony with nature.

Bonus Reason!  It’s Economical in the Long Run

OK, I said Top 3 Reasons, but here’s a fourth that I just can’t walk away from.  In the long run, high quality hardwood furniture is cheaper to buy than other types of furniture– even IKEA’s.  Consider how many times you’ll have to buy a bedroom set or dining furniture over your lifetime if you’re always buying something cheap.  We’ve had lots of customers who tell us they’ve been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a few years while they save up to buy a high quality hardwood bed.  I can relate to that.

What are your reasons for searching for hardwood furniture?  Let us know in the comments section below or on our Facebook!

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Which Type of Hardwood Furniture Is Best For Your Bedroom, Dining Room or Home Office?

If you’re looking for hardwood furniture, there’s a good chance you’re narrowing your wood choices down to the most popular and plentiful species grown here in America such as cherry, maple, oak and walnut.  These prized hardwoods are grown sustainably here in the USA with Vermont and New England being a favorite source for many woods.

We like these species because they are well suited to fine furniture making by virtue of their color, strength, hardness, grain patterns and workability.  They are also readily obtainable in our local and regional area, making them a sustainable choice.  Often our furniture makers will offer two-tone combinations of these hardwoods creating a custom, artisan look and feel to your furniture.

The photo above shows Copeland Furniture’s SoHo Bedroom Set in solid maple and walnut hardwoods.  This striking two-tone wood combination has become a best seller in our metropolitan markets, particularly Manhattan, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Homeowners appreciate the modern, contemporary sensibilities of the SoHo solid hardwood design as well as the fine detail and craftsmanship that goes into every custom, made to order piece.

SoHo furniture is also offered in a two-tone walnut and cherry design.  Which of these hardwood combinations would look best for your bedroom furniture?

The post Hardwood Furniture: Cherry, Maple, Oak or Walnut? appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

Lyndon's craftspeople are committed to preserving the heritage of American furniture making by combining the best of old world construction techniques and new world precision.

Lyndon Furniture has been crafting beautiful fine furniture from real, solid hardwoods for over 30 years and it's become one of our "best value" lines at Vermont Woods Studios.  Customers looking for honest, hand crafted furniture that's made of all real, solid wood (without veneers) are drawn to Lyndon. 

Their craftspeople are committed to preserving the heritage of American furniture making by combining the best of old world construction techniques and new world precision.  What they achieve is an authentic product that's stylish, affordable and designed to last a lifetime.

Lyndon works with local and regional hardwoods, primarily cherrywood, maple, walnut and oak.  In addition to making their tables, chairs and beds with all solid wood, Lyndon also constructs their case goods (china cabinets, bookcases, dressers, chests, nightstands and armoires) with solid wood, whereas most manufacturers use veneers on case sides.  The only place you'll find veneer on Lyndon pieces is on the backs of case goods and bottoms of drawers– that's to provide for wood movement during changing humidity.

If all solid wood construction is important to you when shopping for handmade furniture, check out Lyndon Furniture on our website.  We carry the full line of their products, including customizations and complete custom design.  We welcome your questions and specialty orders.

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Soon after I placed my order I got a personal note from owner Rick Smith thanking me for the purchase and saying that he was on our Vermont Woods Studios website shopping for a bed!  Pretty good karma, right?

It turns out Rick's an extraordinary guy who grew up in Vermont, skied at Mount Snow and was an avid trout fisherman. He earned BS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Information Technology.  After a short career as a Manufacturing Engineer in the Aerospace Machining industry, Rick's life changed dramatically with a spinal cord injury, and he was forced to change careers.

He decided to create a website that would help Vermont's smaller businesses sell locally made specialty food items over the Internet and that's how Pieces of Vermont came about.  Check it out next time you're looking for affordable Vermont made gifts or maybe even a little handmade treat for your own kitchen.  Tell Rick I sent you.

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Copeland's Horizon Modern Storage Bed features four sturdy drawers and an optional bench-footboard.  The night stand is designed to allow room to pull the drawers out.  Bed is shown in a dark chocolate stain.  It's also available in natural maple or maple with light colored stains.

Our friends at Copeland Furniture in Bradford, Vermont have come out with what I think is America's best selection of storage beds.  Apparently our customers agree because these platform beds with under-bed storage were our best sellers last week.

Perfect for apartment or condo living Copeland's modern beds are designed for both comfort and style.  This one, the Horizon Bed is shown in a dark chocolate stain over maple wood although several lighter stain colors are also available. 

Each piece in the Horizon bedroom furniture collection is handmade in Vermont with solid, sustainably harvested maple wood and carries our Vermont Woods Studios Lifetime Guarantee.

Copeland offers several other storage bed designs including the Berkeley Storage Bed, the Monterey Storage Bed, the Dominion Storage Bed and the Harbor Island Storage Bed.  These American made platform beds literally do the heavy lifting when it comes to under-bed storage and customers appreciate the high quality and craftsmanship that's become synonymous with Copeland Furniture's brand.  We think you will too!

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Custom furniture is a luxury that many customers have given up on prior to discovering our made to order furniture at Vermont Woods Studios.  And it's true that if you're going to commission an artisan to design and create unique pieces just for you, there is a lot of work, time and expense that goes into that.

But if you can find a furniture design you love, that you're just looking to modify or customize, then expense may not be an issue at all.  Such is the case for our two-tone wood bedroom sets from Copeland Furniture.  This SoHo bedroom furniture, for example can be customized online in your choice of 7 different maple and walnut wood combinations at no extra charge. 

How about that?  Custom furniture at catalog prices.  What could be better?  Check out our website for other customizable furniture available in two-tone wood combinations, including the the Copeland Berkeley Bedroom Set (with 2 tone cherry and walnut wood) and the Modern American Furniture Collection (customized in your choice of solid cherry, maple, walnut or any two tone combination of these woods).  Give us a call with your questions and customizations.

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The Copeland Berkeley Furniture Collection features Cherry and Walnut Wood in Custom 2 Tone Designs

Two Tone Wood Furniture

Americans are rediscovering Vermont made furniture.  Maybe the trend is due to recent awareness campaigns by the news media about how buying USA made goods stimulates the American economy. 

Or perhaps it's because the organic food movement is migrating into other aspects of our lives.  In addition to thinking about where our food comes from we're now beginning to think about where our furniture comes from.  And where our clothing, computers, appliances (you name it) come from.

Both the American-made and organic movements are reflected in the Vermont furniture brand.

But I think one of the main reasons Vermont made furniture is experiencing a renaissance is that it's customizable.  This Copeland Berkeley Bedroom Set is a good example.  The Berkeley Collection features a 2 tone cherry and walnut wood design that you can customize online with your favorite shade of cherry wood.

Many of our other Vermont made furniture collections offer 2 tone wood combinations, for example the Modern American Collection.  These bedroom, dining and home office furniture sets are shown in cherry and walnut but they can also be customized in any other 2 tone combinations of maple, walnut and cherry wood.

Most Vermont furniture makers embrace the idea of customizing your furniture, be it with two tone wood combinations, specialty sizing or complete custom design from the start.  Learn more about custom furniture options on our website.

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*     Modern American Furniture Collection

*     Contemporary Craftsman Collection 

*     Modern Shaker Furniture Collection

The pieces are made in a small workshop in Burlington, VT by a team of about 10 craftsmen.

Each piece is made to order with sustainably harvested solid wood and finished with a hand-rubbed natural oil finish.  The TV-Media center shown is made of American Black Walnut wood, which is the only North American wood with a dark chocolate brown color.  Two other American woods are also available:  Black Cherry and Sugar Maple.  The furniture can be customized online in your choice of wood or in 2-tone combinations of available woods. We can also customize the size so the furniture fits exactly into your space.

Many times customers come to us because they are looking for a natural organic, oil and wax finish like the one that's hand-rubbed into these pieces.  It's a traditional finish that requires a lot of sanding, but the process really brings out the natural beauty of the wood.  Craftsmen take special care in selecting and matching wood color and grain for these pieces, so what you get is truly an heirloom that will remain beautiful and useful for generations. 

If you are thinking about this kind of organic, solid wood furniture, be sure to check out our furniture care instructions for natural oil finishes.  An oil finish doesn't take a lot of time to maintain, but if you do oil it several times during the first year or so, you'll get a great return on your investment of time as it ages.  There is nothing quite like natural wood furniture with an oil finish.

The post Vermont Modern Classics – Solid Wood Furniture with Natural Oil Finish appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

Guest Blogger:  Dennis Shanoff
Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture

Love Vermont Maple Syrup?  Check out Vermont’s Maple Producers Open House Weekend!

Vermont sure has a whole lot of trees and it is estimated that over 75% of the state is forested. And the biggest percentage of these trees just happens to be of the maple variety.
Well year round these abundant maple trees provide wood and lumber for a variety of products such as wood bowls, cutting boards, wood toys, and of course maple wood furniture.

But come February and March these maple trees are known to produce a very special treat, real Vermont maple syrup! And no wonder with so many sugar maple trees that Vermont is the largest producer of pure organic maple syrup (not a single ingredient added) in the United States. And Vermont’s perfect climate and soil conditions also play a part in our quantity and quality of maple syrup.
 
So with the maple sugar season in full swing, now is the time to plan to visit Vermont and see first hand what this sugaring is all about! And you can’t beat the upcoming Vermont Maple Open House Weekend (held March 24th and 25th) to experience maple syrup production up close. This is a public celebration of the maple syrup season in Vermont and a great opportunity to visit one or more sugarhouses and see just how the clear sap of the maple tree is transformed into a delicious golden syrup.

See you at the Sugar House!

The post Maple Syrup Lovers Unite! In Vermont. This Weekend. appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

What do you think the thief's punishment should be? Death or life in prison?

I'm sorry but I just had to drop everything and go on a rant after I saw this video clip about some loser who stole a Vermont farmer's entire harvest of maple syrup yesterday. What kind of pond scum does this? 

Please help police find the perpetrator by sharing the story on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and bulletin boards.  The robbery took place in Enosburgh Vermont, very close to the Canadian border so presumably the thieves are heading into Quebec to make their sale.  Let's see if we can get this story into the hands of police in Quebec towns like Granby, Brom Lake, Saint Cesaire and Cowansville.

This farmer and his family have been working around the clock for the last couple months, installing some 13,000 taps, collecting over 6000 gallons of sap and boiling it down into maple syrup.  Sugaring is hard work.  In Vermont, we don't take this sort of thing lightly.  What do you think should be the guys punishment if and when he's found?  Death or life in prison?

Peggy at

Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture

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