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?

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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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Copeland's Catalina dining set is designed with mid-century modern style, including clean unadorned lines and retro-modern shapes and sensibilities. Buying the furniture as a set can save you big on shipping.

Manjula just published a new Copeland dining set yesterday:  it's the Catalina Mid Century Modern Collection.

If you're looking for authentic, solid walnut, fine dining furniture, have a look at Catalina.  This Copeland set is 100% handmade in America– right here in Vermont.

It's designed with mid-century modern style, including clean unadorned lines and retro-modern shapes and sensibilities.  Manjula has arranged our Catalina dining set to make it easy to price and purchase dozens of combinations of tables, chairs and buffets.  You can use drop-down menus to price out different choices for arm chairs, side chairs, extension table versus solid top table and buffet sizes.

Customers receive free DIY shipping and discounted white glove shipping when purchasing this furniture as a set so the savings can be substantial.  We also offer a lifetime guarantee and a low price guarantee.  If you're considering Catalina or any other Copeland furniture I recommend you check out our Top 10 Reasons to Buy Copeland Furniture at Vermont Woods Studios.  It really does make a difference where you buy.

Drop us a note below or on our Facebook to let us know how you like Catalina and the many other beautiful furniture collections Copeland crafts right here in Vermont.

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The Astrid collection is made right here in Vermont of solid wood throughout.  It's available in solid cherry, walnut and maple.  Manjula has made it easy to shop for and price out dozens of combinations of the collection with these Astrid Walnut Bedroom Furniture Set and Astrid Maple or Cherry Bedroom Set pages.  You can use drop down menus to price out any number of options for you choice of chests, dressers, nightstands, beds and mirrors.

Using these sets to purchase Astrid furniture will save you hundreds of dollars (or even thousands, depending on how many pieces you're purchasing) on shipping.  If you're serious about purchasing Astrid pieces or any of Copeland's furniture, check out our Top 10 Reasons to Buy Copeland Furniture at Vermont Woods Studios or just give us a call.  We'll look forward to helping you transform your bedroom into the sophisticated retreat you've always dreamed of!

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Walnut furniture has been one of our best sellers this year, in spite of the fact that there is a 10-30% premium on the wood.  Walnut wood is becoming rare (due to a disease called Thousand Cankers) so we are super careful about making sure ours is sustainably harvested from forests where re-planting is well managed. 

We use a couple different types of American walnut wood for our furniture. 

For thick, organic slab tables we often use claro walnut wood from huge old (up to 100 years) shade trees that have been taken down (usually from city streets) because of safety reasons.  These slabs typically have beautiful, interesting character resulting from things like burls and branches. 

The modern Copeland SoHo walnut dresser-chest. Handmade from real solid walnut wood.

For modern looking furniture, customers generally do not want "character wood" so we use younger walnut trees with straight grain patterns grown in managed forests in the mid-west (since walnut doesn't grow well in Vermont).  This is the contemporary SoHo walnut 4 drawer chest, made by Copeland Furniture with solid, walnut wood.

Whether you're shopping for organic, walnut slab tables or Modern walnut furniture, it's important to verify that you are indeed getting real, solid walnut wood, as opposed to cheaper woods that have been stained dark to look like walnut.  Be sure to ask your salesperson to confirm the wood type and its origin before you buy.  Ask if the furniture has been made from solid walnut wood or walnut veneers.

Learn more about walnut wood and see photos of beautiful walnut furniture on our website.  If you take the time to find real solid walnut furniture as opposed to what most stores call "walnut" you'll probably have that furniture for a lifetime.  Enjoy it!

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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.

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This one is Copeland's ultra minimalist (that's an oxymoron, isn't it?) Catalina Estelle chair in solid walnut wood.  It brings you back to that mid century modern style of the 1950's with it's clean, simple lines and retro design.

If the Estelle is too spartan for you, check out Copeland's other walnut chairs: the Catalina Morgan chair and the Catalina Ingrid chair.

These chairs styles are also available in cherry as the Sarah Morgan chair, and the Sarah Ingrid chair.  One more cherry chair is also on sale now and that's Copelands traditional Sarah Shaker Chair.

All of Copeland's furniture is made right here in Vermont from sustainably harvested wood.  Many Copeland items are available in FSC green-certified wood.  You can read more about Copeland's green furniture and the many prestigious awards they have won for sustainability on our website. 

Stay tuned for the roll out of additional brand new Copeland dining furniture pieces in the coming weeks.  If you're looking for authentic green luxury you can't overlook Copeland.  And their furniture is 100% American made.  As we see all the big furniture companies talking about bringing their operations back to the USA from Asia due to global economics, it's good to know about Copeland Furniture– one of the few American furniture makers that stayed in the USA remaining true to their values of quality, sustainability and community throughout the mass exodus to China.

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