Where to find Quality Wood Furniture?

[mayachel]

As an off-shoot to the ethan allen thread, we have had our eye on a dining room set that we haven''t been able to find elsewhere. It was EXACTLY what we were looking for in concept...a drop leaf round dining table. Our whole house is only 10'' wide, so a convertible table is ideal.

 

[Selkie]

We''re sort of do-it-yourselfers who like high-quality wood so we often buy unfinished wood furniture that we assemble and finish ourselves. Cheaper that way! So many of the big furniture stores only carry the wood veneer/particle board crap. Whittier Wood Products makes really nice pieces, including a nice drop-leaf round table. Try doing local searches for unfinished furniture. Often the dealers will also do assembly and finishing too if you don''t want to.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Not sure what your style is but you may want to check out Pompanoosuc Mills.

Here is a round drop leaf table.

This one is not round but is pretty cool nonetheless.

The Gardner Furniture Outlets may also be of interest, depending on where you live.

 

[Selkie]

Date: 2/5/2009 6:31:57 PM
Author: DiamanteBlu
Not sure what your style is but you may want to check out Pompanoosuc Mills.


Here is a round drop leaf table.


This one is not round but is pretty cool nonetheless.

Yum. Great, just what I needed, another furniture p*rn site!

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Date: 2/5/2009 6:36:05 PM
Author: Selkie

Date: 2/5/2009 6:31:57 PM

Author: DiamanteBlu

Not sure what your style is but you may want to check out Pompanoosuc Mills.



Here is a round drop leaf table.



This one is not round but is pretty cool nonetheless.

Yum. Great, just what I needed, another furniture p*rn site!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Ooooh I love Pompanoosuc Mills!!

 

[mayachel]

Woohoo! I''m so excited. These are all great links. I will keep you posted when we choose one. Eeek! We''ve been looking for soooo long and not finding anything we liked so much.

 

[diane5006]

I sam not sure where you live...but we have a great store near me...Amish Reflections...they have beautiful solid wood hand made stuff...I just got a solid cherry kitchen set from them they ave other woods too...

I like Pompanoosic too

Best of Luck

 

[DebShine]

I was going to suggest going to Amish made route also. Very good stuff. Usually heirloom pieces that are backed with a warranty (that''s never needed).

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Great question, I've been wondering myself!

ETA: One company I know my family has been happy with is Broyhill. http://www.broyhillfurniture.com/

 

[asscherisme]

I have bought tons of amish pieces and never been dissapointed. And people are often surprised its amish becuase most of it is more modern looking. Such great lifetime quality.

 

[mayachel]

Hey Diane, Thanks for chiming in. I would like to find amish quality woodwork, but without knowing where to look the internet tends to turn up all ranges of quality. I will look into the Amish Reflections.

 

[Elmorton]

I heart Amish furniture. I''m really spoiled because I used to live very close to an Amish community, and there IS a difference between the stuff you buy when you just drove up to the barn and the stuff that retails at places like Simply Amish.

That said, I don''t know what you''re in the market for, but I''ve ordered from Harmony Cedar (a blanket chest that my parents gave me as a graduation/wedding gift - I spent an entire day going everywhere at the community near where I lived and couldn''t find a style/price that was right) and I couldn''t be happier. The chest arrived packed in HUGE HUGE HUGE things of styrofoam and about 4 different boxes - my DH described it like trying to open a huge version of those Russian dolls. The quality is impeccable - completely heirloom quality. Every now and then I go back to the site to lust over the tables and chairs. It''s all Amish made in Michigan.

 

[ladypirate]

So how do you distinguish between good Amish furniture and mediocre Amish furniture? We''re looking at getting a bed frame made and are starting to narrow down companies we''d like to use.

 

[atroop711]

Bernhardt is great

 

[mayachel]

Elmorton, there chests are really lovely. Which style did you choose?

 

[mayachel]

Ladypirate - what is often referred to as "Amish Quality" is non-mass produced solid wood, well joined furniture. While it is possible to find a lot of very good pieces in the rest of the world, some people appreciate the soul of hand made work, long lasting finishes and grains. In order for furniture to come onto the market as both affordable, and disposable there are a lot of short cuts that manufacturers take in building a piece. For example, on drawers of a chest gluing and nailing the pieces together vs. making a tongue and groove so that wood sections actually lock into place with one another, making a more structurally sound piece of furniture. Important if you are looking to buy "forever" pieces. When I''m looking on-line, I find "amish" has been taken over by some furniture manufactures using it on obviously mass produced, low quality work in the way that "natural" has been used as a marketing term for food.

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 2/7/2009 11:27:27 PM
Author: mayachel
Ladypirate - what is often referred to as ''Amish Quality'' is non-mass produced solid wood, well joined furniture. While it is possible to find a lot of very good pieces in the rest of the world, some people appreciate the soul of hand made work, long lasting finishes and grains. In order for furniture to come onto the market as both affordable, and disposable there are a lot of short cuts that manufacturers take in building a piece. For example, on drawers of a chest gluing and nailing the pieces together vs. making a tongue and groove so that wood sections actually lock into place with one another, making a more structurally sound piece of furniture. Important if you are looking to buy ''forever'' pieces. When I''m looking on-line, I find ''amish'' has been taken over by some furniture manufactures using it on obviously mass produced, low quality work in the way that ''natural'' has been used as a marketing term for food.

Right...I looked it up and there is a showroom that brings in furniture made by Amish craftsmen in Ohio and Indiana near us. We''re going to go take a look!

 

[mayachel]

Happy shopping Lady Pirate!

 

[mayachel]

Just an update to say df and I went to look at the drop leaf table at Pompanoosuc and compare it to the one at Ethan Allan. I was literally drooling over the woodwork! There woods in general, are BEAUTIFUL. When we mentioned that we weren''t crazy about the tapered legs, the sa said that we could customize the legs to pretty much anything we wanted! All that being said, we found that table at Ethan allan, while not as well made, WAS half the price, and not that shoddily made. So now, we are trying to figure out which we simply like better.

 

[Elmorton]

Mayachel - I have the oak (cinnamon, I think?) blanket chest - I liked how that style didn''t have legs.

Near us, there are a few Simply Amish retailers if you still want to peruse: http://www.simplyamish.com/ It''s a little more mass produced, but still excellent quality (I luuuuust over those tall, prairie style dining room chairs - they mold to the curve in your lower back and look just gorgeous).

DH and I aren''t ready for a new dining set yet, but I think when we are we''ll have the same issue that you''re having - the Amish tables are amazing, but the price is pretty high in comparison as well - esp when you can find excellent quality for less. Do let us know how it ends up!

 

[soocool]

Amish furniture style is known as Shaker style.I live in southeastern Pa where the Amish come and sell at a local farmers market 3 days per week. They come from Lancaster PA (by horse & buggy - it was funny to see a horse and buggy going thru the window pickup at Wendy's!)

There are also lots of stores in Morgantown, Pa that feature Amish furniture. If you do a google search on Lancaster and Morgantown PA you should get a pretty good listing of stores.

Try this link: http://www.padutchcountry.com/shopping/furniture.asp