Vermont Woods Studios - Eco Furniture Blog

Luxury Gift Ideas: For Mermaids

Most of us may not be planning to indulge in ultra luxury gift giving this year, but we can still look, right?  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the new pieces we're offering.  Take notice, those whose stocks are up!  Now is the perfect time to invest in handcrafted custom artisan furniture heirlooms that will be cherished forever.  You'll never have to worry about them losing their value.

We call this the Mermaid's Sleigh Bed because of it's graceful, flowing lines, wave-shaped footboard and carved maple natuilus shells on both headboard and footboard.  

It's shown in cherry and curly cherry veneers, curly maple and nogal.  You could make quite a splash with this gift, don't you think?

Getting Buried in Holiday Junk Mail? Take Action Now!

Here's a quick gift you can give the planet for Christmas.  Add your voice to the growing chorus of people who want to set up a Do Not Junk Mail list that would be similar to that wonderful Do Not Call list the government set up a few years ago.  Wouldn't it be great?

Take this quiz to see how much of a waste junk mail really is:

The junk mail industry claims ___  trees a year.

1. 1 Million
2. 10 Million
3. 100 Million
   

 

Deforestation contributes more to global warming annually than all the _____ in the world.

1. Cars
   
2. Planes
3. Trains
4. Cars + Planes + Trains

Junk mail accounts for ___ percent of USPS mail.

1. 10 %
   
2. 20%
3. 30%
4. 75%
   

Answers:  100 Million,   Cars + Planes + Trains   and   30%

Unbelievable isn't it?  Surveys show that almost 90% of Americans favor the Do Not Mail Registry.  Please join us at Vermont Woods Studios in asking Congress to make it happen, and forward this post to your friends.  Ask them to join. 

Here's the petition sponsored by Forest Ethics.  It takes about 1 minute to read and sign it.

Vermont Woods Studios Furniture Featured in New England Home Magazine

Thanks to editor extraordinaire Erin Marvin, Vermont Woods Studios has once again been featured in New England Home magazine.  Our Modern Equinox Table is showcased as "one of our favorite must-haves for the season" with "curves in all the right places".

We are proud to be recognized in such a prestigious collection of unique and beautiful handcrafted New England furniture.  Thanks, Erin!

Luxury Christmas Gifts: Have You Thought About Artisan Furniture?

I guess most people would tend to think of diamonds and furs if they were looking for an extravagant gift for the holidays, right?  Or maybe a fancy little convertible. None of those sound very green to me.

Plenty of people will say that green luxury is an oxymoron anyway.  What do you think?

In my mind green luxury is the only luxury.  Check out these extravagant Christmas and holiday gift ideas.  They're all handmade in VT using sustainably harvested wood and natural finishes.  The ultimate indulgence!

I'm Inclined to Like This Bed

Isn't this a beautiful bed?  Our friend and colleague, Robin came out with this simple, elegant design recently and it's been our best selling bed ever since.  The headboard has a subtle incline-- just enough to make it comfy for reading or watching TV in bed. 

It's shown here in natural cherry, that has had a few months to ripen and reach the rich, reddish brown color cherry is known for.  We're calling it (what else?) the Modern Incline Bed.

Vermont's Furniture Makers: A Case Study in Sustainability

I attended a Vermont Wood Manufacturer's Association (VWMA) meeting last Friday that was held at Copeland Furniture in Bradford, VT.  I'm always amazed when getting together with all these talented artisans and furniture makers.  They're creative not only about their furniture designs, but also about the other aspects that are required to keep their businesses sustainable these days.

Tim Copeland was showing us the piles of wood shavings that are generated from milling and sanding his lumber.  He's setting up a system to convert the shavings and sawdust into wood pellets to use for heating.  Tim said he'll be able to heat his entire facility with the wood pellets and in addition, he'll have a new revenue stream generated by the surplus pellets. 

Just one of the many sustainable practices that Vermont's furniture makers have been working through for generations.

Vermont's Handmade Wood Furniture: Catching On in California

I chatted today with a couple from California who came to Vermont this Fall to attend the Vermont Fine Furniture Festival in Woodstock, VT. June and Bob had found our website online this summer and when we told them about the festival, they decided to plan their vacation around it.

They were able to narrow down their selection of handmade wood furniture to three of our collections before their trip:

• The American Shaker Furniture Collection
• The Vermont-Made Shaker Furniture Collection
• The Cherry Moon Furniture Collection

Then after spending a week in VT, taking in several days of sight-seeing, leaf peeping and touring of furniture studios they made a final decision and placed their order.   Now we are working with them to arrange shipping and delivery of their furniture.  I can't wait to see how it will look in their house.  Send photos, June!

Rebecca Treading on Thin Ice?

It was too much to hope for, I guess.  That sassy South Florida girl, I told you about ... Rebecca?  The one we hired and thought we'd be able to convert to a crunchy green Vermont-style granola?  Well, guess again.  You're not going to believe what she's up to now.

Check out her latest blog entry, something like "Global Warming is Not Caused by Humans".  Hmmph.  She is just not getting it.  There's no room for differing opinions here at Vermont Woods Studios. 

Not really.  We're having a lot of fun arguing about these things and we love the blogging Rebecca's doing.  She's taught us a lot about website-related issues too.  In fact, she show'd me how to photoshop images, like this one.  Hahahaha!

Help! Last Chance to Help Keep ATVs Off Vermont's State Parks and Wetlands

We've been following Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) insane quest to allow ATVs on the states sensitive forests and wetlands.  We've written to ANR, our legislators, Governor Douglas, Vermont newspapers and other vested parties to try and stop this proposal.

In spite of the fact that Vermonters have opposed this rule 4:1, ANR is going along with the ATV lobby and trying to complete the last steps toward approval of the ill-advised proposal. 

We need your help!  There is one last chance to be heard.  You can attend a public hearing in the Vermont State House in Montpelier on Nov. 3rd from 10am – 12pm or call or write to our Vermont state legislators to express your opposition. 

Help keep Vermont clean and green!

International Day of Climate Action

Today has been designated International Day of Climate Action in a global attempt to raise awareness about the importance of taking action on climate change.  More than 150 nations will participate in rallies, demonstrations, street theatre events, bike rides and other events.

Check your local calendar to see if there's anything you might like to attend.

At Vermont Woods Studios one of our main missions is to raise awareness about the impact your wood furniture, flooring and home-building supplies have on climate change.  Did you know that up to 90% of the imported furniture in the US today is made from wood that is illegally clear-cut from the world's rapidly disappearing rainforests?  And about 20% of global warming is attributed to the destruction of the rainforest.

You can make a difference through the choices you make!  Buy wood products made from sustainably harvested wood grown locally in the USA.

Thank You to our Wonderful Shoebox Volunteers

A million thanks go out to all the generous people who helped us package and wrap 121 shoe boxes with toys, candy and school supplies for under-privileged kids in Afghanistan, Sudan and other war-ravaged places around the world.

Kelsey, Jan, Annette and I especially wish to thank the good people at the Vernon Elementary School (Seth and Ian Deyo, Lisa McKinney, Principal Mark Speno) and at the Green Mountain Chapel who will be collecting more boxes and storing them until they are sent overseas for delivery over the holidays.  And thanks to the employees of Entergy Vermont Yankee who have generously provided funding to make this important event happen each year for the past 7 years.

It's not too late if you would like to pack some boxes with your family and friends.  Instructions and drop off locations can be found at Operation Christmas Child.

Falling Leaves

I just got back from a leaf raking break.

Getting away from work in the middle of a gorgeous Fall day to rake leaves seems such a luxury.

I suppose some people in Vermont would argue with me.

But maybe not the ones who work at a computer most of the day.

Try it!

I posted my fall foliage pics on Flickr, if you'd lie to see more.

Customize Your Furniture to Fit in Your Space

I was just walking a customer through Arrange-A-Room, the software I blogged about in the last post when we realized how helpful it is in customizing your furniture to fit into your space.  Kelly is furnishing her bedroom with a bed, 2 night stands, and some combination of: a chest of drawers, a dresser, a TV armoire, a gent's chest and a sweater chest. 

She's now having fun playing with Arrange-A-Room and is happy to be able to size our furniture up or down to fit perfectly into her layout.

At Vermont Woods Studios we'll customize your furniture, usually at little or no additional expense.  Check it out!

Vermont Made Furniture Now on Flickr

Thanks to the ever-talented and creative Rebecca, we are now up on Flickr.  Check out photos of the stunning collection of Vermont Made Furniture that was on display in Woodstock last month at the Vermont Fine Furniture Festival.  And see additional Vermont Made Furniture at Vermont Woods Studios in our online store.

The chest at right is a two-toned version with natural walnut for the frame, sides, drawer pulls and top and natural maple for the drawer fronts.  The chest can be done in many different combinations of maple, cherry and/or walnut. 

Looking for Vermont Cherry Furniture?  Here the same chest is shown in natural cherry.  We call it the Cherry Moon Chest of Drawers.  Customize it with your favorite wood or combination of two contrasting woods!

Buying Furniture Online: Will It Fit into My Room?

I guess buying furniture online is no different than  purchasing it from a local store in this respect:  how will you know your new furniture is going to fit nicely into your room?  We discuss this topic alot with customers and often recommend that you use newspapers or string or even cardboard mock-ups to layout your furniture footprints in your room.

We've used online room planners before but the software used to be a little clunky.  I found a new online planner yesterday that I like much better.  It's called Arrange-A-Room and it's available free courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens.  

Arrange-A-Room lets you select the shape of your room, designate the dimensions and then add furniture to it.  It's easy and fun!  You select which room you're working with (dining room, bedroom, living room or home office) and the software gives you typical furniture pieces to put in the room.  You then adjust the dimensions of your furniture pieces, rotate and move them around... and VOILA!  You can really get a good idea of how your new furniture will fit into your space.

Arrange-A-Room provides a color pallet too.  If you give it a try the folks at Vermont Woods Studios would love to know how you like it.

Vermont-Made Drawer Pulls for Your Custom Furniture

I blogged about our Vermont Woods Studios selection of drawer and door pulls the other day.  We're happy to install your favorite hardware on any of our chests, dressers, cabinets, buffets, armoires and so on.Anyway, I was looking for an American company that makes handcrafted drawer and door pulls so I could provide a link to them for our readers and a customer suggested Knobworks Vermont.  They provide beautiful blown glass, lathe-turned wood and milled brass hardware.  Check them out! 

Rebecca Goes Green!

What can you say about a chi-chi South Florida girl who moves to the hills of Vermont and abandons her wicked ways (well some of them anyway) for a greener lifestyle? 

Oh, no!  It must be Rebecca.  Look what she's up to now... blogging about saving the planet.  Are we winning a convert here? 

Stay tuned.

Custom Door and Drawer Pulls

If you're shopping for a cabinet or a dresser or really any type of furniture that has doors or drawers, how important is the style of the door or drawer pulls to you? 

Have you ever found a chest or armoire you like, but didn't consider it because the knobs were awful? 

At Vermont Woods Studios, all of our door and drawer pulls are customizable.  You can choose from the custom hardware shown here, or send us your own pulls if you're looking for a more colorful or exotic knob.

I've been looking for a company we can link to that provides American-made, handcrafted door-drawer pulls, knobs and handles you might like, but I haven't found anything yet.  Do you know of anyone? 

I did find a company called Sunburst Knobs that has all kinds of cool knobs.  Theirs are made by artisans in India and each is unique.  Check them out and let me know what you think!

Christmas in October: Come Join Us on Friday

Vermont Wood Studios staff will be co-sponsoring our 7th annual Operation Christmas Child Charity event this Friday, October 16 at 3:30pm in the Vernon Elementary School cafeteria. 

Come help us pack and wrap 150 shoeboxes with toys, candy, clothes, school supplies and more to be distributed to disadvantaged kids both locally and overseas. 

The amazing Kelsey O'Donnell will be on hand from the University of Vermont to lead our activities and make sure everyone is having fun.  Annette Roydon, the Great Organizer, will be assisting Kelsey with automation. And the always cheerful Jan Bennett will be providing constant encouragement and rocking the house down with the finest selection of Christmas carols you've ever heard.

We hope to see you there!  It's always a lot of fun and it's for such a good cause.  Free pizza and drinks to be served!

Many thanks to the employees at Entergy and our own 501(c)(3) non-profit, Kids Saving the Planet for co-sponsoring this event. 

Walnut Furniture: It's Hot!

We've always offered black walnut as a choice for our Vermont Woods Studios furniture but to be honest, walnut hasn't been very popular these last several years.  I'm not sure why, but lately the tables have turned!  Just in the last few weeks we've had more inquiries for walnut furniture than over the past 2 years.

I think walnut is a stunning hardwood.  It's a chocolate-brown color and generally much more figured than other local woods we work with.  Walnut furniture has great character and richness. 

 

Live edge walnut furniture seems to be what's really on fire now.  Our friend and woodworking magician, Dan does a lot of work with live edge walnut.  I think he's going to be very busy this year.

How do you like this live edge table?  Greg built this one a couple months ago.  The customer had a hand in designing this live edge showpiece and I love the way it turned out.

Thinking about walnut furniture for your home?  Contact us for ideas!