Vermont Woods Studios - Eco Furniture Blog

Happy New Year from Vermont Woods Studios

Jacquie Lawson greeting cards, the most beautiful greeting cards on the Internet.

We want to wish all our Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture customers, fans and friends a very Happy and safe New Year.  Thanks to everyone for making 2010 a successful year for our craftspeople, our staff and our mission.

We look forward to serving you and your families in 2011. 

 

Thanks for the picture to Jacquie Lawson greeting cards, the most beautiful greeting cards on the Internet.

Vermont Furniture Awarded Made In USA Brand Certification

Many thanks to Marcie Gabor and the fine folks at Made In The USA Brand for awarding Vermont Woods Studios Handmade Furniture their prestigious American made brand and logo certification.  Only about 100 American businesses have earned this distinction and we are proud to be one of them.  All of our furniture is indeed Made in the USA-- all handmade in Vermont actually.

Marcie published an interview with us on her blog last week, highlighting the question, "Do You Know Where Your Furniture Comes From?"  More and more our customers are interested in this issue and wanting to make sure their furniture is made of sustainably harvested wood and crafted in America.  If you have a business that makes all of your goods in the USA, give Marcie a call and help spread the word about American made products.

Merry Christmas from Vermont Woods Studios

Many thanks to all our customers, craftspeople, suppliers and friends who have supported our work at Vermont Woods Studios Furniture this year.  With your help we have managed to surpass our sales goals this year while still maintaining our high standards for quality and customer service.  We're pretty proud of that, especially during a time of such economic distress.

We'll take a minute or two to celebrate and revel but for the most part we are focused on the future and there's no time to lose.  2011 brings many new challenges as we continue to pursue our environmental mission by expanding our sustainable Vermont made furniture lines and adding a whole new line of eco-friendly recycled outdoor furniture to our store.

We hope you'll continue to follow our work and help us spread the news about the beautiful heirloom quality, solid wood furniture that Vermont is famous for.  Vermont truly is the Fine Furniture Capitol of America and now this authentic craftsmanship is finally available online and across the country-- and indeed the world. That's worth celebrating!

Wishing you all the best of good health, happiness and prosperity in 2011,

Peggy, Ken, Kendall, Riley, Manjula, Rebecca, Douglas, Dennis and our whole family of craftspeople at Vermont Woods Studios Furniture.

 

Winners: National Wildlife Magazine's 40th Annual Photography Contest

Don't miss a chance to take 5 minutes out of your busy day to sit back, relax and revel in the beauty of nature that still exists (in spite of all the bad news we're hearing).  The National Wildlife Magazine's 2010 Photo Contest Winners Gallery was published last week in an inspiring slide show edited by Thuy Senser.  I promise you'll be glad you took the time to see it.

 

Vermont Woods Studios Sustainable Furniture thanks the National Wildlife Federation for all the great work they do.  You can donate here to help continue their conservation efforst.

Kudos to the Vermont Woodlands Association

National Geographic's Traveler Magazine does a survey every year of the world's most desirable destinations for sustainable travel and little old Vermont ranked #6 in the WORLD for stewardship destinations.  Vermont was the only USA destination ranking in the Top Ten:

"More than any American state, Vermont has worked to preserve those qualities that make it unique," such as scenic countryside, lively small towns, historic streetscapes, local businesses. A tourist magnet in summer, it nonetheless "never seems overrun by visitors."

The Vermont Woodlands Association has to take some of the credit for this distinction.  I'm just reading their winter newsletter and as usual, I'm impressed and inspired by their tireless work to protect and steward our forests for future generations.  Here's one of the many interesting facts presented on the VWA website:

"In Vermont, the net growth of trees has exceeded removal since the first inventory in 1948. About twice as much wood has been grown than was cut or otherwise removed."  How's that for sustainable forestry management?

VWA conducts all sorts of forestry workshops, fieldtrips, events and classes.  Check out their education schedule. 

And Hats off to Put Blodgett, Al Robertson and all of the staff and volunteers at VWA!

 

Vermont Furniture: Listen For Us on WKVT Tomorrow Morning

Tune in to Brattleboro Radio WKVT 92.7 FM / 1490 AM tomorrow morning from 10-11AM to hear Steve West and me chat all about the work of artisans like Chad Woodruff and Greg Goodman and the fact that Vermont is the fine furniture capitol of America. 

Many thanks to Steve and Crystal for giving us this opportunity to spread the word about Vermont's awesome furniture makers and our online furniture gallery at Vermont Woods Studios.

Shaker Furniture on Sale

Winter has arrived and with the snow comes our handmade, solid wood Shaker Style Furniture Sale! Whether readying your home for the upcoming holidays or looking for the perfect pieces to complement your Shaker Style decor we welcome you to browse and shop our Vermont Woods Studios Online Furniture Gallery.

Here you will find Vermont made solid hardwood Shaker Furniture for every room in your home. Available in natural cherry, maple, oak and walnut woods and traditionally crafted one piece at a time. Take 10% off any single piece or add more pieces and receive 15% off each piece. (plus Free Shipping and White Glove Delivery and set-up in your home).

Shop for your new Shaker bedroom, dining room, living room, or home office furniture securely, easily, and conveniently from our online store. Or if you prefer, contact us  at 888-390-5571 to order by phone or discuss your questions about our Vermont made, solid wood Shaker furniture. Hurry! This Sale ends at midnight on December 28th.

Is Amazon Plagiarizing Your Website?

I can't believe this.  Amazon.com sells dozens of books about how to avoid and protect yourself from plagiarism, but at the same time they're ripping off content from my Vermont Woods Studios furniture website and claiming it as their own.  Check out this site.  It's an Amazon site selling cheap imported furniture and claiming it's Vermont made. The URL and the title contain the words "Vermont Furniture".  The site automatically and systematically copies content from this blog, my twitter account and from other Vermont furniture makers' websites.

Do you find this surprising?  I've tried contacting Amazon and asking them to take the site down, but they don't acknowledge my emails.  My next correspondance is going to be to the Vermont Attorney General.  I realize it's not Amazon.com per se that's copying my content.  But the site owner is displaying Amazon's logo, linking to an Amazon account and sending the user to Amazon.com.  Amazon has to take some responsibility -- and probably shut this guy's account down.

I'm sure they wouldn't just pick on small Vermont furniture makers.  Seems to me like it must be part of a far bigger black hat marketing scheme linked to Amazon.  You may want to check and make sure they haven't hijacked the content on your website.  Let me know what you think.  Have any ideas for how to deal with these parasites?  Please send them my way.  Thanks!

 

Sneak Peak at Our Luxury Modern Shaker Collection

We'll be introcuding our new luxury Modern Shaker Furniture Collection in a few weeks but I wanted to let you have an insiders look at what's to come.  This is one of the three lines of Vermont Made furniture we were photographing in Burlington last month.  We have several pieces up on the website now, but we're still working on it and the entire collection is not yet available online (it is available by phone).

 

 

 This is classic Shaker style furniture with a few modern twists, like arched aprons and curved corners.  Actually customers have their choice of square or rounded corners and edges.  It's amazing how different the pieces look just by changing that one feature-- the corners and edges.

These luxury collections offer our customers a new finish choice too.  It's a high end, hand-rubbed linseed oil and wax finish-- something you don't see around much these days-- and it's absolutely incredible to the touch.  It's so finely sanded it feels almost like soft skin.  Keep checking back at Vermont Woods Studios furniture to see additional pieces coming online, including beds, chests, dressers, armoires, night stands, dining tables, buffets, hutches, occasional tables and more.  Check out the new photos on our homepage.

Sharon and Margaux Brown Memorial Project Update

In May I wrote about our dear friend Jeff Brown who lost his wife and baby daughter in a tragic accident in Kenya.  Since that time, Jeff has been dedicating himself to building a memorial to Sharon and Margaux. 

The memorial is designed to continue Sharon's work in an area she was passionate about:  environmental education and reforestation-- a mission near and dear to our hearts at Vermont Woods Studios.

We send our very best wishes to Jeff and the many volunteers who are working on the memorial in Kenya.  To learn more about the memorial, see photos of it's progress or donate to the Sharon and Margaux Brown Memorial Fund, visit Jeff's Blog.

Meals On Wheels

Do you ever worry about someone who isn't able to fix themselves a nutritous hot meal every day?  Now, during the holiday season would be a great time to refer them to Meals on Wheels. 

The Meals On Wheels Association of America is the oldest and largest national organization composed of local, community-based Senior Nutrition Programs in all 50 U.S. states.  These programs provide well over one million meals to seniors who need them each day. 

Did you know that hunger is a serious threat facing millions of seniors in the United States?  Nearly six million seniors faced the threat of hunger in 2007.  Over 11% of all seniors experienced some form of food insecurity that year.

At Vermont Woods Studios Furniture we take turns volunteering for Meals on Wheels in our own town of Vernon, VT.  It's not just a great way to serve your community, it's also a lot of fun.  It only takes about an hour/week per volunteer if each volunteer signs up for a different day.  Why not sign up to deliver Meals on Wheels in your community?

2011: The International Year of The Forest

2011 has been declared by the UN as the International Year of the Forest in an effort to raise awareness and strengthen the sustainable forest management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations.

At Vermont Woods Studios Furniture our mission is rooted (no pun intended) in forest conservation so we're happy to see this campaign take shape.  Did you know that every second an area of rainforest the size of a football field is lost due to deforestation?

According to the World Bank, deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.  They also estimate that forests provide habitats to about two-thirds of all species on earth, and that deforestation of tropical rainforests could account for biodiversity loss of as many as 100 species a day.

 

We'd like to see the UN and governments do something to stop or slow deforestation but we think it will actually have to be green commerce that takes the lead on this.  Consumers have the power to decrease deforestation by purchasing forest products that are sustainably harvested.  Visit the Forest Stewardship Council FSC and Rainforest Relief websites to learn more about how to buy sustainable forest products, like the handmade wood furniture offered by Vermont Woods Studios.

Vermont Furniture Featured on Local Radio Station, WTSA

Our thanks go out to Vernon, USA's most famous DJ, the Great Tim Johnson of WTSA.net for inviting us into his studio for an interview highlighting the work of Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture Makers.

Tune in to 96.7FM and you'll hear snippets of our conversation with Tim interspersed with great music, local news and lots of fun and games.

Led by Tim, WTSA does a lot of good work for our community including projects like Feed the Thousands and The Reformer Christmas Stocking.  We appreciate Tim's outreach work and are proud to be included in WTSA's fine programming.

 

 

 

Natural Cherry Wood Furniture Characteristics: Color

Customers are often surprised to learn that natural cherry wood changes colors over time-- quite a bit actually.  Natural cherry wood starts out as a light-toned wood, usually with a color similar to the Modern American 3 Drawer Nightstand shown and it takes time to darken as it is exposed to light. 

 

 

The length of time to go from this light color to the darker color shown below in our Modern Shaker Bookcase varies with the amount of natural and artificial light in the room and can take anywhere from a month to a number of years.  Most customers, however report that their furniture darkens to at least this hue within 4-6 months.  Cherry furniture will darken even further given enough light.

 
People often ask if there is a way to speed up the ripening process.

Our craftspeople suggest exposing the furniture to as much light as possible.  For cherry furniture that has an oil finish, you can also speed up the ripening (or darkening) process by re-oiling the furniture often. They recommend re-oiling once a day for the first week, once a week for the first month, once a month for the first year and once a year thereafter.

Adding a dark stain is also a possibility but woodworkers always plead with us to have patience and wait it out instead (there is really no comparison between stained cherry and the real thing).

The result-- a natural rich, reddish brown hue that is exceptionally lustrous and supple to the touch.  It is truly worth waiting for especially since our furniture is purchased for a lifetime of use. 

Check out more photos of our natural cherry furniture in the Modern American Collection, Contemporary Craftsman Collection and throughout our website.

You Can Call Her Becster, Beckmeister, Reba...

When you call Vermont Woods Studios Furniture it's very likely the first person you talk to will be Rebecca.  Sort of a formal name isn't it?  So customers have come up with lots of permutations like Bec, Reba, Becaroni, Beckmeister and now today someone added Becster.  We work hard to reinforce these nicknames in the office (to keep her ego in check-- you know), so bring 'em on.  But don't tell Rebecca we told you to.

 

This is a picture of Rebecca during our last furniture photo shoot.  Bruce is in the front.  Lester and Ryan are in the back.  We call them Chuck and Bore--  nick names are popular around here.

 

 

Modern Style – Fine Handcrafted Wood Furniture on Sale Today!

Here's a sneak peak at the four new furniture lines Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture is introducing in 2011.  We've put them all on a Sneak Peak Sale for the holidays.  These collections feature classic wood furniture designs updated with modern styling.  Check out the traditional and timeless style favorites such as Craftsman, Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, and Shaker -- all with a modern influence and flair.

Perfect for the contemporary home or room. Find new modern wood furniture for your bedroom, dining, living room or home office. Each piece is expertly crafted in Vermont and available in natural Cherry, Maple, Walnut, or woods. Modern in design but still traditionally hand built and finished to last for generations of use.

Take 10% off any single piece or add another piece and receive 15% off your order. (plus Free White Glove Delivery and set-up in your home).  Hurry, this Sale ends at midnight on December 14th.

Marlboro College MBA Program Collaborates on Vermont Furniture Project

Our thanks go out to the fine people at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in Brattleboro, Vermont for their help and support in a recent project we collaborated on together.

MBA students, Jennifer Marshall Grantham, Rupert Grantham and Don Simms who are completing their Masters in Business Administration Degrees in Managing for Sustainability worked with us at Vermont Woods Studios to provide research and recommendations on growth strategies for our business.

We greatly appreciate their time, talents and insight into our business.  I also wanted to thank their advisors Bruce Gardner of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation BDCC and Will Keyser of the Marlboro Grad Center and Startup Owl, who have contributed their expertise to our strategic growth plan.  We value this partnership and look forward to further collaborations in the future.