Vermont Woods Studios - Eco Furniture Blog

A Luxury Mid-Century Modern Home in Vermont

 

We've been featuring our new mid-century modern American furniture by Copeland lately so when I came across this article about a beautiful new luxury mid-century Vermont home, I thought I'd share it with you.

The former Vanderbilt estate that sits along the edge of Lake Champlain now belongs to a Manhattan couple who've used natural materials including reclaimed barnwood and local river rocks to create a rural respite quite reminiscent of the homes of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Find a dozen more photos of this modern luxury retreat at The Globe and Mail.

Furniture Discounts for Designers, Interior Decorators, Architects

 

Installation of Copeland's Frank Lloyd Wright Furniture

 

Are you a professional interior designer, architect, or home decorator sourcing luxury, high end commercial or residential projects?  If so, give Rebecca a call-- she can make your life a whole lot easier.

We offer online and in-store furniture specification services for our clients.  Qualified professionals receive a trade discount on our Vermont made natural, eco-friendly, solid wood furniture.  Many designers have earned LEED credits for their projects through the purchase of our furniture.  It's green, sustainable, organic and American made.  Our clean, non-toxic finishes are low VOC, with many custom options available.

Vermont-made furniture is famous for its quality and durability, as evidenced by innumerable installations in businesses, schools, non-profits and hospitality venues across the country and around the world. 

Give us a call and check it out for your next project!

Vermont Handcrafted Post and Beam Cottages - Livin' Small

 

It seems each year we get more demand for custom furniture made for small spaces.  Many people are looking to simplfy their lifestyle and live with a smaller carbon footprint.  As a green company founded on principles of sustainability, we at Vermont Woods Studios love seeing this trend and are always happy to customize our furniture to make it fit perfectly into small spaces.

 

For those of you who may be thinking of downsizing, I thought you might be interested in this small home sale at the Jamaica Cottage Shop.  For years they have been building small cozy homes, play houses, greenhouses and sheds.  They are now updating some of their designs and selling off their model homes at very low prices.  This one is going for just over $6000-- I think now is the best time to make your move though.  The models are selling fast.  Check out this cool Vermont company and get ready to start living the simple life.

Vermont's Green Building Conference 2012: Worth The Trip to Burlington

There's still time to register for the best Green Build conference in Vermont, Better Buildings by Design, to be held at the Sheraton Conference Center in Burlington VT on Feb 8-9, 2012. 

At Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture much of our work is with green architects, builders and home owners as they approach the final stages of their construction projects.  We're always excited to see our natural, eco-friendly furniture installed in green homes that reflect the same environmental passions we've built our business on.

 

If you're thinking of building or renovating, you're sure to enjoy (and learn a lot at) this convivial gathering of green designers, builders, vendors, realtors and consultants.  Here's 3 reasons why:

1. This is the Northeast's premier sustainable design and construction conference, featuring interactive learning about building, durability, efficiency, and value.  It hosts over 1000 attendees, 35 workshops and 50 exhibitors.
2. If you're planning on building or retrofitting a green home or business in Vermont this is the best place to find out who's who in the zoo of local regional green home builders, service providers and consultants in the areas of thermal imaging, heat pumps, thermal biomass, performance monitoring, hydrothermal modeling, whole house monitoring, high performance hot water systems, solid state lighting or LEDs, deep energy retrofits, energy codes and more.
3. Here you can find the best scoop on Self-Reliance, the 100% solar-powered home that took fourth place in the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. The Middlebury College green team of college students and faculty will explain how they looked to the past to reinvent the residential building of Vermont’s future, discussing everything from sustainable materials and modern technology to the economic realities of building a solar home.

A Vermont Furniture Showroom and Cafe: Co-located at Skyline?

 

 

Part of our feasibility study to see if the Skyline property on Vermont's Hogback Mountain would work for Vermont Woods Studios is anaylzing the possibility of co-locating a cafe or wine bar with the furniture showroom. It's not a real natural combination, is it (furniture and food)?

 

 

But two factors keep pointing to the pairing of these functions at Skyline:

 

 

• The Skyline location, on top of Hogback Mountain, with it's 100 mile view of the Green Mountain Forest offers what I've been looking for to raise awareness about where your wood furniture comes from.  After all, you can buy imported wood furniture anywhere but it's probably going to be made from illegally harvested trees, clear-cut from the world's rapidly disappearing tropical rainforests.  Our customers are interested in acquiring heirloom quality, Vermont-made furniture that's crafted from natural, solid, wood that's been sustainably harvested from beautiful, well-managed American forests (more about green, environmental concerns here). 
  
  
• The other factor is that:  How could  you operate ANYTHING at Skyline without inviting people to come up and enjoy the view?  It would be kinda like that commercial for Ally bank where the guy asks 2 little girls if they'd like a pony. He shows a real pony to one of the girls but only gives her a little figurine instead.  The announcer says something like:  "even kids know it's wrong to hold out on somebody."  That's how I'd feel having a business at Skyline that didn't offer people a place to relax and enjoy the view with a cup of tea or a glass of wine.

So now we're trying to figure out how to strategically pair a Vermont-made furniture showroom with a cafe or wine bar.  Allocating space is the conundrum of the day.  60% furniture -- 40% cafe? Additional seasonal seating outside?  I guess the answers will reveal themselves as we do our research. 

Got ideas?  Suggestions? Interested in running an upscale cafe at Skyline?  Contact us on Facebook and jump into the conversation.  We'll be looking for local help as we navigate through the feasibility study and (hopefully) beyond.

 

 

Vermont Skyline Project: Feasibility Study

Ken and I are under contract at Vermont Woods Studios to purchase the old Skyline Restaurant on Hogback Mountain in Marlboro, Vermont for use as a small furniture showroom, administrative office and cafe.  Right now our emphasis is on conducting a feasibility study to see if the property can be renovated to meet our needs. 

If you're local to Southeastern Vermont, you no-doubt remember eating a delicious, hearty breakfast at Skyline while enjoying the incredible 100 Mile view.  It was the kind of place you thought would always be there for you, the next time you were in the neighborhood. I'm not sure why the restaurant shut down (about 4 years ago?) but it's in pretty bad shape at the moment.

We've been working with Jeremy Coleman of J Coleman & Company Architects on evalutaing the condition of Skyline's heating, air conditioning, plumbing and structure these past couple weeks to see which systems will have to be totally gutted and replaced and which, if any may be partially salvaged.  It looks to me like there will be a lot of replacement. 

If you're in the area or you're interested in green building or the story of Skyline, keep an eye on our project through this blog and Facebook.  We'll be posting progress as we go.  If Skyline is a feasible location for a Vermont made furniture showroom and we do end up purchasing the property, we'll be looking for local help to transform it.  Contact us if you interested in getting involved.

Kringle Candle: A Benchmark for Vermont Made Furniture

We were coming home from Greenfield MA on Sunday after Riley's basketball game and decided to travel home along Route 5, through Bernardston.  I was surprised to see how much progress they've made on the new Kringle Candle Company-- where the old Harley Davidson shop used to be. 

 

 

It is beautiful!  We had been through the candle shop last year but now there are several additional shops across the street-- it's like a little village. 

 

 

The old farmhouse that sits south of the Harley shop has been transformed into an elegant Farm Table Restaurant that extends to outdoor eating areas filled with Polywood Euro Furniture and decorated with colorful Fall mums and pumpkins.

 

In their brochures they note that Mike and Mick Kittredge founded the company on green principles: 

• The restaurant serves all local organic foods
• The candle containers are designed for re-use
• Product packaging is environmentally friendly and recycled when possible

 

 

That's where there is some commonality between the Kringle Candle Company and Vermont Woods Studios-- in our shared green philosophy.  Our vision for our new location (be it Skyline or elsewhere) is one that honors our natural world and serves to raise awareness about the green causes we have always been passionate about:  forest conservation and wildlife protection.  I think Kringle Candle is an appropriate benchmark for us.  We could learn a lot from these folks.

Our Fall Foliage Tour Through Southern Vermont

This past weekend was the most beautiful Columbus Day I can remember.  After suffering through the wake of Hurricane Irene, Vermonters really deserved a break.  And we got one.  Temperatures were around 80F and the sun shined all weekend.

 

Ken and I ventured out to leaf peep and give his new hip a whirl.  He's still a bit wobbly, but he generally gets where he wants to go.

 

This photo was taken at the property we're researching to buy for Vermont Woods Studios.  It's the old Skyline Restaurant on Hogback Mountain in Marlboro VT on Route 9 between Wilmington and Brattleboro.

 

 

After a morning of traipsing around Skyline looking at heating, ventillation, air conditioning and plumbing systems we headed into Brattleboro, stopped at Grafton Cheese and landed at The Marina for lunch.  Can't think of a better place to be on a day like that.

More pictures of our leaf peeping adventure on Facebook.

 

Vermont Furniture: Reaching For The Sky... Line

Remember this photo?  Well, I mentioned in the summer that Ken and I were looking to purchase a property that Vermont Woods Studios Furniture could call home. 

This week we signed an offer to purchase the old Skyline Restaurant property on Route 9 in Marlboro, Vermont (across from the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum and Giftshop).  It's just a first step and there are many hurdles to be jumped before a sale can happen but even so, we're pretty excited about it. And nervous.

We looked at dozens of properties throughout southern Vermont (courtesy of Suzanne King at Masiello Real Estate) and liked this one best because of its beautiful location in the foothills of the Green Mountain National Forest.  We wanted a place where we could welcome customers and let them experience the link between Vermont's handmade wood furniture and the forest where it comes from. 

 

 

 

Situated on Vermont's scenic Hogback Mountain Overlook with it's unbelievable 100 mile view, Skyline could provide that.

So today starts our journey to take Vermont Woods Studios to the next level.  We'll keep you posted as to how things go.  We were lucky enough to persuade Brattleboro's best architect (J Coleman and Co) and engineer (Stevens and Associates PC) to help us out by doing some initial feasibility studies to see if the (distressed) Skyline property and existing building are up to the task of renovation and re-birth.  We'll be immersed in that assessment for probably the next couple months.  We'll be asking your opinion as we go-- either through the comment link below or on our Facebook or preferably over a glass of wine in our kitchen. 

We're looking to make this a green project that produces a showroom worthy of the elegant handmade furniture inside and the incredible natural beauty of the Green Mountains outside.  Check back in now and then and give us your thoughts and advice.

Vermont Furniture Store: Expansion Plans

I guess I should say expansion plans, hopes and dreams.  Well at any rate, we are once again very excited to be out-growing our space at Vermont Woods Studios Furniture and we're looking at options for the future.  We love our landlord here in Vernon and we've already rented a second suite from him.  But we're also starting to think that purchasing a property might be smart. 

Here's Ken, waiting for me to climb onto his bike as we cruise around Vermont looking at potential places.  We asked our favorite real estate agent, Suzanne King of Masiello Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate for help and she's been kind enough to show us dozens and dozens of properties, including these:

• Brattleboro, High Street
• Brattleboro, Western Ave
• Stowe, Above the Clouds (not really, but I wish ;)

I feel horrible asking Suzanne to trek around all over tarnation with us, but as we grow our needs keep changing, so the properties we looked at 3-6 months ago are no longer adequate.   We keep needing more room!  Lately we've been looking at an old, historic property in Marlboro, Vermont where the Skyline Restaurant used to be.  The building is dilapidated but it's on a property with a stunning view and it's right in the middle of Vermont's Green Mountain Forest.  It's an interesting possibility as we work to raise awareness about forest conservation and our green mission.

Have any other ideas we should check out for our next move?  Let me know and I'll keep you posted on our progress as we move forward.