The rural cabinetmaker

In the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, most of America was comprised of farms and small villages.  Many people, especially early on, lived off the land producing what they needed from their own property and by their own hands.  Furniture was no exception.  It was often made from local trees by the farmer who brought more of a carpenters or joiners eye to furniture construction and design.  Function was of utmost importance.  Form was basic, and understated.  Common joints were mortise and tenon which was the basic joint used to construct dwellings, just applied on a smaller scale.  A piece had to be durable.  These men (as most often furniture makers were) didn't have time to make a piece and replace it in a few years.  It had to last.

And to protect these furniture pieces, some type of finish needed to be applied.  But you couldn't go to Lowe's and get a can of Minwax.  The answer?  Milk paint.  Milk paint was a coating that was easy for the rural furniture maker to make himself.  All that was needed was an earth pigment, lime and milk.  When properly mixed, this produced a paint that was durable and vibrant, giving pieces a rich, velvety look.  (You can find a little more about milk paint on our finishes page)

In time, the style of furniture produced in the rural towns and villages came to be known as country.  The word country comes the Latin contra, meaning 'opposite' or 'different'.  In this context it means it's different of urbanus or urban.  Thus we have country furniture being, by definition, different from furniture produced in urban centers.  There, in places such as Boston and Philadelphia, were to be found master cabinetmakers who produced beautiful and ornate furniture pieces from beautiful woods and exotic veneers.  Their clientele was rich and genteel.  Far removed from the more modest and functional pieces of the rural craftsperson.

So why Country?

So why, as a furniture maker, would we not aspire to reproduce the beautiful and graceful furniture that was made in the colonial urban areas?  Why not aspire to be as accomplished as these cabinetmakers and reap the benefits of a wealthy customer base?  Actually, the answer lies in our own societal changes of the last decade or so.

We, as Americans, have embraced a rising tide of technological gadgets, increasingly complex schedules, and increasing job pressures.  As we do, we're beginning to lose some of our heritage and our history.  "We don't have time" we often say.  No time to sit around the table and talk.  No time to get a book and read.  No time to see our grandparents.  And it increases as we age, get married, have kids...  So, in evaluating our own course, we saw that we had to slow down.  We had to find things to bring us back to our rural roots.  And we've found that furniture is one of the things that grounds us.  If you've got a mahogany knee-hole desk you've paid $2500 for, you're not going to let the kids scatter their coloring books and scissors and such across it are you?  But if that same desk is Shaker styled drop-lid desk, you're probably more likely to use it as, well, a desk.  That's what we're about.  Make a piece of furniture that's going to be used, that's going to be slightly abused.  (At least with our children around), and that's affordable.  It needs to be something that you want to touch and feel, not be afraid of scratching.  And if it's functional, a piece of furniture can help you organize a space.  We love bookshelves for just this reason.  We can put just about anything on a bookshelf.  Getting things organized helps you manage your time.  And to us, time is precious.

A word on imported furniture...

We're as proud to be Americans as anyone in this country.  We fly our flag, we support our troops, and we value our neighbors.  But you won't hear us sounding the "Made in America" war whoop and getting in your face telling you that you're un-American if you buy imported goods.  Are we not patriotic?  Are we weenies? 

As a consumer in a free market society, you deserve a choice.  You deserve to spend your money as you see fit.  You deserve to have the choice to buy imported furniture.  "What?" you may say,  "You can't be American!  Look at how the imports have destroyed American furniture manufacturers.  Get the rope!  Get the gun!"  There's no doubt that imported furniture has devastated the American furniture manufacturing landscape.  Many hard working American families have been turned upside down because someone in the family lost a job.  We're one of them.  It's easy to be angry and upset.  But the fact is, imports are a reality, and need to be.  Consumers need the best value for a dollar.  That's why Wal-Mart is such a monstrosity.  Decent stuff really cheap. 

So, as a furniture manufacturer, we have to compete, not whine.  And the way we do that is by reaching you, the consumer, directly.  We eliminate one and in some cases two middlemen by selling direct to our customers.  This keeps our prices at or below what you'd pay for a similar piece from China.  I say similar because there will be at least a few differences.  From us, you'll get solid Applachain woods, solid construction, and, most of all, solid service.  We back everything we sell.  And we want to talk to you, so call us or email us today.  It won't be as easy to contact the folks in the Guandong Province who made that imported piece in the furniture store next to the mall...