There is a simple purity, a grand country casual elegance about bench seating, especially when crafted from solid hardwoods by superb furniture builders like the Amish. Bench seats were most likely the second evolution of personal seating, the first being the stool. From huge banquet hall in the Middle Ages to large farm family’s daily dining, the addition of a bench or benches just made the most sense. Sturdy, very cost effective, practical and efficient, the bench as a dining room or kitchen table option is back.

Modern home owners know that today the heart of the family is centered around the kitchen, dining and great room areas. This is the “activity rooms’’ of your home – full of fast paced mornings and evenings filled with meals, bill paying, homework and school projects, office work and even crafting. Many contemporary restaurants have added bench seating, most in a gesture to create communal dining in the hopes of bonding strangers sharing a common bench, if only for one night.

Benches have:

1. Durability -

Benches built by Amish craftsmen are only crafted from 100% solid wood, never pressed board. Checking for construction details like mortise and tenon joinery, which adds strength to designs, will insure a long life for your well used bench seating.

2. Versatile Style –

Take for instance the trestle style bench, one of the most popular bench designs because it goes very well with almost any table design. The trestle style can be added along one side or two with the option of end chairs added at the head of the table.

Remember that high quality woodworkers will offer a variety of customizing options, like wood type and stain color. Be sure they offer variations of wood like red oak, cherry, maple, quarter sawn white oak, hickory and brown maple to be sure you get a great match for your table. Lodge, cabin, adirondack and country homes are not the only styles that bench seating works with. A black locker style works well in modern contemporary or Asian Oriental designs.

3. Kid-friendly -

Benches should be built sturdy enough to take a good beating from young children. Let’s face it, kids climb and wiggle more than they sit. With a bench you will have fewer worries about the trauma inflicted by those little feet and hands.

4. Space friendly -

It is quite a space saving phenomenon to use benches as primary seating in a kitchen or dining room space. There is an unbelievable amount of floor space consumed by the average or oversized dining room chair. The ease of sliding a bench under the table for storage opens up a room for easy passage. When it is time to mop, sweep or vacuum one bench sliding out of the way is a breeze compared to multiple and often heavy chairs.

5. Cost -

The cost of the average solid wood dining room chair for one person is about $200.00. A 72” bench, on the other hand, seats an average of 3-4 and costs about $175.00.

On a final note, the most exciting development in bench fabrication since, well, the bench itself, is a product known as Extenda Bench. This is a solid wood bench that starts out life as a 48″ wide seat. With the addition of any of the four 12″ leaves it will extend the bench seating to a full eight feet in length. This bench is perfect for almost any size and style of table and best of all can grow as your family and guest list grows.

While Arts and Crafts architectural appeal begins at the curb the interior appeal begins with the entrance hall or foyer. This area gives the guest the legend to the home’s décor intention. The entryway is the pivotal point, the hub of the home, where everyone must come through to get to the rest of the rooms. As first impressions go, an Arts and Crafts home should begin its personal statement of honest simplicity at its threshold.

Every home’s entryway is sized differently but no matter what we have to work with, a grand hall and staircase or no formal entry at all, we can create the illusion of a welcoming room for guests. Treatment of the entryway should create a warm place for greeting and welcoming the arrival of both family and friends. Using organic elements like woods and metalwork accessories and lighting you can create the cozy Arts and Crafts bungalow you desire.

Whether your home has a hardwood entryway or tiled foyer the laying down of a warm rug in deep red hues as a runner or full rug makes a large statement of style and reception. Pick out a signature piece for your themed entrance like a formal hall table or library table crafted in sturdy native hardwoods. There are many to choose from, like one of the many Amish created Mission inspired tables. This sturdy and well used table will help organize the home and family by having a place for mail, keys and homework.

If there is no hall closet for coats and winter accessories then a rack hung on the wall will be needed. If space or arrangement allows then the next most important piece is a handsome but utilitarian wooden chair or bench near the door. This seating will allow you a place to take on and off your shoes, help children with coats, a seat for guests to wait, or even a practical place to put bags and coats as you enter the home. A solid wood dining room chair or leather upholstered chair is a wise selection for durability since this is a high traffic area.

Placing a metal ware or a naturally painted and glazed pottery bowl on the hall table for keys and loose change will keep the table neat and the keys easier to find. A metalware lamp, preferably in bronze with an amber glass shade will cast a warm golden glow over your entry portal. Lanterns with candles lit or lantern-shaped electrical lighting in sconces or chandeliers add the elements desired in Arts and Crafts designs. The placement of a long case modern Grandfather inspired clock made by Amish innovators is perfection in the one area where time is imperative; in the comings and goings of the front door.

If you are looking for single piece that is full of decorative impact as well as functionality there is no better piece to invest in than an Amish Hall Tree or Hall Bench. No solitary piece of furniture functions so inclusively as, for example, the Rustic Hall Bench. The Rustic Hall Bench is a solid wood paneled bench with architectural interest as well as coat racks, seating and storage.