Home and Decor » Chairs

A Brief History of the Solid Wood Windsor Bentwood Chairs

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:58:39 +0000

There may not be a better known or more duplicated wooden chair in the world than the Windsor. The Windsor is well recognized for its bentwood back frame and its pegged legs going directly in to its wooden seat. The Windsor is differentiated from other styles of chairs because of this styling that normally are framed with an apron.

Somewhere around the beginning of the 18th century, not surprisingly around Windsor Castle in England, this chair was conceived. Although it was the custom that chairs were crafted by cabinetmakers, this chair seems to have been crafted by turners and wheelwrights. This may indeed explain the spoke-like design of the Windsor.

The chair in fashion at the time was the fine Queen Anne and it is likely the wheelwrights tried to fashion a chair but because of more rustic tools and skills they used the round backs and splats of the Queen Anne but incidentally created the Windsor. The English Windsor is in fact well known for its pierced slatted back. A Windsor chairs legs are invariably splayed outward and some even had the fancier cabriole leg rather than the turned. Throughout the 19th century the legs stuck into wood instead of framed with an apron. In the U.S. especially, the style began to be the front two legs only were joined in this way.

It took no time at all for the Windsor to make its way to the New World; first appearing in Philadelphia after 1725 and within a half a century they were the most popular chair in use. The lightweight Windsor had everything a good chair required – strength, beauty, easy to construct, and highly comfortable. The variations they were created in were various and included fan, hoop, comb back, and bow back.

The chairs were usually marriages of different woods; each known for its strengths in the area it was chosen for. The turned parts worked best with maples, oaks, ash, birch or beech. The seats, shaped in a saddle were easier to carve out in pine and birch, or in England elm. The bentwood frames were best suited for birch, beech, hickory or ash. An interesting note about the recognizable saddle seat design – if you find one with a flat seat, especially with tack marks, authorities believe these were originally upholstered.

Today Amish craftsman bring sturdy and exceptionally handsome and functional Windsor chairs to grace any room in your home of office. Built from the finest American hardwoods and stained in your choice of colors, these chairs can be an heirloom treasured for generations.

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas: Amish Solid Wood Mother’s Day Gifts For Patio, Porch, Deck or Yard

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:34:21 +0000

Thanks to the Amish craftsmen you can create an outdoor retreat getaway for your mom for Mother’s Day. Obviously, there is a reason that Mother’s Day is in the spring – so mom can get out of the kitchen and in to the yard! On Sunday morning you can lead her out, on to her newly furnished patio or backyard room, proudly displaying solid wood, custom built tables, chairs, swings and accessories. Prices begin at less than a formal flower arrangement and will last for years.

PLANTER BASKET GIFTSET-

If mom is a gardener she can find reports and inspiration at the National Gardening Associations website http://www.garden.org/regional/report . Write this site on a card and place it inside a custom stained cedar planter, along with new gardening tools, gloves, seeds or plants.

MAKE A WISH -

What mom really wishes for is a relaxing spot to call her own. This wishing well is available for gardens or yard decors ranging in size from 30″ wide to 50″ wide. It can be placed on a patio, as an accent to a water feature or even indoors as a planter. Don’t forget to include a bag of pennies for tossing!

MAKE MOM A ROCK STAR -

So you think your mom can’t rock? Her kind of rocking may not be to heavy metal but she can certainly rock out to solid wood! With a good book, or a grandchild on her knee, she can watch the world go by from her porch with a customized old fashion rocker. The Amish crafters build Adirondack Rocking Chairs, crafted from aromatic red cedar which has a natural resistance to rot. Custom stained, no mom could resist this heirloom rocking chair.

RELAXING GLIDERS AND SWINGS -

Moms are stressed. It comes with the territory. Therapists have long known that the act of rocking, swinging and gliding is beneficial to a human’s mind and body. The pendulum action is soothing while also making you more focused. Set on sturdy frames, the Straightback Deluxe Glider or the Suspended Swings provide an enjoyable gliding or swinging experience. Customized from aromatic red cedar, which has a natural resistance to rot, these are available in varying shades of stain.

BREAKFAST OR BRUNCH ON THE DECK -

The Elegant Chat set is perfect for holding a casual breakfast or brunch buffet on Mother’s Day. Later it will be a well used gift, serving snacks at pool-side parties, relaxing in the cool of the evening or playing cards with friends out on the patio. Constructed from aromatic red cedar, this wood has a natural resistance to rot. This solid wood, custom-made and custom stained set includes a generous 36″ round table and four straight-back chairs.

LUNCH IN HER BACKYARD PARK -

A simple Picnic Table Set is a great addition to any yard, patio or deck. This design features moveable benches that are independent from the table. This style gives you more options for varying seating arrangements. Pack a picnic basket full of mom’s favorite items (and those are always things she didn’t have to cook herself!) and hold a picnic in honor of her.

A Brief History of Heywood-Wakefield: Why Going Blonde Wasn’t a Dumb Idea

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:31:38 +0000

The Amish craft solid wood designs that often replicate the popular look of Heywood-Wakefield. Unless you have a love for solid wood furniture from the golden era of Modern design (circa 1936-1966) you may be unfamiliar with the name Heywood-Wakefield and the furniture associated. Among admirers and collectors of this company’s designs it is wildly popular. Its famous eagle mark, found emblazoned on the underside or in the drawer of an original piece, sets hearts racing.

Heywood-Wakefield had over 100 illustrious years of creating top quality furniture before it introduced its “Heywood-Wakefield Modern” furniture line in the 1930’s. In about 1826, when John Quincy Adams was the nation’s president, a group of five brothers in Gardner, Massachusetts, Walter, Levi, Seth, William, and Benjamin Heywood began crafting simple, handmade, wood chairs in a small barn. Originally the majority of the brothers were store proprietors but helped Walter part-time in the wood shop. The boys did well and by the late 1800’s the Heywood Brothers Company was producing a much larger variety of furniture than seating.

Along the way the brothers absorbed its biggest acquisition, Cyrus Wakefield’s Wakefield Rattan Company. Initially they ran it as a joint operation, and the two firms became known as The Heywood Brothers and Wakefield. Fortunately they shortened that to Heywood-Wakefield Co.

Within five years, Levi Heywood moved to Boston. Here he established an outlet store for the family to sell the Heywood brother’s chairs. Benjamin and younger brother William stayed behind in Gardner to manufacture. Tragically, in 1834 a fire destroyed the Heywood’s chair shop, causing Levi’s return to Gardner a year later. The shop was never to be rebuilt. Initially comprised of Benjamin, Walter and William Heywood, Moses Wood and James W. Gates, a definitive partnership-B. F. Heywood & Company was formed in 1835. It was then that Levi Heywood persuaded the company to move to the shores of Crystal Lake in Gardner. The company factory would remain here until the business closed its doors more than 140 years later.

As the Industrial Revolution moved forward in the Victorian age, Levi’s insisted on the installation of new machinery, much to the dismay his wary partners. By 1844 a second partnership-Heywood & Wood had been formed, with Levi and Moses Wood only. By 1849 Wood’s name had disappeared from the company’s title. Then in 1851 Heywood Chair Manufacturing Company was born.

In contemporary times the furniture company became famous for its Modern Line. The company was able to partner with a stellar group of designers such as Russell Wright, Gilbert Rhode, W. Joseph Carr and Alexis J. Saknoffsky. This progressive group of designers created modern furniture from what many misidentify as maple. Instead the company used solid birch that was steam bent and left blonde. The “The Heywood-Wakefield Modern Line,” with its 50’s blonde or modern blonde birch, was unprecedented. Various lines were introduced with names like “Sculptura”, “Crescendo” or “Kohinoor”. These were aesthetically appealing, high quality and creativity.

At one time the company created and delivered items ranging from chairs, to baby furnishings, railroad car seating, rattan designs, and even toy vehicles. While the company did use many types of wood, the birch was its signature. Sadly it seems all good things must come to an end and the Heywood-Wakefield Company retired itself into the legend only a blonde could live up to in 1966.

Stylish Solid Wood Bench Seating Is Back: 5 Reasons Why Benches Work

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:58:21 +0000

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.

Understanding Maple Hardwood Amish Furniture

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:53:26 +0000

In the genus known as Acer there is a group of trees that produce a distinctive wood used in high quality Amish furniture, more commonly known as the hard maple, sugar maple or just maple. Grown in many places in the Western Hemisphere, the maple tree loves cold weather. In the North the sugar maple is tapped for its sap that is boiled to the much-loved maple syrup. Early Native Americans knew the value and strength of maple and made weapons and spears crafted out of it. Because of that strength, in the 1800’s even women’s shoe heels were made out of the maple tree‘s wood.

Reaching an average of 130 feet, the fast growing sugar maple tree is found mainly in the Mid-Atlantic and Lake states. This tree is the second most abundant of all the hardwoods and arguably the hardest. The texture of this maple ranges from extremely hard to medium with exceptionally small pores and a close fine, uniform consistency. The maple’s sapwood is a satiny white and contains a mildly red-brown tint. The maple tree’s heartwood has variations ranging from light to a dark red-brown. While usually straight grained this wood is also famed for a few variations that occur like birds-eye, flame, quilted, wavy, blistered, curly, and fiddle back figures. Because maple is so hard it will often split before allowing a nail; even more surprisingly, will bend the nail.

The early Colonists recognized the maple’s value, using it in many home furniture items, as witnessed in Early American designs. While the Amish today use it in fine home furnishings, especially chairs and baby furniture, maple is also used widely in veneers, kitchen cabinets, doors and moldings. Because it has no specific flavor it is the standard hardwood chosen for kitchen utensils and cutting boards. Interestingly, bowling pins and lanes are created from the hardwood maple and many musical instruments like guitar fingerboards and drums also owe maple their quality.

The Amish craftsman finds the maple woods easy to stain, up to a medium dark color, although their natural coloration is beautiful and desired. Maple is able to hold an outstanding finish like RESISTOVAR, which is preferred by Amish craftsmen. From china cabinets to dining room table and chairs to entire bedroom suites and armoires maple is a preferred hardwood that can accommodate many design styles. From Modern to Shaker and Mission maple is available in many stains and designs from Amish furniture producers today.

A Brief History of Arm Chairs

admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:08:15 +0000

The Amish crafted arm chair is a robust design of beauty and comfort. If any furniture has seen change and varying styles of design it would be the age old chair. Ancient wall art and pottery confirm that chairs have existed since at least 3000 B.C. Today there are hundreds of designs both in and out of fashion but the Amish arm chair constructed in the tradition of great Mission furniture designers still reigns superior with its solid wood frame and eye appealing lines.

Since their conception chairs have always been used as a symbol of status. The lack of a seat shows the lack of importance such as in standing room only. If no seat shows lack of respect then the placement of a chair as well as its design can show your power or importance. Take the throne as an example or the coveted “head of the table” arm chair.

It was not until the 18^th century that chairs instead of stools or back stools were actually considered for the masses; becoming a common piece of furniture with varying designs ensuing. It was then that not only were chairs more widely available but that they actually began dividing into usage categories. Chairs were designed to suit different professions, sporting and even gaming events as well as different interior designs. There were chairs for barbers, hunting, drinking, kneeling, sewing, rocking, writing, and so on.

Chair making became such a specialized craft that in 1633 courts were engaged to determine what branch of woodworking would be allowed to actually continue. Court order or not the craftsmen the court had ruled against ignored the court’s decision and continued making chairs. As he dealt with fabricators of his designs the great Thomas Sheraton, one of the “big three” English furniture makers of the 18th century, realized that chair making was different than other talents and must be concentrated on to become proficient. This is still true today among the Amish wood crafters. Today’s Amish arm chairs are handmade in sturdy styles like the slatted Morris as well as other panel sided, cushioned designs. All are available in many types of upholstery and cushion choices from foam to spring and in woods like oak, cherry, maple. Available to the masses but still made by individual joiners your own Amish chair can make history and make you the king or queen of your own castle.

Jazz Up Your Chairs

admin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:43:40 +0000

The easiest way to jazz up any kitchen or dining room chair is to reupholster it. Chairs that have a fabric or leather seat can be easily removed and replaced. Just flip the chair upside-down and you will find that it is attached to the chair frame with several screws. Remove the screws and the seat will come off. The fabric or leather will most likely be stapled to the bottom of the seat and can be removed using needle nose pliers or a flathead screwdriver.

You can even cover over the existing fabric without completely removing it if you just want to make a temporary change. For instance, if you want to jazz up your chairs for the holidays you can temporarily cover the seats with festive fabrics and easily remove them after the holidays without compromising the integrity of the original fabric.

You can reupholster your chairs with just about any type of fabric you can imagine without having to spend a penny. Consider using kitchen towels, placemats, curtains, table cloths, old sweaters, blue jeans, your husband’s favorite shirts, blankets, or vinyl. Just make sure to use thick, sturdy fabrics that aren’t too bulky and won’t stretch.

Lay the fabric out on the floor and place the seat on top of it. Using a staple gun pull the fabric tight and staple the four sides to the bottom of the seat. If using a thinner fabric, fold the edges to create several layers in order to prevent tearing. Work your way to the corners and carefully fold the fabric over while creating nice, tight, crisp edges and staple multiple times. Cut off any excess fabric and screw the seat back onto the chair frame.

Consider mixing and matching different colors of similar fabrics or different patterns of similar colors. This will add interest, a touch of style, and new life to any old or new chair.