No one is going to want to clean while their friends are at a great Spring Fling event or their team is playing. Schedule the clean up day when there is no, or very little, schedule conflicts. Double checking with everyone shows you respect their life and insures no excuses, no whining. Once you have a date set let everyone know there are no excuses accepted. This is a family event and the maintenance of the household is their responsibility, too.

No one likes chores so creating a fun and unexpected environment will create a productive atmosphere. Stock up on good food, snacks and drinks. Set up a schedule, just like a well run production firm, and use predetermined breaks that the family can count on for food, fun or relaxation.

Music has been scientifically proven to motivate higher production in workers and even better milk flow in cows. Imagine what would happen if you gave everyone a chance to have an hour of their favorite music on CD. Not only will music cause more movement but can you get to know each other better; opening up discussions that will make the time go by faster.

It can be an oversight to give chores to children that do not have the staying power or the organizational skills needed. Keep chores age appropriate. Providing work for even the youngest child is a great way to keep them busy and instill good habits. Sorting, carrying small items or even stacking things like books can provide them an opportunity to help. Children too young for even this should be sent to a sitter for the day, in order to keep the day flowing and productive.

Give a brief class on caring for the items in your home such as your Amish furniture investments. While the Amish use ARESISTOVAR for all of their finishes and it a high quality, catalyzed, performance coating for all types of interior furniture, it does need some basic care. Dusting your wood furniture often and carefully with a soft cloth following the grain pattern is a good idea. Also, occasionally clean the surface with a mild, non-alkaline soap and water and a soft sponge or cloth. Dry immediately with a soft cloth and buff lightly following wood grains. Always avoid polish that contains and silicones.

Organize you supplies before spring cleaning day arrives. A great idea is to fill a bucket with basic cleaning supplies that can be brought from room to room. These can be given to each individual or team. Include items like:

(Remember to avoid including furniture polish with silicone)

• Glass-cleaning spray
• All purpose spray
• Soft scrub for bathrooms and kitchens
• Flannel cloths to dust
• Terry cloth towels
• Paper towels
• Sponge
• Toothbrush
• Squeegee
• Scrub brush
• Rubber gloves
• Lint roller for pet hair (and humans!)

If the job is a good size you can make it more fun by dividing the home in to equal parts and jobs. The person or team that accomplishes the most by the end time is rewarded with a prize or a dinner.

As difficult as it will be, turn off the ringers to your phones. Let everyone important know what your plans are for day and that you will contact them upon completion. For every phone each of you take that many minutes are added to a job that your family will tire of more quickly than you can complete.

Don’t forget to add to the fun by creating a scrap book of the day. Pictures of the event can be used as evidence that you are the meanest parent on earth!

More important than maintaining the healthy physical environment in your home is to maintain a healthy loving one. Plan a reward for a job well done. Movies or dinner out or better yet order a pizza and rent a movie and enjoy it on your Amish dining room table, freshly polished during your memory building family spring cleaning day.

New Year’s Eve parties bring together the old and the new to be celebrated and memorialized by one and all. The ritual of good food, great memories and celebratory toasts all mark the end of the old year and the beginning of a new and promise filled year. Unfortunately, some of those toasts are memorable for the wrong reasons. Wine stains and drink rings are often the markings left behind of a good time and not something you will enjoy seeing on New Year’s Day. Although your solidly designed Amish hardwoods and upholstered pieces are protected by ARESITOVAR and hopefully custom made elite table pads, the occasional mishap occurs. Here are some tips from the experts on salvaging your good New Year’s memories and furniture.

RED WINE- While ARESISTOVAR has a tested tolerance to alcohol spills your upholstery and carpets may not have that window of resistance. Wine, especially red wine and even non-alcohol grape juices, must be taken care of right away

REMEMBER- Heed any special care instructions that may have came from the manufacturer. Safe home remedies are best to try before turning to harsh chemicals or paying for a professional fabric cleaning. Whether it is carpet or upholstered furniture, these tips apply.

Some other remedies that many wine drinkers swear by are a simple application of carbonated soda water. This can lift wine stains and other food stains, like barbeque sauce, out of the carpets and fabrics. Another wine connoisseur tip is to deal with red wine spills by using white wine. Odd as it may seem, if you spill red wine you can then pour a glass of white over the stain. The white wine supposedly neutralizes the red wine and the stain seems to disappear before your eyes.

As always, use common sense and care when using any products on your custom upholstered Amish furniture, sofas, arm chairs and ottomans.

Bedrooms are wondrous rooms that hold many functions and events – many more functions than just sleep. Statistically we spend the majority of our days – perhaps actually nights – inside the bed chamber. We  not only hope that it will provide us a safe and comfortable place to sleep and rejuvenate for the next day but the bedroom holds our clothing, shoes, jewelry and other accessories. In the humble bedroom we begin our day – whether at a walk-in closet door or a sit-down vanity table. The room most likely holds dirty laundry and dry cleaning, at least for a time.

Many of us grace our rooms with a quiet reading spot or even a television for late night movies or early bits of news shows. Perhaps our rooms are even mini-libraries, for reading books, magazines and newspapers. Some of us have even placed a writing desk for home organization or correspondence on our laptops. Pet owners allow visits from pets and parents have visits from offspring.  The bedroom may even hold storage for linens for the bed. Lastly, the bedroom may be you last refuge for privacy. Indeed, if you were to stop and evaluate your bedroom it is evident that it is in fact the command center of your life.

THE BED:

Perhaps only the sofa or couch competes for the amount of time we spend on a bed. This amount of time justifies the purchase of a great mattress and bed. With a solid wood frame, hand-built by Amish designers and craftsmen guarantee a life time of solidly built attractiveness. Elegant but practical, these beds are built to cradle you in comfort and then pass down as an heirloom investment. From Mission style to Modern these bedroom suite designs are endless in style and design.

It is recommended to buy the biggest and the best bed and mattress you can afford and house.

CLOTHNG STORAGE:

While it would be great to live in world where minimal possessions, especially clothing, were practical, even the Amish realize in the contemporary world it is not. While it is recommended to streamline your clothing in order to function more efficiently each morning the total elimination of excess can be impossible, so we must have furniture to help organize.

Wardrobes, closets, armoires, chests of drawers, lingerie chests, dressers all are built to match your high end solid wood bed. All are available in oaks, maple, cherry, hickory and a variety of stain options. After you ruthlessly scale down your wardrobe from a messy assemblage of chaos know that there is upscale storage available that incorporates different sized drawers, various folding shelves and hanging options.

MIRRORS:

Cheval mirrors are the best friend you always wanted. A solid wood framed swinging, full-length looking glass that makes a great accountability partner – one who will always let you know the truth about your appearance, good or bad.

DRESSING OR VANITY TABLES:

Having a central spot to focus on you as you begin your day can make or break your look. Dressing for success is more than buying the right outfit. It is stopping to survey the details and to polish the surface. Solid wood, easy care, ARESISTOVAR protected surfaces make the Amish vanity ideal.

NIGHTSTANDS:

The most personal piece of bedroom furniture may not be the bed. The most individualized storage facility is the bedside stand or night table. Inside the nightstands is things that only you know why you need, from books and spare change to mints and reading glasses, the nightstand is a private world of odds and ends just for you. The finish on the native hardwoods by Northern Indiana artisans will even forgive a late night cup of tea spill.  

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Inside everyone lurks a closet artist but thanks to the storage opportunities created with Amish furniture that closet can be a custom built armoire wardrobe. The hobby of producing art and creating crafts is a valuable stress relieving activity. Whether as homemakers, students, professionals or laborers, we are usually called upon to produce but not called upon to use our imaginations and creative parts of our brains.

Using both our minds and our hands to create simple artistic projects at home we can enjoy healthy therapeutic results. Even the most primitive artistic endeavors hold the ability to help you relax, use your creativity and focus on something besides the daily grind. Arts and crafts can also become a way for some to make extra cash and to create memorable and thoughtful gifts. 

Many times we do not start projects because we dread the mess and clean up to follow. By organizing your materials in well labeled, stackable, easily spotted, easily removed boxes and containers it makes clean up and re-organization a very simple and time efficient job:

- If you do projects that are a bit messy such as painting, remember to protect the bottoms of the drawers of your Amish armoire wardrobe. By placing sheets of easily wiped sheet liners or even shallow trays or baking sheets inside the drawers you can protect your treasured furniture piece from damage.

-  Not only using a lift out tray for messy paint supplies but for a special project like a beaded jewelry kit, you are also organizing your unfinished projects into an easy to lift out container.

- Notebook binders with poly sheet protectors make ideal storage for project ideas, small half-done projects, brush organization, etc. Use index tabs to identify.

The best way to protect the durable ARESISTOVAR finish on your dining room table is to invest in elite custom dining room pads. An inexpensive and impromptu way to protect your Amish dining room table’s work surface is plain white butcher’s paper. The large rolls of paper are inexpensive, fit right inside the closet and you can cut off exactly the length you need for protecting your work surface. Best of all kids love to do projects, from finger paints to tracing their entire bodies, on this large blank canvas.

The Amish built doors are strong and can be utilized to add to your storage space. Wall organizers can be mounted inside to hold paper and fabrics. A small café curtain rod can also be mounted after sliding on your spools of ribbon for easy cutting. Hang a measuring stick next to it for measuring length and a pair of scissors on twine so you are never without your cutting tool. Tea cup hooks or C-hooks can be placed inside to hold other items. By hanging a picture wire across one door interior you can even hang large and cumbersome sketch pads over it.

Remember to use common sense before mounting or attaching anything to your heirloom furniture. Also remember that although your doors are ruggedly built all hinges have a weight limit.

Amish woodcrafters have carefully considered every need for your home including the storage of wine. Wine is one of the oldest and most widely served beverages in the world and the proper storage and display of bottled wines is critical. Whether you partake yourself or simply like to have it on hand to serve to guests a wine rack is a lovely way to display your collection. The Amish-designed wine rack is perfect for both connoisseurs of fine wines and beginner wine lovers.

Owning a well stocked wine rack allows you the luxury of not having to run out to get a bottle of wine every time you’re ready to enjoy a glass. It also allows you to buy when the prices are down and the stock is available. With an Amish wine rack you can sit back and enjoy a bottle of wine that you personally chose from your own “wine cellar“. It also allows a central organization of wine accessories like serving trays, wine coolers, wine chillers, kneeling butlers, nice serving towels, decorative bottle corkers, corkscrews, coasters, wine tags, wine markers and bottle openers.

Most of us cannot afford or do not have the space for a built in wine cellar. Modular wine racks like the Amish build are the perfect alternate investment because they are custom built to fit anywhere, they are not expensive given their heirloom quality, they can move when you do and they come in every style. A stunning and very impact display idea is to choose a matching pair of Amish wine racks and place them on each side of a dining room, fireplace or den. Not only is this a visually appealing decorative technique it also can allow more storage and a division between whites and reds.

Choosing the right wine rack is important. You want to select one that is going to work well in your existing home décor but also be the adequate size for the amount of wine you have. While the wine rack must blend with your home décor remember that it is also a quality signature piece that should stand out. A well built, well appointed wine rack brings elegance to the room and adds ambience to the environment.

The wine rack is a key item of furniture because of its organizational and space-saving design. Open racks provide a view to the graceful bottles and highly decorative labels and provide safe haven to them. The Amish design their wine racks in a buffet or bar style providing not only storage and display but a table or counter top for serving. The tabletop can stand as a serving area for the wine or even cheese and cracker. Wine glasses and wine bottles can be displayed here, too. Another reason for racking your wine bottles is the nature of the bottling. Remember that storing your bottles on their side is optimal to keep the cork moist. Also avoid exposing the bottle to vibration or temperature change.

With the choices of select Northern hardwoods available in various stains and paired with the durable addition of ARESISTOVAR, the Amish-built custom wine rack is a fantastic option. The Amish offer traditional cherry, maple, red or white oak and hickory hardwoods, all known for their beauty, strength and stability. These expert craftsman offer wine racks in all shapes, sizes and designs, from contemporary to more traditional. Because of the alcohol content in wine it is always recommended that if you use the table top to serve always use elite custom table pads made for buffets to add extra protection.

 Walnut is one of the beautiful hardwoods that are used by Amish craftsmen in well-designed and elegant home furniture. This wood has been a favorite with carpenters for hundreds of years because of its strength and its deep brunette character. This chocolate brown wood stands out against other lighter woods, making a stunning contrast. This contrast has been highly sought after in parquetry, marquetry and inlay. An ancient tree found from Italy to Europe and in North America, the walnut has enjoyed use for thousands of years. In many cultures the tree and nut has been heralded in folklore and superstitions. The name walnut is actually from Old English and meant “foreign nut” because it was introduced from Gaul and Italy. England’s Queen Anne’s reign on the throne was often called The Age of Walnut.

Grown in North America in mainly the Eastern and Central United States the tree averages a height of 100 to 150 feet. The “Juglans nigra” or walnut tree produces some of the world’s most highly revered hardwood. This versatile tree is a producer of delicious nuts, high in nutrition and health benefits. Even its simple shell is used in paints as thickeners, oil well drills as lost circulation material, dynamite as filler and abrasives from commercial metal cleaners to home laundry soaps and facial cleansers. Walnut tree timber is used in furniture, cabinets, and architecture elements like doors, flooring and paneling and in weaponry like gun stocks.

The best walnuts are considered the peer of the finest mahogany woods. Walnut develops sapwood that is creamy white. The heartwood is a milk chocolate brown that ranges to a chic dark chocolate brown. Some walnut when exposed to different moisture levels and soils displays variations in color like an occasionally purple tinge with darker streaks. The walnut is famed for its graceful aging and patina qualities which gain a rich luster. Walnut is straight-grained, but has a reputation for some wavy, curly, striped, mottles, crotched and burled grains. The walnut produces more of these figures than any other tree and these specimens are highly sought after by craftsmen and artists.

Pennsylvania, a state renowned for its Amish communities, was the largest consumer of walnut in the 1700 and 1800’s. Amish furniture builders have always found the tough and durable walnut to be an exceptional wood to work with. Despite its elegant look walnut can withstand moisture and insects better than most wood. The walnut holds stain very well and looks exceptional when finished with ARESISTOVAR.