Another custom guitar stool from VT furniture maker, Greg Goodman, http://ping.fm/rmTFX guitar musicians

A wonderful musician needs a worthy handmade stool, http://su.pr/1oC5mC musician artisan

BareNakedBusiness Episode 3 (http://su.pr/2iFmez ) shows glimpses of the front and back side of Vermont Woods Studios http://su.pr/ApTLa4

Social entrepreneurs, join us for candid conversations about business start-up at my new Bare Naked Business blog http://su.pr/2mzTyb

@dornobdesign Thanks for a great site! See how homeowners & designers are helping to save endangered Siberian tigers, http://su.pr/2YQb8S

Today's featured furniture category: Modern Designer http://su.pr/16LpFa Like us on FB http://su.pr/1UrLjm SAVE $50! modern designer

@Business2Day4U Thanks for following BareNakedBusiness, http://su.pr/9qLuHL Will you like us on FB? http://ping.fm/vyv9d socialentrepreneur

BareNakedBusiness Episode 3 (http://su.pr/2iFmez ) shows glimpses of the front and back side of Vermont Woods Studios http://su.pr/ApTLa4

Today's featured furniture category: Green Mountain http://su.pr/30Yqsa Like us on FB http://su.pr/1UrLjm SAVE $50!

Rhino poaching at shocking all-time high in South Africa http://ping.fm/JZC19

Cherry Wood Furniture: Secrets of Authenticity http://ping.fm/1gsFK authentic cherry

Reviews and Unbiased Opinions About Vermont Woods Studios Furniture

How would you feel about buying expensive, high end handmade Vermont furniture over the Internet?  Scared?  If so, you're not alone.  Quite honestly, most of our customers at Vermont Woods Studios who are first-time buyers are nervous about it.
We're always working hard to improve our website, add photos that show the details of construction, quality, joinery and such but let's face it-- a website simply cannot convey the quality of handmade solid wood furniture.  You really have to see it to appreciate it.

While we work through the growing pains of getting a bigger showroom, we want to express our gratitude to the customers who have posted opinions and independent reviews of our furniture at various places online.  It is so helpful to new customers and it's essential for us to grow our business and fulfill our mission.  Thank you!  (We do have a testimonials page on our website, but most times new customers are understandably looking for an independent opinion.)

GreenPeople.org is one place customers have posted their candid opinions about our furniture and our customer service.  GreenPeople.org provides an independent, unaffiliated website for opinions and reviews of all kinds of businesses.  We thank Steve Urow and honor his mission of promting honesty, fairness and justice in business. We recommend his site for posting reviews of any products or services you may be purchasing online or in person.  Best of luck to Steve and crew!

Just discovered this independent consumer review website. See what customers are saying our Vermont made furniture: http://su.pr/2lPoMP

Cherry Wood Furniture: Secrets of Authenticity

Furniture made of solid cherry wood is considered some of the finest furniture available in the world today.  That's because cherry is a beautiful, stable hardwood that develops a rich reddish brown patina over the years and just keeps getting more gorgeous as time goes by.
I'm always saddened when customers tell us they've been searching in their local areas and online for solid cherry furniture and they haven't been able to find the real thing. 
What's happened is that the larger furniture companies (like Bassett, Lane, Broyhill, Thomasville, Ethan Allen and others) have opted for low-price over quality in their furniture designs.  They typically use cheaper, lower quality woods, stain them and then call them "cherry".  The worst part is that the stains don't even remotely look like real cherry wood, but this cheap furniture is so plentiful that people often think that stain is the actual color of cherry.  At Vermont Woods Studios Furniture it breaks our craftsmans' hearts when people ask them to stain solid cherry furniture to make it match existing fake "cherry" furniture that's in their homes.
Here are some examples of solid cherry wood furniture.  You'll notice there are varying degrees of color.  Natural cherry wood starts out a light pinkish color and darkens over time with exposure to light.  Eventually it ripens to a stunning reddish brown.  You can hasten the darkening process by oiling the wood often.
If you're shopping for cherry furniture and you have any doubts about the wood, be sure to ask the salesperson if it's authentic cherry wood.  Ask where it's from too.  The best cherry in the world is grown in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and because we don't have much cherry in Vermont, that's where we get ours from.  More on cherry wood furniture here.

Today's featured furniture category: Natural Vermonthttp://su.pr/1hn20o Like us on FB http://su.pr/1UrLjmSAVE $50! natural decor

Solid Cherry Wood Furniture: Is it Real?http://su.pr/2Yv9WD cherry wood

ACTION ALERT: Sing petition to stop oil exploration inside Virunga, one of Africa’s most iconic national parks Pls RT! http://t.co/86aeJeT

Today's featured furniture category: Modern Mission http://su.pr/2voJAf Like us on FB http://su.pr/1UrLjm SAVE $50! modern mission

Episode 2 of BareNakedBusiness introduces Rebecca and Bongo. Shows behind the scenes at the VWS corporate office. http://su.pr/2t9M74

Today's featured furniture category: Country Cottage http://su.pr/2D17po Like us on FB http://su.pr/1UrLjm SAVE $50! country cottage

Here's my new video blog, BareNakedBusiness. Help me - share your unadulterated thoughts about being an entrepreneur. http://ping.fm/minbz

Can you please check out the 1st episode of my new video blog, BareNakedBusiness? http://ping.fm/UYbSq Let me know if it's working, OK? Tx!

Thanks Nature Conservancy for your work in restoring oyster reefs, earth's most severely impacted marine habitat http://su.pr/2K3AUn

Today's featured furniture category: American Mission Collection http://su.pr/2PNHA9 Tweeters save $50! American Mission

Save The Tiger

I've been trying to draw attention to the link between tiger conservation and furniture buying for years.  But somehow it seems such a stretch to explain the connection that it gets lost in the ether.  No one has noticed my efforts.
This week though, Rebecca gave me a big hand with her fabulous photoshop skills.  Check out this new tiger-conservation page she posted on our Vermont Woods Studios Furniture website.
It's hard to believe but there are only about 3200 tigers left in the wild.  This tiger subspecies, the Siberian Tiger-- the world's largest cat is literally on the brink of extinction with only about 400 individuals remaining in their natural habitat.  If you can't stand the idea of letting these magnificient creatures disappear forever on our watch, help us spread the word.  Follow us on twitter, fan us on facebook.  There IS something you can do about keeping tigers on this planet for your children and grandchildren to marvel at.

What does your furniture have to do with Tiger Conservation? http://su.pr/7oZsbp#

Do you love tigers? You have to see Rebecca's photoshop work for our Save The Tiger campaign, http://su.pr/2YQb8S

Today's featured furniture category: Classic Shaker Collection http://su.pr/1AlXWo Tweeters save $50! Classic Shaker

Today's featured furniture category: New England Shaker Collection http://su.pr/3YXAbk FB fans save $50! NewEngland http://ping.fm/kYZPk

‘American Furniture Now’ Panels at the Museum of Arts and Design http://ping.fm/cMJrh

Our new sale: 15% off handmade living room and home office furniture http://su.pr/4jrBRw# FB fans save extra $50: http://su.pr/1UrLjm

A Vermont Farmer's Prayer

Many thanks to Dave and Judy Allard of Lyndon Furniture for their newly re-vamped Vermont furniture blog and all of the rich detail within it regarding the outstanding craftsmanship at Lyndon.  One of my favorite posts is the Farmer's Prayer which, I think still portrays the way of life many Vermonter's have managed to preserve:

May every blessing known in life, crown this homestead and my wife, and never any kind of harm descend upon this growing farm.

                                      –Farmers Prayer-

At Vermont Woods Studios Furniture, we tip our hat in gratitude to all of Vermont's great farmers and their comrades who operate small farms across America.  They are the unsung heros of today's society.

Today's featured furniture category: Andrews Natural Cherry Collection http://su.pr/78SIu7 Tweeters save $50! natural cherry

A Place for Vermont Woodworkers to Collaborate on Shipping

Hi Fellow Vermont Furniture Makers,
Have you had any experience with these shippers:  BC Transportation?  We typically use Clark and Reid but are always looking for additional options.  It would be great if we could all collaborate on shipping and perhaps add efficiency to the overall "Vermont furniture shipping" system. 

If others are interested in exploring ways to synergize shipping, we'd be willing to research online venues that would provide free tools to help coordinate multi-company shipping.  We're looking forward to hearing your thoughts-- write your comments below so others can follow the discussion.  We'll be at the VWMA meeting Jan 28 so maybe we can talk about it then too.

Best regards,
peggy and ken farabaugh
Vermont Woods Studios

Today's featured furniture category: Bow Front Collectionhttp://su.pr/1cwpkW Facebook fans save $50! Like us at http://su.pr/1UrLjm home

Today's featured furniture category: Vermont Shaker Collection http://su.pr/4orOgg Tweeters save $50! shaker bedrooms

Poly Wood Adirondack Chairs and Pool Furniture are Eco Friendly

For five years our customers have been asking us to offer eco-friendly outdoor furniture that meets the same high quality standards that our handcrafted, Vermont made indoor furniture does.  I'm sorry for the delay... we weren't ignoring you.  We just had a lot of research and soul searching to do.
The issue with outdoor furniture is that the really high quality, solid wood furniture we were considering is of questionable origin.  Teak and mahogany are about the only types of wood that would meet our standards for weather resistance and longevity but they are both rainforest woods that are often harvested illegally and unsustainably.  Our company mission is founded on forest conservation principles and we've made the decision not to offer outdoor furniture made of rainforest woods.
After researching all the alternatives we selected a wood-alternative material for our first outdoor furniture line.  It's called poly wood and is made of recycled beverage containers.  Instead of clear-cutting engandered rainforests to make our furniture, we're taking plastic out of the waste stream.  We see that as a WIN-WIN situation for the customer and the environment.
Have a look at our new outdoor patio furniture collection as it comes online.  We're just starting the process of getting everything ready for the Spring season, but you can still get a good idea of what's to come.  Let me know what you think of poly wood and whether you would consider it for your outdoor patio, deck or garden.  It's not real wood, but it wears even better than wood-- so well, that we're able to give it a lifetime guarantee just like our indoor furniture.  It's good stuff-- check it out!

Eco friendly outdoor patio furniture comes to Vermont! http://su.pr/2JTi8i

Today's featured furniture: Cherry Moon Collection http://su.pr/1PxuIZ Like us on FB- save $50! http://su.pr/1UrLjm handcrafted cherry

Good riddance to bad rubbish! Love this article on "Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know". But I do still like hand-written letters and pictures in a frame. http://ping.fm/0RCrg

Avoid these Top 10 Reasons Why Small Business Fail and start living the dream! http://ping.fm/3Izjz

Eggs from Annette's farm, Green Mountain coffee, cheese from Grafton, bread from Baba A Louis bakery and pure VT maple syrup. Come have breakfast in Vermont!

Tomorrow's featured furniture category: Modern Shaker Collection http://su.pr/1eVYAg Facebook fans save $50! http://ping.fm/N1wl1

Give yourself a smile, listen to this homeless guy with the golden voice. Second chances are the best :)) http://ping.fm/EMcl7

Now you can contact us via Skype to learn more about our Vermont made furniture, http://ping.fm/xTOQW

Today's featured furniture category: Contemporary Craftsman http://su.pr/4TH1eI Like us on Facebook and save $50 http://su.pr/1UrLjm

Outdoor Furniture That Has A Lifetime Guarantee^We're working on getting our eco friendly Outdoor Furniture collection ready for Spring. Here's a sneak peak, http://ping.fm/KUy2N Tell me if you like it?

Bruce Wilkie's newest designer creation is our furniture piece of the day, http://ping.fm/iU4Fp handcrafted in Vermont

Today our featured furniture category is Solid Wood Desks (http://ping.fm/QmEyH) Start the New Year off beautiful and well organized.

HGTV's Dream Home (http://ping.fm/65ZQi) has some beautiful Vermont made furniture http://ping.fm/OE4ab greendesign