AUTUMN EQUINOX

One calendar says the Marigold is the flower for October. My marigolds are eaten alive by the snails and slugs long before October. Someone must have been able to keep them looking bright and cheery until the chill of October comes. On the east coast, it’s often more than chill, but snow that will last until Easter.

A change of season, a change of a new school year, perhaps a change in your décor. Especially for the holidays. Time is running out to order for holidays. The Amish builders receive many orders at this time of year. Don’t be disappointed and find you’re too late to order. Remember, it takes a minimum of 6 – 8 weeks to build, and a week to deliver to our warehouse for inspection before being released to you. Often production will be delayed because of the increase in orders. Like flowers, if you don’t get to the nursery early for your selection, you’ll be without and very disappointed.

THE POOL IS CLOSED

That kind of sign would be a wonderful sight for Professor Harold Hill to see. To the rest of us, it means summer is over. Young ‘uns goin’ back to school, including Amish children. No more bare feet. New tennis shoes, new lunch pail with thermos, the smell of new books, new friends to make, old friends to see, ahh. And a quieter house for parents. Some parents will find time to assist in the classroom at school. Amish parents do this too, taking pre-school age children with them.

The new Nickel Mines Amish school will be open for its second year.

Is It Mission or Arts & Crafts Furniture?

…..are they antiques or are they new furniture pieces? Whatever you want to call them, they are some of the finest heirloom quality pieces made in the USA today.

The descriptive name “mission furniture” was first coined by Joseph McHugh, a New York furniture manufacturer, to describe his line of straight line rustic style furniture that he began producing about 1895. The mission style furniture design was based on a chair that had been designed for a church in San Francisco circa 1894-1895. The mission chair was a simple chair, the design of which was influenced by the Spanish missions of the area, thus the term “mission furniture”.

Mission furniture caught on as a generic term for the style of furniture and also the European term “art & crafts” was used to describe the American craftsman furniture. About the same time, Gustav Stickley (Stickly) was developing his own mission furniture designs. Many of the pieces had transitional designs that combined both Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles. But by the 1900’s, the mission designs became more straight lined and developed into the familiar mission style, as we know it.

For the most complete selection of mission style (Arts & Crafts) furniture check out the Amish Workbench Furniture website: www.amishwbf.com where you’ll find collections to satisfy every period preference:

• Classic Mission Collection: clean lines, subtle curves and dramatic height

• Grand Mesa Collection: pub table height for evening cards or afternoon tea

• Liberty Mission Collection: an upscale spin on the American Arts and Crafts movement

• Mission Collection: an American classic of unpretentious grace and simple sophistication

• Santa Cruz Collection: intricate cutouts and sloping angles define these show-stopping pieces

• Santa Fe Collection: instant sophistication confirms the classy Mission style of the southwest

…..so whether you call it Mission or Arts & Crafts this timeless styling is at home in both traditional and contemporary settings.

Who are the Shakers?

…..and why is their furniture, styled in the late 1700’s, still popular today? Shaker furniture, elegant in simplicity, functional and durable, is a timeless style at home in both traditional and contemporary settings.

Like the fine antiques produced a century ago by diligent Shaker craftsmen, today’s classic designs are hand crafted one at a time in solid cherry, maple and oak.

The Shakers are a small Protestant religious denomination founded in Manchester, England in the mid-1700’s as a dissident group of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Derisively called “Shaking Quakers” because their meetings included both singing and dancing. Their manner of worship stirred up “rage and enmity” and they decided to leave England.

The first group arrived in a small hamlet near Albany, New York in 1774. By 1824 the Shakers had 19 self-sufficient communities from Maine to Indiana. The essential principles of the Shaker faith, as it developed in America, included celibacy, equality of sexes, community of goods and withdrawal into their own communities from the “World” (their term for all non-believers).

Shaker furniture evolved as simple, functional pieces of solid hardwood hand selected by the craftsman for color and figure. For the most complete selection of shaker style furniture, check out the Amish Workbench Furniture website: www.amishwbf.com where you’ll find collections to satisfy every period preference:

• Dutch Creek Collection: solid construction and clean lines to make a statement in any décor

• Heritage Collection: efficient design with two-tone highlights

• Modern Shaker Collection: softened rustic features for a versatile interior design

• Valley Shaker Collection: rustic and homey reminds of a simpler time

• Warren Collection: simplicity with a twist provides some unique design variations

…..you don’t have to be a Shaker to enjoy furniture that will last a lifetime in both traditional and contemporary settings.