CONSTRUCTION: The dining room chair is abused like no other piece of furniture. Dining chairs are used for sitting on, standing on, leaning on, leaning against, rocking back in, tossing purses and backpacks on, hanging coats or bags from their backs, and eventually we even eat and drop food on them. From the frames to the legs we put weight on the construction and compromise the joinery. Because of their expertise in the craft of joinery the Amish craftsmen provide chairs that last through decades of normal every day use. Studying the architecture of the back and how it is attached to the seat will help determine its strength in joining. The heritage of good, honest Amish carpentry gives attention to these stress points and ensure the strength in every detail.

STYLES: Amish chairs are designed in many reminiscent styles like the great Shakers, Arts and Crafts Movement, Mission and the highly evolved Modern designers. It can be very chic to pair traditional chairs with contemporary tables or vise versa but you should attempt to pair pieces that at least share some common design elements. For instance, the table will have a certain style of leg and the chair should include the same style in the leg or back. When the table is square or rectangular, like in Mission designs, the chair seats should also be square or rectangular.

 SIZE AND HEIGHT: A standard width for armless dining chairs is twenty two inches. Larger is acceptable, especially when your dining table or room is larger. When a chair is narrower than 17 inches they can’t provide enough support for the occupant. Maximum comfort when choosing chairs is reached between 20-24 inches deep. The seat should be eighteen or nineteen inches in height. Allow a minimum of 12 inches between the top of the seat and the top of the table when measuring for the standard 29 or 30 inches high dining room table.

WEIGHT: Because we move the dining room chairs so often, sliding them in and out or moving to sweep and vacuum, be sure the dining chair you select is easy to move from the table. Slat back chairs like the Arts and Crafts designs are easier for most people to grip. Solid backs or upholstered sides are more difficult to grasp and slide. Consider also who will be using the chairs. Can an older family member or a child easily come to the dinner table without assistance in moving the dining furniture every meal?

Amish woodworkers build chairs from American hardwoods with important indicators of great artisanship like sturdy, heirloom quality construction. Amish dining room chairs are available in Oak, Quarter Sawn White Oak, Hickory, Cherry, and Maple. Each piece of Amish dining room furniture is hand assembled, hand sanded and hand finished.

 “I love thee to the level of everyday’s most quiet need, by sun and candle light…

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Poet 1806-1861

 

There is nothing as good for the heart as warm candlelight flickering from the surface of a polished and welcoming dining room table, especially if it is a solid wood creation from the Amish. That is until that same candle has caused irreversible damage to the finish of your heirloom investment. In the past we may have had them on display, perhaps in a dining room buffet’s candelabra, but only recently have home owner’s begun to actually light them daily for ambience in their homes. The comforts of the flame, reminding us of hearth and home, coupled with the aromatherapy qualities,  mean candles are here to stay and use.

Unprotected candles, like pillar style or tapered, are dangerously alluring. While the naked candle and lit flame are visually appealing the hot wax can cause puddles and splattering from sputtering flames or aggressively being blown out. Always use protection for your wood surfaces with a tempered glass or ceramic base under them. Be sure your candle is in a draft-free area; protecting Amish furniture from splatters as well as smoke damage. In a drafty room try turning the candle half way around every hour. Instead of blowing out the flame try a snuffer, a device used to extinguish a candle, available at many candle retailers.

Using a candle encased in glass is best. This containment prevents the spillage of hot wax on your fine Amish furniture. Use caution here. When the manufacturer recommends not burning to the bottom it is because of the dangers of the glass becoming overheated and damaging or even destroying furniture. Worse yet, there is a risk of the glass becoming so hot it actually explodes, causing a surface burn or worse a full fledged fire.

If it is only the aroma you are seeking try a warmer instead. Available at many department and crafts stores these warmers keep the wax softened but safe. Consider the use of custom pads from AmishTables.com, available in many custom sizes and colors, to help insure the surface of your prized Amish table tops.

 A Natural Design Element for Solid Wood Furniture

Amish solid wood furniture is organic in design and is complimented by things brought in from the great outdoors like flower bouquets. The natural element of the wood helps to celebrate big, voluminous bundles of beauteous petals. An arm full of flowers placed inside of a glazed Mission era rustic urn or a lustrous crystal vase will stand out against your oak, cherry or maple American hardwood Amish tabletops. Colorful and fragrant tendrils dripping from their rims will help to promote the homey feelings you began with the purchase of your Amish tables.

Consider the size and scale of your room when selecting flowers for centerpieces for your Amish dining room tables or living room table tops. The flowers you select and what container you choose should reflect the room and the table as well as the theme of your event, if applicable. Remember to protect your wood surface from moisture with table pads or protective dishes underneath.

Pick either varying hues, shades, textures of flowers and foliage and unexpected elements against a plain pot for visually interesting displays. For more impact use one solid color and flower cut symmetrically for use as a cachepot. A cachepot, which can be an artistic study in color, is normally short, tight and compact but can be made more whimsical with airy sprigs of asparagus fronds inserted randomly. Nestling a votive candle into a cachepot’s center is also a romantic element for a dining room table’s focal point.

Trimming your stems according to floral type specifications and arranging using a hidden flower frog will make the design last longer. You can make your own frog, an object with perforations used to support the stems of flowers, by running cellophane tape in a grid fashion across the tops of the container. Fill halfway with non-chlorinated room temperature water that has flower preservative additives dissolved in it. Remove the leaves and thorns from the stem and insert. For fresh cut stems use one large vase and two smaller vases clustered, to mirror the parent vase, giving a wonderfully opulent effect. Secure the loose stems with a rubber band before placing in the vases and then snip, allowing them to arrange themselves naturally.

All too often people purchase an Amish solid wood furniture piece because of its durability and timelessness without realizing that durable does not mean indestructible and timeless design is only timeless when it doesn’t look worn out and old. Amish solid wood furniture creations are an investment for a lifetime of use. Meant to be an heirloom to hand down to the next generation, proper treatment and care of your craftsman design is necessary. Without the proper environmental conditions you cannot achieve optimal preservation of your valuable Amish hard wood furniture. In modern air-conditioned and heated homes creating the perfect environment is easier. With a little education you can insure your investment is giving pleasure for decades.

TEMPERATURE
40-90 degrees Fahrenheit is the most optimal temperature for your artisan crafted Amish furniture. By balancing temperature and environment, not keeping your furniture in extreme temperatures, such as in storage units, garages, or basements, you can avoid permanent damage or loss of value on your investment. Avoid heat sources like floorboard heating and prolonged uncontrolled cold such as in storage or a closed seasonal home.

HUMIDITY & MOISTURE
The wood in your home should never be exposed to an environment that is either too wet or too dry. Wood expands and contracts as temperature and humidity change. If the drawers of your Amish built furniture are sticking this is mostly likely caused by high humidity levels. A good rule of thumb for your solid wood treasures is if it’s comfortable for most people it is probably alright for the furniture. Also, avoid letting wet or hot objects to rest on the solid wood finish and immediately blot, not wipe, spills to help prevent damage to your finish.

SUNLIGHT
UV rays are just as bad for home furnishings, especially heirloom quality solid woods, as it is for you. Because of its bleaching effects it is necessary for you to keep your furniture out of direct and even indirect sunlight. Not only can it bleach your wood but depending on the finish can actually yellow it. Much like the temperature the sun can also cause premature aging, cracking and wood damage. Also, remember to rotate your pieces as well as the knick-knacks you place on them. This will allow for even and unnoticeable fading over the years.

The concept of melding Amish tradition with high tech innovation works beautifully, said John Paul Narowski, director of IT and website optimization for the family-owned company.

“The Amish love making the furniture and leaving the sales, service, and website design to someone else. It’s a win-win situation,” he said.

Nell Narowski, John Paul’s mother and Amish Home co-owner with her husband Wladyslaw, agrees. “The Amish now have fax machines and many families and builders share a phone. We can fax our orders down and get them confirmed. We have been able to be of service by shipping this beautiful furniture all over the country.”

Nell, who has a background in marketing, has found that furniture can be recession-proof. “We have noticed that our customers, who are looking for value and quality in their purchases, have not gone down with the recession, but have increased. They want to pass these pieces on to their children.”

And the website’s functionality helps close the sale, she said. “What I really appreciate about the new website is the backend. We can do a quote so much quicker. We can handle a larger volume of customer questions, changes, and inquiries.” Nell said that many customers tell her they spend hours, even months, pouring over selections and planning their orders.

The carefully crafted wood pieces are heirloom quality. Depending on size and complexity, an order can often take three to four months to build, stain and ship. “It would take four months or more if we had to use regular mail to send orders and get confirmations,” said Nell.

The new website has increased the exposure of Amish Furniture Home and the reputation of Amish crafting, Nell added. “People across the country tell us they had no idea the Amish made such beautiful furniture in so many styles.” The website offers short articles on Amish history, language, beliefs and practices, along with design ideas, recipes and a blog feature.

Debra Stewart, business office manager for Amish Furniture Home, says the new system has sparked an increase in sales since its launch. “February and March have been statistically low sales months for us, but this year we have been able to serve a larger pool of people (with the new website features),” she said. The result was at least a 20 percent increase in sales for the first quarter of 2008.

“I can more easily track an order, what a builder has and what the finisher has, so I have a better understanding of where products are at and when they will be completed,” Stewart said. The system enables them to check product progressions much more quickly so that customers can have their order updates in a more timely fashion.

Company president Wladyslaw Narowski, a carpenter, started Amish Tables.com twelve years ago, because he wanted to be in a “family friendly” business. Having such an efficient system “has taken a big load off,” he said.

When he and Nell started the company, originally called Amish Tables, they were looking for a large table for their growing family. They fell in love with the furniture and the philosophy of life of its crafters, and made many visits to forge relationships with the Amish before they started collaborating.

“Some 12 years ago when I saw these long beautiful tables — perfect for large family gatherings — I could see this was a niche market,” he said. “No one else was offering these large tables.”

Their son John Paul joined the business and immediately saw a way to bring his skills in web marketing into the mix. He developed Amish Furniture Home to the point where the company’s online offerings can now fill every room in the home. There are offerings for the office as well. John Paul has now launched his own website enhancement business, Metasprings.com.

The company has made a new hire to help with order fulfillment and general customer service needs. Although both Amish Furniture Home staff and their customers can now access account information and manage the process more efficiently, direct, personal contact with customers is still central. “It has actually increased our ability to give personalized services,” Stewart explained. “We notify our customers at every step in the shipping process. We want to make sure they feel comfortable and informed during the entire process.

More growth is just around the corner. Stewart said there is a vendor show next week in Elkhart, Indiana. “By the end of the month of May, we will have new product lines.”

“The Internet has helped us reach a larger audience than we ever imagined. The new system enables us to handle a great amount of details and orders, and manage shipping and delivery of the handcrafted Amish made furniture all over the USA. It’s all American made, high-tech and delivered to your door,” said Wladyslaw.

Contact Amish Tables/Amish Furniture Home at www.Amish-Furniture-Home.com or call toll-free 1.866.632.6474.

By Kate Ernsting, Excelsis Communications, (734) 645-9046.

The company, founded by Ann Arbor entrepreneurs Wladyslaw and Nell Narowski and run for 11 years out of their home, has expanded during the last year to offices at 4844 Jackson Road. This week, the company introduced its new spin-off company, Amish Furniture Home, to supplement its dining room repertoire with high-quality wood furniture for the living room, bedroom, and office.

“Especially in today’s fast-paced, fragmented modern-day society, families need a place to come together.  We’ve found a way to address that need and market to families who want to bring family life back,” says John Paul Narowski, vice president and sales manager.

Amish Tables was originally called “Family Industries,” because Wladyslaw and Nell envisioned a company that would first sell furniture, and then perhaps expand to other services, intended to make family life easier and more fun.

“We first saw some large, Amish-crafted wood tables when visiting some friends in New Jersey,” explained Nell.  “They had a good-sized family and had intentionally moved so that they were friends with their neighbors. Several families had actually purchased large tables and were sharing leaves. We saw how much activity revolved around these large, adaptable tables.”

Intrigued, the couple bought one of these tables when they had three young children and discovered “how much we used our table for everything from science projects to family gatherings.”

The company’s original supplier came from Wladyslaw’s friendship with Amish furniture makers from Pennsylvania.  He admired the Amish fine craftsmanship, simple lines and the value the group places on family and community life, but saw that they might prefer a middleman to market their furniture.

“The Amish know how to make beautiful furniture—they’ve made it one of their specialties.  They are less interested in handling the marketing and distribution,” he explained.

The Amish movement, founded in Europe in the late 17th Century by Jacob Amman, attempted to restore early practices of the Protestant Mennonites. When Amish believers migrated to the United States in the 18th century, they sought to preserve some elements of their community culture by avoiding the adoption of many elements of modern culture.

Their standard Amish tables can expand to 10 feet and the largest to 19 feet to seat up to 22 people.  The tables come in four types of hardwood—red oak, quarter-sawn white oak, cherry and maple—and are available in mission, traditional and contemporary designs. Chairs are custom-designed in these styles as well.

Ken Sharp of Ann Arbor said that when Amish Tables began about 10 years ago, he and his wife Linda purchased one of the first ones.  “We needed a large sturdy table because we have a really large family — 17 children.”  He said they are still using the table and it is still in good shape. “One of the kids broke something on the underside of the table and Amish Tables arranged for its repair.  We are very happy customers.”

Bob Feinberg and Maggie Drucker, who live with their three children in New Jersey, looked for a large table for a long time.

“We entertain a lot and live in an arts and crafts house, so we wanted a mission style table with several leaves,” Feinberg said.  His wife said, “We really did look everywhere.  We were using a lousy table for a couple of years because we thought what we wanted was really out of our price range.”

Finally, she said, they asked a company that sold mission-style furniture but didn’t carry anything in that size range for a referral.  “They recommended Amish Tables,” Drucker said.  Although ordering something that large over the Internet was “like a shot-in-the-dark experience,” Amish Tables’ commitment to service and previous customers’ testimonials convinced her to go ahead.  “It was so much more magnificent than we even expected.  We were very pleased.”

All marketing and most sales are now completed over the Internet, saving on overhead, John Paul said.  The oldest, he’s working at the family company with his sister Marianna. John Paul plans to combine this in the near future with finishing his business degree at the University of Michigan. Marianna will take a break while she studies marketing at Michigan State this fall.

Wladyslaw says his son started helping out with the company’s website but was soon needed for more.  “John Paul has made it possible for us to grow by developing an efficient customer tracking system.   He did everything to position us strategically on the Internet search engines, and to streamline customer service so we can put the personal touch where it is needed most.” He said the company now gets over 10,000 hits a month to their webpage.

By combining the power of the Internet with the company’s family-oriented marketing and customer service approach, Wladyslaw says they now have “all the ingredients to sustain and grow a business that sells large tables shippable to any place in America.”  They now also market the large tables to businesses for boardrooms and colleges and hospitals, nursing homes and hospices for conference rooms.

“Some of our first tables were sold to people who had 10 children or more,” said Nell.  “But now we sell beautiful dining tables to families of all sizes.  People remember going to Grandmother’s for Thanksgiving and Christmas and they catch on to how much fun it can be.”

For more information, visit www.amishtables.com or www.amish-furniture-home.com or call 1.866.632.6474