Our Monthly Giveaway: April Showers Bring May Flowers!

As spring progresses through April to early summer in May, it marks a special time as Mother Earth rains down rejuvenation to the world’s plants and wildlife.  It is truly a time of rebirth.  Thus, the common phrase, “April showers bring May flowers!” So as the snow in some areas turns to rain, and the flowers begin to sprout and bloom, Manchester Wood would like to dedicate this month’s giveaway to sharing this beautiful time in nature.

Our Shaker Pedestal Stand

During the month of April, email or tweet Manchester Wood pictures of your flowers as they take to the new season, and you’ll be entered in the raffle for a FREE American made, solid wood Shaker Pedestal Stand for your favorite plant or small sculpture! Handcrafted by our loving workforce in the foothills of the Adirondacks, near the surrounding valleys of the Green Mountains in Vermont. At Manchester Wood, we love flowers and plants, so there is no better time to share our handcrafted gifts with fellow enthusiasts in this springing season of life!

Designed to hold smaller items, our Shaker Pedestal Stand is perfect for spaces where there is not a lot of room. This stand could be used for a plant, statue, or even a stack of books. The solid ash construction makes this piece capable of holding heavier items as well. The stain is very durable and will resist discoloring due to accidental spills. Available in either Chestnut or Golden Oak, and like all our products here at Manchester Wood, it is entirely Made in USA with FREE shipping!

To enter the drawing for a FREE Shaker Pedestal Stand email service@manchesterwood.com a photo of your favorite plant, or tweet us the photo by reaching @manchesterwood on Twitter.

This offer runs April 1st – April 30th

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

Made in the USA Homes: Constructing American Made

Homeowner Patrick Schutte (on left) stands with Alex de Parry of Ann Arbor Builders at the site of Schutte's new made in USA home. (Photo courtesy of AnnArbor.com)

At the end of last year, the Boston Consulting Group reported that 220,000 more new American jobs would be created if every builder in the country increased American-made products by 5 percent, and Janet Miller for AnnArbor.com wrote that such efforts are being made in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area.  This is a wonderful development as it takes a lot of different materials and products to build and furnish a home.  When these all products (or a high percentage of them) are made in the USA, that means more jobs for American workers and a robust economy.

Miller writes in her recent article, Made in the USA: Ann Arbor firm constructing homes with products made in America, that Ann Arbor Builders, a 40-year old construction company run by husband and wife Alex and Betsy de Parry are focusing on building homes primatily using  products and materials made in America.

Recently they collaborated with Patrick Schutte to build his dream home.  He wanted it to be all American-made. Shutte’s soon-to-be four-bedroom house “will be the first new project built under Ann Arbor Builders’ focus on using American-made goods. Except for the granite countertop, the microwave oven and the recessed lighting, everything will be made in America, down to the nails. Construction started in January, and the family expects to move in this summer… ‘If everyone did it, it would add up to be a pretty big thing,’ Betsy de Parry” told Miller for AnnArbor.com.

Schutte was persistent on making his house as “American” as possible, reaching approximately 95% made in America — no small task considering “[that] ‘a few items were impossible to find. All microwaves,’ Betsy de Parry said, are made in South Korea. There are no American-made recessed lights. And most granite comes from abroad, mostly from Brazil and Italy… ‘If a house doesn’t have a microwave, granite countertops or recessed lights, it can be 100 percent American-made,’ she said” (AnnArbor.com).  Hopefully, such products will be domestically produced in the future, but for the time building a house that is 95% American made is quite an accomplishment.

The project undertaken by Parry’s and Schutte also show us that with a small extra cost (only 3 to 5% more) you can construct not only a home made with products from your own community, but take a stand for social justice and civil empowerment. We hope that when Schutte and his family decide to purchase products for their new home they consider Manchester Wood for the best in American made furniture. From our unique coffee tables, end tables, cherry wood desks, and solid wood cabinets, these are just a few of our handmade manufactured goods that are 100% made in the USA.

To view the American Made furniture of Manchester Wood, click here.

To read this amazing article on the efforts of Made in USA homes, click here.

References

Miller, Janet. (2012, March 22). Made in the USA: Ann Arbor firm constructing homes with products made in America. AnnArbor.com. Retrieved from http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/ann-arbor-homebuilders-look-to-build-houses-with-products-made-in-america/

15% off our Equinox Rocker for First Day of “Equinox Spring”

Our Equinox Rocker and Adirondack Side Table

Manchester Wood celebrates the first day of “Equinox Spring,” the technical name for the first day of spring, which is today, March 20th with 15% off our Equinox Rocker till the following week, March 27th.

Why “Equinox Spring”? Well, the name “equinox” is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night) as the night and day have approximately equal length during this time period. The tilt of the Earth’s axis is neither to one side or the other, which means the center of the Sun is the same as the Earth’s equator. Spring for many of us around the World then means longer days, and the equinox is the reason. So in celebration of these longer, sunnier days upon us, Manchester Wood is offering a sale of 15% off our Equinox Rocking Chair!

The Equinox Rocker has quickly become a customer favorite among our many prized solid wood outdoor furniture pieces. The name was originally inspired by Equinox Mountain in Manchester, Vermont, our hometown and the birthplace of Manchester Wood. The rocking chair has many similar lines to our famous Adirondack Chair, but also boasts it’s own, very distinct features. With straighter back support and seating design compared to its Adirondack Chair counterpart, this versatile outdoor furniture item is a beautiful addition to any country home while enjoying the outdoors. You may also wish to complete the set for your deck or patio by purchasing our entire Equinox Collection, which includes chairs and benches of the same aesthetic.

To buy this great solid wood furniture piece at it’s special discounted rate March 20th-27th, type “EQX” in the coupon code box at check-out for 15% off, which includes FREE SHIPPING. Like Manchester Wood’s entire American made furniture products, the Equinox Rocker is made in the USA, handcrafted in our mill with the highest quality natural hardwood resources of the Northeast forests.

What better outdoor furniture to own then that made from the Adirondacks, in the Adirondacks. Be sure to check out our whole Outdoor Collection featuring our famous Adirondack Chair, and its featured add-ons as well as Kid’s furniture, benches, chairs, end tables, footstools, and more. We’re entering the season of outdoor furniture; take us with you this spring and summer.

To view the Equinox Rocker, currently available at 15% off, click here.
For our entire Outdoor Collection, click here.

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American furniture
in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

Are We ‘Made in America’ Dreaming? News-filled Monday ‘Made in US’

This Monday in news brought much awareness to the “Made in USA” product beginning with an article in the morning from MarketWatch explaining the findings that consumers will pay more for American made goods, and CNET reporting that Samsung could “beat Apple with Made in the USA,” and at night, still on Monday, USA Today spotlights a $25 million dollar makeover project in Minneapolis for the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which will “revamp with an interesting ‘Made in America’ theme.”

Is this a [American] dream? All on a quiet, sleepy March Monday, a tidal wave on conscious consumer updates and budding socially aware businesses like Samsung and Hyatt have designers like Michael Suomi saying, “We had a specific goal of bringing as much of the manufacturing and sourcing back to America to promote job growth, increase speed to market and celebrate American craft” (USA Today). Is this real? Are the “big guys” starting to take another look at malpractices overseas with instead supporting and promoting local businesses with strict moral and lawful codes? That’s not to mention the reward in the feeling of buying something organically handmade from your local area; a point Suomi seems to make with USA Today, “We designed Hyatt Regency Minneapolis as a modern homage to the local heritage, culture and economic history of Minnesota, as well as the proud history of American manufacturing.” The bathrooms they report will be redone with “granite that is quarried locally and purchased from Cold Spring Granite, a 113-year old Minnesota company” (USA Today).

Manchester Wood's founder Clifford Pierce's great grandfather's sawmill in Red Bank, NJ in the early 19th century.

The locally mined granite from an historic 113-year old company reminded me of Manchester Wood’s Slate Top furniture, which is produced in historic collaboration with our family’s wood crafting history of 121 years with a slate top surface mined from local quarries in our area on the Vermont-New York border that began right along the same centennial mark.

The media, big business, and economists, are starting to take a bigger look at the hidden gem back home. ‘Made in America’ is far beyond patriotism; it carries the same benefits of buying local organic foods from the farmer’s market. We give thanks for this un-hatching of a bigger and brighter day in consumerism.

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American made furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

References

De Lollis, Barbara (2012, March 12). Makeover Monday: Minneapolis hotel’s ‘Made in America’ redo. USA Today. Retrieved from http://usat.ly/yXQgf7

Matyszczyk, Chris (2012, March 11). Could Samsung beat Apple with ‘Made in the USA’?. CNET. Retrieved from http://cnet.co/yzauKW

PR Newswire (2012, March 12). Consumers Will Pay More For a ‘Made in the USA’ Label. MarketWatch. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/xKlEcE

Introducing Our Tray Top Coffee Table!

Manchester Wood's NEW Tray Top Coffee Table!

As a featured item from a yet-to-be released collection, the Tray Top Coffee Table is the newest unique and beautifully designed American made solid wood furniture piece from Manchester Wood. With a slatted tray top that can be easily carried off, or placed back, large shelving space at the base for magazines, books, or collectibles; the Tray Top Coffee Table adds diversity and style in your home or vacation cabin.

Home furnishings designer Michelle Lamb recently told The Kansas City Star (source) that coffee tables, and their uses and functions are constantly increasing in this new age of technology. “Not only is it a place to set your drinks and the remote, it’s a place for laptops, tablet computers and smartphones,” Lamb explained.

The coffee table is entering a ‘golden age’ as an extremely useful and practical item in the modern day household, and we believe our Tray Top Coffee Table provides the same basic functions with diverse and portable qualities for its many current uses.

This handcrafted, Made in USA product is priced at a reasonable $299.95, and that includes FREE Shipping. Today, take home this prized piece of furniture designed, milled, and made from the Green Mountains of Vermont and the foothills of the Adirondacks.

To view the new Tray Top Coffee Table, click here.

Are Coffee Tables On The Rise Due to Technology?

A recent article by Stacy Downs of The Kansas City Star explains just that. “Not only is it a place to set your drinks and the remote, it’s a place for laptops, tablet computers and smartphones,” Michelle Lamb, a home furnishings designer told the reporter.

The article, entitled Coffee tables enter a ‘golden age’ explains how the “Seinfeld era” in the early 90’s found coffee tables used mostly for drinks and food, the 50’s referred to them more as cocktail tables, with less wood in the design and more chrome. Each era has had it’s own appeal to this key piece of furniture.

It’s now “a place to work,” Lamb continued in The Kansas City Star interview. Lamb travels all over to trade shows and studies how furniture makers, like Manchester Wood, respond and adapt furniture to changing lifestyles.

Manchester Wood's Slate Top Coffee Table, beautifully hand-split slate tiles mined from nearby slate quarries along the New York-Vermont border.

“It’s combining sculptural art pieces with multiple functions,” Rick Janecek, a creative director and designer of Global Views, a home décor wholesale company told the Star.

The coffee table is evolving into a further artistic expression in the home, as well as its design in supplying the many functions we now desire in this age of technology. With laptops, iPads, Kindles, the uses stretch as Lamb said for “a place to work,” not just for setting a drink and the remote, while watching your favorite show.

In this era of multitasking, the coffee table is arriving as an impromptu desk with a fresh demand and need to be met. Manchester Wood, your American made solid wood furniture retailer is unveiling many designs this year for the coffee table, including one very soon that plays into the mobility and simply technical lifestyle the world seeks to find.

To view Manchester Wood’s coffee tables, click here.

References:

Downs, Stacy. (2012, 02 28). Coffee tables enter a ‘golden age’. The Kansas City Star. Retrieved from http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/28/3456531/coffee-tables-enter-a-golden-age.html#storylink=misearch

March’s Gratitude Giveaway!

It is with great pleasure that Manchester Wood is offering this month’s free product giveaway with a gift in gratitude. The month of March is about feeling grateful for you, the customer who buys our products, and keeps our jobs and business producing quality, handcrafted American made furniture. Our customers are what Manchester Wood feels most grateful for, and that got us thinking about what everyone else was grateful for… So… what are you grateful for?

To enter our FREE March giveaway email service@manchesterwood.com with a response to the question, “what are you grateful for?”

You’ll then be entered for a chance to win.

Manchester Wood's NEW Serving Tray!

The giveaway item this month is the Serving Tray from our new $64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs category supporting the statistic that if every American spent $64 on Made in USA goods there would be 200,000 new jobs created (source). It might be a bit ironic to have the Serving Tray as the giveaway with gratitude, but it is a symbol of our service to you, and our knowing of your service to others as well, perhaps this time by surprising someone sick in bed with this new Serving Tray?? …

As with all our products, FREE shipping will be provided.

God bless you always,

Manchester Wood: American Made Furniture

Manchester Wood offers this monthly giveaway series as a token of gratitude and thanks to their loyal consumer base that knows the quality and craftsmanship of our furniture Made in the USA.

Ps. we may compile your responses at some point for an amazing post filled with your gratitude, but we promise to only use your first name.

President’s Day Special: Our NEW Campaign Desk!

Manchester Wood's Campaign Desk

In honor of the many great presidential and political leaders who have helped America, both past and present, in this day of their celebration, Manchester Wood is announcing a new historically designed Campaign Desk!

Our Campaign Desk is a variation of a conveniently designed traveling desk from the Revolutionary era of the early Americas. The likes of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other forefathers of the United States penned on a similar desk that filled with letters of love, war, and ideas of independence.

The Campaign Desk was also used many times on the battlefield for officers to write their plans or orders during the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

Work from a solid wood desk that is handcrafted in both historical and contemporary Americana design. Like all our furniture, proudly Made in the USA.

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American made furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

Manchester Wood announces collection “$64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs”

Manchester Wood Announces "$64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs"

A recent study by ABC World News with Diane Sawyer around the holiday season showed that if each person spent $64 dollars on Made in America items we would create 200,000 new American jobs (source). In support of this finding, Manchester Wood is offering an affordable and unique gift collection that allows you to bring home an heirloom quality American made product for only $64 dollars, which includes free shipping. This is a great opportunity to support the Made in USA cause, own a quality piece of furniture at a very affordable rate, practice conscious consumerism, and help create more American jobs.

The collection is currently offering a Lap Desk, Serving Tray, Tea Cup/Mug Stand, Folding Table, and Step Stool. All American made and entirely of solid Northeastern hardwood, milled and crafted in our manufacturing shop in Granville, New York.

View our new $64 Gifts for U.S. Jobs collection by clicking here, or read the product descriptions below for more info:

The Lap Desk is ideal for working while sitting in a chair or on the couch, perhaps upright in bed. It allows mobility, comfort, and an old-fashioned style using a laptop computer while also keeping harmful rays and unwanted heat away.

The Serving Tray offers someone sick in bed a meal, a child a snack, or a Mother’s Day morning surprise. The Serving Tray is also good for while you watch TV in bed or on the couch, perhaps while paying bills or working in a more leisurely manner.

The Tea Cup/Mug Stand is perfect for your coffee or tea while enjoying a nice read. Perhaps while basking in peaceful solitude on the porch or in the sun room. Bring this antique style stand with a refreshed Americana twist into your home today!

The Folding Table under our TV Tray Table category has been a customer favorite for over 35 years, and now you can bring home this item at a more inexpensive rate. We imagine it’ll give a great preview to the quality of our TV Tray Table sets.

Need a few inches to get something around the kitchen? The garage? Maybe for the little ones to reach the sink? The Step Stool is an inexpensive way to own a nice American crafted solid wood item that’s hefty and durable, which is important for its many uses.

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American made furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

Stores Desire Made in America

Photo Courtesy of The City Wire

“I think people want to buy USA made. I want to be the proof in the pudding — yes, you can buy American made [here],” Beth Cook told The City Wire a Business, Political, and Cultural News source in Northwest Arkansas this past Monday about her store “B LaRue,” a boutique retail outlet in Rogers, Arkansas now carrying Made in the USA products. “I just want to encourage small business in America…We make quality products. And we need jobs.”

The City Wire’s article entitled “Rogers store looking for Made in America” continued with a report that shows the greatest impact outsourced goods have are in furniture and household equipment, which mainly derive from China.

“In the last decade, manufacturers rushed to China to take advantage of low wages there, which meant U.S. job losses… according to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group, a global-management advisory firm” (The City Wire).

It’s reading articles like this every week on our news feed, whether local coverage somewhere in America (like Arkansas) or national that puts Manchester Wood and other American made manufacturers in a growing ascent towards domestic consumer justice. And for the furniture world we’re one of the few proudly left standing.

Beth Cook, The City Wire these are some of the many Americans helping raise that kind of consumer awareness on Made in USA products, and Cook’s support for Made in America in her store shows her dedication to the cause. She knows for a small store in a small town in Arkansas it’s “not likely to help the economy overall, but she hopes maybe her decision will help save one or two jobs for Americans” (The City Wire).

Cook, like many store owners beginning to stock Made in USA items not only can see the clear picture of helping create more jobs here, but also the quality and craftsmanship of Made in America “that carries a lifetime guarantee…there’s a lot of pride in American products,” she concluded.

It’s great to see people not only acknowledge the support of their fellow person by purchasing something they made, but also realizing the quality and longevity of the products like ours entirely American made solid wood furniture at Manchester Wood. These are not landfill, cheap throwaway pieces of furniture that last a few years, but a nice solid Northeastern hardwood piece to give your grand-kids. Buy American. And if you’re looking for American made furniture, buy Manchester Wood.

Manchester Wood designs and produces quality, affordable, eco-friendly solid wood American furniture in the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondack foothills of New York.

References

Sims, Scarlet. (2012, 02 06). Rogers store looking for Made in America. The City Wire. Retrieved from http://www.thecitywire.com/node/20249