Indoor Plants: Trendy and Healthy!

March 20, 2020March 16, 2020 Loryn Dion Leave a comment

Bedroom with Indoor Plants — *Our Copeland Berkeley Bedroom Set looks so bright and warm with added house plants.*

Why Indoor Plants are Great for your Home and Health

It’s a fact that nothing classes up your home like an indoor plant or vase of fresh flowers. I’m not the tidiest person in the world, but I swear when I pick up a bunch of cut flowers at the farmers market on Saturdays, it makes my apartment look 10 times more neat. That may just be wishful thinking, but now that we’re in peak hay fever season and the changing of the climate is driving my allergies crazy, I’ve been looking for more reasons to add indoor plants to my apartment besides just for their beauty. Plants look great but have you ever thought of the health benefits behind adding greenery to your space? Here’s five reasons why houseplants are good for your heart, soul and decor:

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

COVID-19 Update

March 17, 2020March 18, 2020 Riley Farabaugh

Last updated on March 18th, 2020 at 11:28 pm

As coronavirus and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic sweep across the country and the world, we felt it important to communicate to our customers, friends, and partners what the impact has been on our business.

Below is a message from our founder, Peggy Farabaugh, about what impact the virus is having on Vermont Woods Studios and what steps we are taking as an organization to prevent further disruption. We will update this post as necessary over the coming days, weeks, and months depending on how the situation progresses. Find updates on our website.

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10 Great Vermont Made Products

March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 Kelsey Eaton Leave a comment

Here are some of our favorite Vermont Made Products

Vermont has always made high quality products. There are hundreds of companies that as Vermonters we are well aware of and use their products on a daily basis. Our audience narrowed our list down a bit, because we wanted to choose products that are nationally known. However, it was still extremely difficult to limit our list to just 10 products made in Vermont. In the future, we will continue to post on the Vermont Woods Studios blog about products made in Vermont, because there are too many good ones that we don’t want to leave out!

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Vermont Made Furniture: A History

March 15, 2020March 16, 2020 Peggy Farabaugh 4 Comments

Last updated on March 16th, 2020 at 07:30 am

250 Years of Woodworking and Furniture Making in Vermont

Last year we had so much interest from customers about the history of Vermont made furniture, we started an encyclopedia of sorts. Did you know that Vermont furniture making history can be traced back to the 17th century? And by the 18th century almost every town in Vermont had woodworkers making furniture, tools and utensils.

Wood products became the single most important manufacturing industry in Vermont during the 19th century. It was then that Vermont made furniture and wood products began their long history of export to customers all over the U.S. and abroad. Wood furniture, wooden cutting boards and bowls, bowling pins, baskets, drumsticks, toys, musical instruments, golf tees, cheese boxes, wooden dolls, gun racks, Scrabble tiles, snowshoes, clothes pins, and wooden shipping boxes were (and continue to be) all products of a thriving Vermont woodworking industry.

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How to Help Save the Monarchs

March 10, 2020March 10, 2020 Peggy Farabaugh

Why Do We Even Care About Monarchs?

How to Help Save the Monarchs | Vermont Woods Studios — If you visit us at Stonehurst you’ll notice our commitment to forest conservation. As wood furniture makers we’re mindful of our impact on nature. Since we all love monarchs (our state butterfly) we work to conserve their habitat both here in VT and in the Mexican forest where they over-winter (above). We’ve partnered with the non-profit, Forests for Monarchs FFM to plant trees & restore monarch habitat in Mexico. So far we’ve planted over 60,000 trees! Photo by Sue Sill.

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Outdoor Furniture: Wood or Recycled Plastic?

March 5, 2020March 16, 2020 Peggy Farabaugh Leave a comment

Last updated on March 16th, 2020 at 07:31 am

Recycled Plastic Outdoor Furniture | Polywood — If you’re shopping for wooden outdoor furniture this season, you’ve probably noticed there are a lot of new faux wood furniture sets, made from recycled plastic. Shown here is the POLYWOOD Euro dining set. It has the look and weight of wood but lasts longer and doesn’t require any maintenance.

Why Recycled Plastic Instead of Wood?

When customers asked us to start carrying outdoor furniture naturally we searched for a real wood product. However, while there are weather resistant species such as cedar, teak, eucalyptus and redwood that make fine outdoor furniture, we still worried about the longevity of the furniture, maintenance, and the environmental impact. While researching high end outdoor wood furniture we discovered recycled plastic lumber (RPL) made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Also known as Poly-Wood, it looks like real wood & has the heavy weight of real wood plus it’s durable, versatile and environmentally friendly.

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Off to Mexico to Help the Monarchs

February 13, 2020February 14, 2020 Peggy Farabaugh

Last updated on February 14th, 2020 at 11:56 pm

Monarch butterfly at Stonehurst in Vernon, VT — If you visit us at Stonehurst in the summer, you’ll probably notice the milkweed and monarch butterflies outside our showroom. But did you know we also work to conserve the monarch’s winter habitat in Mexico?

Reforesting the Monarch’s Winter Habitat

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Vermont Winter Activities

January 24, 2020January 25, 2020 Kelsey Eaton Leave a comment

Last updated on January 25th, 2020 at 09:00 am

winter has arrived in Vermont — *Winter has finally arrived in Vermont! This is the first significant snow fall we have seen in Vernon this season.*

Mother Nature was a few days late bringing us a white Christmas, but we finally have snow in southern Vermont. I have to admit, I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I love winter activities, but I hate winter chores. So, the other morning as I was digging out my car for the first time this season (winter chore), I focused on my favorite Vermont winter activities. There are a lot of things to do in Vermont during the wintertime, so I have narrowed down my list to 5 things, just for you!

Whether you are a snow bunny at heart, or are on the fence, there’s something on this list for everyone.

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Top 5 Dining Table Designs: All About That Base

January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 Megan Fulton Leave a comment

We always put so much focus on the tabletop, but what about those legs?

I’m a perfectionist by nature and attention to detail has always been something I pride myself on. That being said, it can make doing things, like shopping for a new dining table, a challenge sometimes. I tend to be really indecisive because I like knowing what I’m choosing is the best possible product for me. I take everything from color, material used, shape, size and design into consideration. But what about the base of a table? It can aesthetically make or break a room, so why do the table tops get all of the attention?

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GreenGuard Certified Furniture: Everything You Need to Know

January 3, 2020January 4, 2020 Riley Farabaugh

The furniture finishing industry is somewhat renowned for its use of questionable chemicals and behind-the-curtain practices. At one point in time, craftsmen used natural finishes like oil and wax or shellac.

But somewhere along the line there was a movement towards more durable, highly engineered wood finishes.

While these advancements in technology created finishes that are more durable, easier to apply, and cheaper than the traditional alternatives, they have also added some concerns about environmental sustainability and toxicity.

Just check out the standard warning that the State of California requires on many of the most common finishes sold in the US today:

WARNING: This product is known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive issues.

This movement towards chemically engineered wood finishes has created enough concern among consumers that third party testing organizations have sprung up to evaluate the safety of these finishes. One of the most common standards for verifying the safety of wood finishes is GreenGuard Certification.

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