She is a CEO who brakes for salamanders, has bottle-fed rescued squirrels and spent her vacation building furniture for a rural school in Costa Rica. She believes in the future and in the people who will build it. A former distance-learning professor at Tulane University with a master’s in environmental health & safety, she turned an interest in forest conservation and endangered species into a growing, local business. She delivers rainforest statistics at breakneck speed, but knows how to slow down and appreciate the beauty of a newly finished piece of heirloom furniture.
At Vermont Woods Studios, we’re champions of the monarch butterfly. We plant trees and milkweed to conserve and restore their habitat. Our customers support our monarch conservation work with every purchase.
This post was originally published in December, 2017 but we thought it appropriate to re-share on this cold, snowy day. If you have a wood boiler, reach out to our resident expert, Ken on Facebook for tips and advice on how to stay warm all winter long.
To heat our showroom, we’re using an E-Classic 2400 Central Boiler which we purchased from Dale Temple of Temple Plumbing & Heating in Westminster, Vermont. We burn scrap wood (from furniture making) and trees that need to be culled from our forest.
Heating Stonehurst Sustainably
My wife, Peggy, and I started a sustainable furniture company in 2005. The business has grown over the years and in September 2012 we purchased Stonehurst, a historic property and former ski area in Vernon, Vermont. The goal was to restore the property and create a unique destination for customers to shop for Vermont made wooden furniture. We decided to invest in an outdoor wood boiler to heat the renovated property. Peggy wanted to avoid using fossil fuels and I wanted to make use of the property’s many downed trees.Read More
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Above, Stonehurst is home not only to our Vermont Woods Studios VWS furniture showroom but also to a 109 acre woodland we manage for environmental conservation. Our commitment to forest and wildlife preservation has again been recognized as exemplary by the Sustainable Furnishings Council SFC and National Wildlife Federation NWF. Read more about our sustainable furniture award below.
VWS Earned Top Award on The 2022 Wood Furniture Scorecard
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.
Dear Customers & Readers, Our talented friend, Linda Marcille who created these extraordinary paintings, has fallen ill and is looking to sell them immediately to pay for medical expenses. All 5 paintings in the series are available and we are hoping to keep the collection together. If you or someone you know is interested in acquiring the series, please reach out to us on Facebook or Contact Us. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring a priceless art collection into your home, office or museum. Read More
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