Experiencing Vermont's Culture Through Wood Furniture

|Today’s post is part 4 of a series on Vermont Woods Studios written by Vermont author, Peggy McKay Shinn. Peggy writes full-time and lives in Rutland, Vermont, with her husband, daughter, and one remaining cat. Visit her website and check out Peggy Shinn’s books, including Deluge: Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont’s Flash Floods, and How One Small State Saved Itself. |
Steve Holman works on a unique artisan furniture piece.

Smaller furniture makers like Dan Mosheim and Steve Holman are equally impressed with Farabaugh and her company.

They appreciate that Vermont Woods Studios has helped them with outreach. Most have their own websites but don’t have the time or resources to keep their names at the forefront of Internet searches. As Steve Holman points out, “Living in Vermont, almost all my market is elsewhere. Reaching that market has been an issue.” Holman is grateful to Farabaugh for her marketing efforts.
Chad Woodruff likes the two-way relationship he has with Vermont Woods Studios. He can ask Farabaugh to sell some of his furniture or she can ask him for a custom piece. The craftsmen are also happy that Vermont Woods Studios offers their furniture without any upfront cost.
“Peggy doesn't charge me anything unless she sells something so, what the hey, I'll let her have at it,” commented Dan Mosheim.

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Holman is especially impressed with Stonehurst, which he first visited last fall when it opened. On a steep hill in Vernon, with a view of the Connecticut River, the 100-acre property has served many purposes, including as a ski area called Pinetop in the mid-20^th century. Now, in the renovated barn, cherry and oak dining sets, maple side tables with walnut inlaid leaves, Shaker-style beds, walnut desks, and landscape paintings by local artists decorate three airy, bright rooms. Vermont Woods Studios staffers work in the attached restored farmhouse — on computer tables made by Ken Farabaugh. The property was restored in part with a Vermont Working Lands Initiative, which helped pay for the bluestone walkway, among other features.
Outside, customers can sit overlooking the hillside field/old ski slope with iPad (for shopping) in one hand, picnic lunch in the other. Or they can hike a forest trail that Farabaugh wants to turn into an interpretative walk about the Vermont woods. Inside, customers can touch the tables, sit in the chairs, measure the entertainment consoles, debate over style, and covet every piece of furniture on display.
“They made an effort to make it a destination, not just a place to sell furniture,” said Holman.

That statement perhaps best sums up the company’s real mission: that purchasing from Vermont Woods Studios is as much about experiencing Vermont and its culture of neighbor helping neighbor as it is about acquiring new furniture.