There are so many advantages to buying locally made furniture. Our suppliers’ comes from just outside of Kitchener Waterloo, so it’s an added bonus that they are just 2 hours away. When you purchase local, you are not paying for expensive shipping fees and excess packaging. All your money is going into building quality furniture. Part of what we offer is custom made pieces and having the ability to easily communicate without any language barriers, or time zone makes a big difference. Also, if there’s ever an issue, because the supplier is just a few hours away, we can easily bring the pieces back to the supplier and get the issue fixed. The good thing with the made in Canada furniture is that is built by the Mennonites. The Mennonites have been building furniture for hundreds of years, and their skills and techniques have built up over time.
The Mennonites hand-select the kiln-dried cherry, maple and oak hardwoods. You would think that Mennonites are stuck with the old way of doing things, but that isn’t true and they continually invest in adding state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment to their facilities. The process starts with Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems to ensure every piece is designed with accuracy and consistency. New world and old worlds combine with the use of both automated sanding and hand sanding of each piece before applying a finish using advanced technologies including post-catalyzed vinyl sealers and post catalyzed conversion varnishes that give our pieces the high quality, consistent finish.
Handstone’s (Made in Canada) Heritage Maple is an excellent choice if you are after the barn board/rustic look. (Ideal for your kitchen). It’s durable and contains natural small holes/beauty marks, so you don’t have to worry if the table suffers a little wear and tear from every day use. What we like about Heritage maple compared to what other barn boards is that there are no grooves between the boards for food to get caught in. You have the option of having the hand planed look (pic 1 -5) , or having it sanded smooth(pic 6). Heritage maple is also known as wormy maple.
Here’s a great article that everyone should who is considering buying furniture, should read. It reveals a lot of shortcuts taken by the big name stores and poor construction of their mass-produced furniture. Why the shortcuts? Because they prefer to spend their money on print catalogs, expensive advertising and high priced real estate.
Did you know …
* A $400 Pottery Barn coffee table features a one-fortieth of an inch veneer (about as thick as a paper towel). One slip of a fork on something like this would reveal the ugly fiberboard underneath.
* A $900 Crate & Barrel chair has hollow plastic legs, which will crumble within a few years if used on a hardwood floor .
* $1,200 Crate and Barrel bed has particle board core and is held together by screws.
Click here to read article published by Start Money magazine.
Now here is something we can call Mother Nature’s work of art! Check out the Decorating & Accessories section of our website to see our Petrified Wood Decor. These pieces are preserved for millions of years by a millennia-long process called petrification, where wood transforms miraculously into quartz crystal. As hard at steel, petrified woods are renowned for their enormous range of exquisite colours, textures and designs. You can showcase Mother Nature’s unique handiwork by adding one of these beautiful accent pieces to your home.
Many dining room chairs built and sold at mass retail stores such as Brick, Leons and some high-end stores arrive in pieces – knock down chairs. This is because four times as many chairs fit into the same cargo space, reducing shipping fees.
Hint: Identify potentially dangerous knock down chairs by looking underneath. If a chair’s legs are bolted on, you’re looking at a knock down chair. The wood on these chairs tends to be quite soft, and the insert bolt eventually falls out, making the chair unstable. Knock down chairs are basically slap together chairs that will be thrown away after a few years.
At Anne Quinn, you’ll find solid wood, fully-assembled chairs made the traditional way by true craftsmen, with solid wood pieces, mortise and tenon joints and strong, thick corner braces. Workmanship and craftsmanship like this are hard to find today. Your new Anne Quinn chairs will be noticeable, remarkable, conversation pieces because they’re beautiful, comfortable, and sound—and each one is unique.
Made to last a lifetime—generations, in fact!— it costs more to make a chair like this, but we sell quality products, not cheap, cookie-cutter knock-down chairs that convince no one they’re made to traditional, Old World furniture standards.
Compare costs across time. Knock down chairs are usually mass-produced and slapped together. They must be replaced every 3 -5 years. At Anne Quinn, you’ll find only solid wood, Old World-crafted classics—ones can enjoy as long as you live and pass along as heirlooms to your loved ones.
Learn more: Enjoy this brief video.