furniture saga

We currently have 3 pieces of "furniture" in our bedroom along one wall: my dresser from when I was a baby and 2 sets of plastic drawers that Will used to have in his closet.

Not exactly "adult" furniture nor does it make it look like we actually fit in the space which we do for the most part.

After we got married, we started trying to figure out what we could do. The space is very limited so we started considering a dresser and small armoire combination. The dresser was key but we also wanted more hanging space particularly for my dresses (not long dresses but something so that they're not as crushed). Will's dad has offered to make the armoire because you can't find the proportions that we want in a commercially produced piece but drawers are difficult so we started looking for something to buy.

We began with a trip to Farmville, VA in January with Will's folks braving the unheated warehouses only to come up empty handed. We couldn't really find something that we really liked. Then I started back to finish my MBA and we just tabled the search for many months.

random crazy cow settee that we found

In the end, it was nearly a year before I really started looking again. I found a Pottery Barn dresser that I liked the look of but the more I read the description, the less enthralled I was with a piece of furniture that's mostly MDF and veneer. I also decided to pretty much nix the whole idea of having 2 pieces of furniture just because it was going to be difficult to get what we wanted and would probably end up crowding the space.

So I did a considerable amount of internet searching and decided that both because I wanted a piece that would last us our whole marriage and because it narrowed down the possibilities - I would go with something that was solid wood and very simple. I settled on "shaker" as both a style that I like and a search term.

I found a company that sells very simple yet sustainable furniture, Gat Creek. Because they "mass-produce" their furniture, we were able to find a dealer in the area to check it out in person - great stuff but in the end we decided that neither of the 2 pieces (first and second) that we were considering would hold everything we wanted. Actually, I couldn't find anything mass produced that would really suit our needs.

But I'd found Swartzendruber Furniture in a search for shaker furniture. They have a pretty 6-drawer dresser (the maple in the picture is highly unattractive so imagine cherry) and I saw a note about customizing being available. So I e-mailed the company. After several e-mails exchanged with the owner, I had plans for a gorgeous but very expensive dresser.

I still have one more trick up my sleeve, however. My parents and my sister and her husband have purchased furniture from Martin's Furniture in Lancaster County, PA. All custom cherry, made by the Amish - all beautiful. They also have a nice 6-drawer dresser. My mom wasn't sure if they still did custom pieces but I took a chance, e-mailed them the plans (which I doctored first as shown above), and found out that they would do it for about 2/3rds the price. SOLD!

this dresser is likely what they will start with before making our mods.

Now we just have to get out there, make a few last decisions (mostly wood finish), and get it ordered. We're planning to go on the 19th.

SO EXCITED!

It'll probably snow.