Holidays aren’t just about exchanging gifts and enjoying scrumptious feasts – they’re a celebration of traditions, old and new. While you’re preparing your home for this year’s holiday season, consider whether your current style of furniture reflects the home you want to live in.

Everyday, your house is becoming more of a home. As this process continues, you’ll find it more and more important that your home includes something of the nostalgic rituals that you grew up with and want to continue to share with your family everyday – but holding on to the past too dearly can also hold you back.

Family traditions aren’t just about recreating old memories year after year; they remain vibrant and exciting because new memories are formed and old memories are reshaped as they get shared and revamped by your family.

Just like a refinishing a fine wooden antique family heirloom, there’s a great satisfaction to be had in revitalizing what we hold dear and seeing it become valuable for new generations. When we see how little changes hold to the kernel of what’s important, they can be exactly what keeps a tradition living – and fun!

Changes in style function in the exact same way as changes in tradition. Our furniture is an important part of our personal culture and reflects who we are and what we hold dearest in our lives – and why shouldn’t it? When you recognize this, you’ll think twice about that old second-hand dinner table you’ve been passing off as a family gathering place! This year, the perfect holiday gift could be one of the many wooden dining room tables available at Woodcraft!

Now that we’ve got you thinking about your furniture, perhaps you’re considering how you’ve got the “old” part covered entirely but not so much the “new.” At Woodcraft, we’ve seen many new families in this exact situation – they’ve held onto a worn-out, mass-produced antique for so long, knowing it’s practically worthless but just can’t bear to let it go. Usually, their attitudes change dramatically as soon as they see the reclaimed wood dining room tables we offer at competitive pricing.

When choosing a new dining room table for your home, it’s always a good idea to find something that will work in the same way as a tradition – it brings a fresh style into your home, while holding onto aspects of the past that matter most. A hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind reclaimed wood table is one of the easiest and most luxurious ways to achieve the perfect balance of bringing the old and the new into your home.

When cared for properly, these designer items will turn into cherished family heirlooms of their own, because artisan furniture never goes out of style. They also make good investments, since they’ll only appreciate in value.

Woodcraft offers a large selection of styles that will help guide you to the new table that you’ll help design. By picking out the exact materials you want, you can help craft a piece of furniture that’s perfect for your home. Right now, you can check out our current specials on wooden furniture available at Woodcraft – there’s still time before Christmas to order a new dining room table to give to your family!

Have you ever thought of turning that barely used space in your basement into a cozy little hangout spot? Of course you have! Whether you have dreamt of creating your very own den, smoking room, or ‘man cave,’ decorating with reclaimed hardwood will turn it into a beautiful, personalized space you won’t be able to wait to show your friends! Many people believe that having a room in your house that you can escape to for a little ‘me’ time can help you relax, refocus, and ameliorate your mental health.

Reclaimed wood furniture is precisely what it sounds like: furniture that has been built using wood that has been reclaimed and repurposed from its original form. Barns, fences, warehouses, bridges, and old homes – 50-plus years ago, structures like these were commonly built using old growth wood. Here at Woodcraft we ‘reclaim’ that wood and use it to create brand new, one of a kind pieces of solid wood furniture that will undoubtedly add to the ambience of your private space.

Now, you may be worried that this furniture will be old, rotting, and flimsy – nothing could be further from the truth! Structures like the ones mentioned above were, as mentioned, often made with wood from old growth trees. Today, old growth trees are off-limits to loggers, meaning that most modern wooden furniture is built using fresh, young wood. And while it might be beautiful, it is most certainly not nearly as strong. Our expert woodworkers only use wood that is sturdy enough to stand the test of time.

At the heart of your den will be a gorgeous reclaimed wood coffee table – a piece that adds a rustic, old world charm to your space. A coffee table like this will be perfect whether you plan on keeping the space to yourself – a relaxing little escape in which you can read and listen to music – or inviting your friends in for Scotch and cigars. We undoubtedly carry something that would fit your space like a glove. It is simply up to you to decide what style of table will fit your space. Do you want something modern like our Portland or Adelaide reclaimed wood coffee tables? Or something more ‘rustic-chic’ like our Jackson and Mercer models? Depending on how you’ve painted and decorated the rest of the room, these tables can be stained any colour your heart desires. Here at Woodcraft we carry beautiful coffee tables that would look great in any room of your house… but never better than in your own private den.

All our reclaimed wooden furniture pieces are one-of-a-kind, impossible to duplicate or be recreated. Each one is handcrafted on order, meaning that your table is truly your table, just as your private space will be your private space. Contact our woodworking experts for tips on upkeep and care, and get building that beautiful, comfortable personal space that you have been dreaming of all these years.

Turn around and take a look at your bedframe. Are you hearing that little voice? The one that has been urging you again and again to upgrade to something new, sturdy, and elegant? It’s a common feeling. Many people do not feel that their bed is good enough for them, yet they balk at the cost and effort required to procure a new one. And who can blame you for putting it off? There are thousands of furniture manufacturers out their clamoring for your attention. Bedroom sets are expensive; there is nothing more heartbreaking than paying out the nose for something that’s just going to break down, wear out, or put kinks in your back.

You need a product you can rely on. The way to go when it comes to your new bedroom set is hardwood. Solid wood products can last a lifetime… and longer. If properly cared for, you can rest assured – literally! – that your hardwood bedframe can be passed onto your children. Custom wood furniture built with reclaimed old growth wood – wood that grew over hundreds and hundreds of years – stands the test of time.

But more importantly: it is beautiful. There is solid wood furniture from Woodcraft to fit the style of any bedroom. The Great Lakes Bedroom Set has a rustic, cottage-inspired charm that will bring you right out onto the coast of Lake Ontario. A matching nightstand and dresser are just the pieces needed to round out a bedroom that will immediately bring to mind the beauty of nature. Canada has a storied woodworking history and, aside from being a beautiful set in its own right, the Great Lakes Bedroom Set is a celebration of that.

Perhaps austerity is more to your taste. Take a look at our Ottawa Valley Collection, an elegant set that would be right at home in either an Antebellum Mansion or a historical country manor in the English countryside. Your bedroom will be highlighted by a hardwood queen panel bed and might be rounded out by matching dressers, a six-drawer lingerie chest, or 78-inch armoire — and all of Woodcraft’s wood furniture can be stained any colour you want.

With our wide range of wood and design options, here at Woodcraft we’re confident that there is a solid wood bedroom set out there for you. But if none of those sets jump out at you, our experienced and talented team of woodworkers have the ability to create just about any piece your heart desires, to your exact specifications. The only limit is your imagination. Visit our website or contact our furniture making experts today to explore your options.

A hardwood bedroom set might be expensive in the short-term, yes; but it is a long-term investment. These are pieces of furniture that are going to be in your life for a long time. You will be using these products each and every night, very possibly forever! So make sure you invest in something worth investing in, something that reflects your personality and adds beauty and comfort to your life. Invest in a hardwood bedroom set.

The big day is rapidly approaching. You have been doing everything in your power to make your dream day come true… but something about the reception is missing. You’re not quite sure what it is. The ceremony is beautiful, the rehearsal dinner is sure to be a great night, and the memories you make on your honeymoon in the Caribbean are going to last a lifetime. But you can’t shake that nagging feeling that something about the reception is going to underwhelm. Here is a quick checklist of last minute things you can do to make the reception even better.

Food & Drink 

Well, of course. The meat-and-potatoes of any good wedding reception are… the literal meat-and-potatoes. If you have not yet organized a caterer and gotten on the horn with a bartender, you need more help than this list can offer! But this is important to keep in mind: at a wedding, you can never have too much to eat and drink. If wine and beer are left over, trust us – someone at your wedding will give it a good home. Extra food just means extra leftovers; you probably don’t want to put much effort into dinners for a few days after your wedding anyhow. Cost is, of course, a consideration, but if you are careful, you can easily make this work.

Wood Is Your Friend

Do you suspect that nagging feeling in the back of your mind has to do with décor? Nothing captures the magical ambience of two souls coming together eternally like wood furniture at your wedding reception. There is a certain elegance to decorating with wood. Consider getting a custom-built table made especially for the bride and groom up there on the dais. Again, the cost might give one pause, but something like a reclaimed wood table looks great in any home; consider it a wedding gift that’s doing double duty!

You can decorate with wood elsewhere, too. Woodcraft offers a wide variety of custom furniture options that ends only with your imagination. How about a large wooden wedding sign? Or hardwood coasters and trays the guests can take home with them to remember the special day? Come down and visit our Whitby location to check out your options today.

Great Music = Great Times

You do not want to skimp on the music at your wedding. Don’t just go with a boring wedding cover band. Go check out a bunch of bar bands and professional local acts. You will inevitably find a band you really like (and you’ll have fun doing the research too!). Most local bands will be more than happy to be asked to perform at a wedding. It is flattering and fun. And most will be more than happy to accommodate any requests the happy couple can think of!

Follow this last-minute checklist to ensure that your wedding reception is memorable for you and your guests. This is not a time to cut corners and pinch pennies. You are making memories that have the potential to last lifetimes.

Back-to-school means a lot of different things to different people. For some, it means they’re heading off to university in another city, perhaps for the first time, or after a summer at home. Others might still live at home, and back-to-school simply means that it’s time to hit the books once again. Others may be heading back to university or college after many years away from it, whether to further their education or to switch careers. And then there are the high school students and teachers, for whom “back-to-school” means a return to the ordinary school.

Whatever it means to you, there’s one constant it all of the above: you need space to study and concentrate. For those of us who’ve been out of school for some time, it can be difficult to remember just how demanding those courses and books can be – having a dedicated space all your own, where you can buckle down and work, is of key importance, and there’s no better way to create a serious, sophisticated work atmosphere than with solid wood furniture in your room or study. With that in mind, let’s look at a few back-to-school furniture pieces to help you get through the school year.

Desks

What a great dining room table is to spending time with family, the desk is to work. It is the epicentre of work, a place where you can localize your focus. The best desks share three important characteristics: they’re beautiful, they’re durable and they’re functional. For something sturdy and minimalist, check out our Parkdale Desk, which mixes solid wood and powder-coated metal. Or for some something more classical (like something you might find in an Ivy League office), take a look at our Downton Executive Desk, with its fine rope trim, knobs and sculpted feet.

Coffee Tables

Whether you live at home or on campus, you want a versatile piece of furniture like a coffee table, for stacking books, holding coffee (that one’s obvious!) or kicking up your feet at the end of a tough day. If you want something industrial and rustic, our reclaimed wood coffee table will definitely do the trick.

Bookcases

It’s a veritable mountain of books when you’re in school – more books than you’ll know what to do with. That’s why you need a good bookcase, one that’s a decent size and is solidly constructed (because those things can get heavy). Our Barrister’s Bookcase, as the name suggests, is modeled after the kind of bookcase you might find at a traditional legal office, with flip up doors on each shelf to protect your books from dust. For something a little more modern, with clean, parallel lines, try our Tranquil Bookcases.

A Classier Living Area

Don’t stop at the study area either – since you’re going to be living there the entire year (if not longer) take the time to improve your dining and living spaces as well. We offer handcrafted dining tables in Toronto and across the GTA that can be delivered to you with our White Glove Delivery Service. Just that simple improvement in living condition – eating off a solid wood table rather than a TV tray – can make all the difference. And once school is over, you’ve got a piece of furniture you can take with you wherever you go, that will last a lifetime.

This coming school year, make your study space the best it can possibly be. Create a quality, sophisticated space where you can focus on gaining knowledge and bettering yourself. We know that the school year is still a little ways off (and it’s the last thing you probably want to think about) but call us now about preparing your new desk, coffee table or bookcase.

Breakfast is reportedly the most important meal of the day, and yet we call the table a “dinner table”? It hardly seems fair! Well, for all those people out there waiting for breakfast to get its fair shake, to have its day in the sun, your wait might be over. A breakfast nook is the perfect addition to any home – a little niche set aside as part of the dining room or kitchen that serves the sole purpose of making your mornings as cozy and comfortable as possible.

Even homes that weren’t constructed with nooks as part of the layout can still get the benefits of creating a cozy breakfast nook. All you have to do is dedicate a corner of one of the rooms – dining room, kitchen, even family room – to creating a cozy space, preferably a corner that gets some natural sunlight. The name of the game here is to get as cozy as possible, after all, this is where you’re going to be drinking a leisurely coffee each morning as you read the paper (or more realistically your iPad!). To achieve this level of comfort, choose elemental components like plants, flowers and wicker, with solid wood furniture at the centre of it.

The first thing to do is obviously to section off a space for your breakfast nook. As mentioned, light should be a consideration, as should seclusion; you don’t want your breakfast nook in a part of the house that sees a lot of noisy foot traffic, as the point is tranquility. Once you’ve chosen a space, the next step is to choose a table and chairs.

Again, the aim here is to evoke a slower pace and an elemental feeling. For this, you might go with the reclaimed wood table we offer, which makes a bold statement while remaining rustic and cozy. You might also want to choose something round, around which the family can closely congregate, like our Western Millsawn Round Table. Something like the Edward Chair or Pottery Chair we offer would do nicely for your seating: something simple and straightforward.

Next, you’ll want to add some decoration. We like the idea of keeping it fairly simple, with some fresh flowers in the middle of the table as well as a couple dramatic plants surrounding. If you wanted to add some colour, you could do so in the form of a table runner, napkins or a bowl of fresh fruit on the table.

As for decorations, think about your morning routine. An antique coffee pot (or modern Bodum) could provide decoration while also being functional, and a newspaper hanger (either mounted or on the ground) could do the same. A buffet hutch nearby could hold your plates, cutlery, teapots and whatever else you might need for the morning. Choose your light fixtures according to the style that you’ve chosen; for instance, if going for a farmhouse style, with a reclaimed solid wood dining table and copper pots on the wall, try hanging some antique bulbs. The possibilities here are endless. Take a look at this article of breakfast nook lighting (yes, that’s a real article someone wrote) for inspiration.

If you’re like most people, you need a slow, comfortable way to wake up. No one wants to go from sleeping peacefully to running around busily, so these transitional rituals are very important. Set up your breakfast nook for maximum cozy-ness with solid wood furniture, fresh plants and flowers, and functional décor.

If you’ve ever brought a new car home, only to be overly protective of the interior, to the point where you won’t let anyone near it who’s even the least bit dirty, then you’ll understand the feeling. We like to take care of our investments. When you order a quality piece of solid wood furniture from Woodcraft you want to make sure that it’s treated with the care it deserves, and that it lasts a long time. After all, with proper care, a piece of solid wood furniture can be passed down through generations.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it. Furniture is, above all, supposed to be functional, and just like that example of a car interior, it’s supposed to be used by friends and family. With that in mind, here’s how you can use your new furniture while still ensuring that it’s well taken care of – these are five tips from the experts on maintaining solid wood furniture.

Dry After Wiping

Don’t be afraid of wiping your surfaces down with a damp towel; that can often be the most effective way to remove all the dust, dirt and stuck on stuff that custom wood furniture can accumulate. Just be sure to use a soft cloth and follow the grain pattern to avoid streaks. Also, right after you’re finished wiping with a damp cloth, go in and dry it off with another soft cloth. If it’s just dust that’s collected in the surface, you won’t even need the damp cloth – just the soft, dry cloth should suffice.

Avoid Sunlight

If you’ve positioned your furniture to be near a window, keep the blinds or curtains drawn shut when not at home, in an attempt to limit the furniture’s exposure to direct sunlight. Sunlight has the tendency to make wood look faded over time. While there are UV resistant coatings that can help protect your furniture, they merely slow down the sun’s fading effect on the wood. And they don’t tackle the other issue the sun poses, namely that its heat can have a drying effect on wood, which might cause cracking.

Break Out The Coasters

Having people over? Break out those coasters, doilies, mitts, mats and whatever else you need to use to create a buffer between hot or cold surfaces and your solid wood dining table – your guests will understand. It’s not only that the different temperatures can be hard on the wood, but sliding a glass around or emphatically setting a teapot down on a bare wood surface can cause minor damage.

Avoid Those Aerosol Polishers

Avoid silicone-based furniture polishers like Pledge, since they can wreak havoc on the varnish and build up on the furniture’s surface. Instead, consult this article for what polish to use, and use the polish sparingly.

Manage The Humidity

We recommend trying to keep the humidity between 40 and 45 degrees in your home, which can be reliably achieved with the help of a humidifier/dehumidifier. With our notoriously dry winters and our notoriously humid summers, these appliances can be a godsend. Just make sure to store your table leaves somewhere that’s similar in humidity. If you store your leaves in a damp basement, with your table in a humidity-controlled environment, after a while they might look wonky together.

Other than those five tips, common sense should get you the rest of the way. Don’t bang your furniture around too much, and if you spill something, clean it up. The solid wood furniture we craft has the potential to be around for a number of lifetimes, as a family heirloom, with only a little bit of care and attention.