My promise to our customers

The economy has grasped businesses in a stranglehold that is choking the life and breath out of our sense of security. Every day, the news headlines have a depressing array of more announcements of layoffs and business closures. We've seen starving businesses respond with drastic reductions, slashing their profits in order to keep their doors open a little bit longer.

I don't think the answer is to do business more cheaply. We should be doing it better. We are all working as hard as we can, so perhaps we need to work smarter. 

What does that mean? Well, we need to focus on doing our job without distractions or shortcuts, to forge ahead with innovations that will continue to improve our products and services, and keep our eyes on our number one priority: you, the customer.

I believe the best thing we can do for our customers is to look at what you need for your home or office and to provide you with the quality that lasts a lifetime. The way I see ClearLake Furniture, it is our job to:

• Live up to your standards of excellence — and then exceed them with furniture that is crafted to your liking and built with only the best materials by highly skilled artisans.
• Continue to create new designs for fine hardwood furniture that meets your need for function and desire for style.
• Help you to customize your furniture with your choice of materials, sizes, and details so that you get exactly what you want.
• Communicate with you throughout the process of crafting your furniture so that you know how it's progressing and when it will be delivered to you.
• Coordinate delivery that is convenient for you!
• Back up everything we build with the guarantee of your 100% satisfaction.
• Be your resource for solutions about your furniture, its maintenance, your decorating challenges. and other needs we can meet.
• Respect your concerns, welcome your inquiries, and address your requests promptly courteously, and professionally at all times.

If you ever feel we have not lived up to any of these responsibilities, please email me at brent@clearlakefurniture.com. And if we've done a good job for you, feel free to let me know that, too!

Smith Brothers joins our furniture family.

There are a lot of comings and goings in our ClearLake Furniture showroom, particularly with our upholstered pieces, which comes in on an almost weekly basis, but disappears from the showroom floor with equal speed.

Smith Brothers of Berne's upholstery has proven to be the right addition to our furniture "family" When we were looking to expand our choices in this area, we looked at a lot of companies, but none came so close to our own business mission as Smith Brothers. The quality craftsmanship, timeless designs, and attention to detail and personal service were a solid match with our own.

We looked at many companies and got a lesson in furniture buying! There is a vast difference in the construction of upholstered furniture, just like with hardwood pieces. But at least with our hardwood furniture, you can see every bit of the construction! With upholstery you can be so easily distracted by the fabric and style that you might miss some of the simple flaws.

Here's what I like about Smith Brothers of Berne and, more importantly, why YOU should, too:

• The frames are made of kiln-dried hardwood maple to resist warping, which can occur from household humidity.
• Smith Brothers' coil spring suspension is machine-tied for maximum durability.
• The suspension features an elevated front support edge for better sitting and longer life.
• Each seat is individually supported and floated over the frame.
• The legs are built-in so they won't loosen or break.
• The back and seat cushions are polyester-wrapped, which adds plushness and prevents the covers from slipping around the foam core.
• Every piece carries a lifetime construction warranty.

When you're shopping for upholstered furniture, be sure to compare these features with the pieces you're considering. And if they can't offer a lifetime warranty, be sure to ask why!

The story of the "All Come Home" table

Every year, we at ClearLake Furniture support the public schools in our area by donating to the live auction for the Okemo Community Challenge Ski Ball. This black-tie event is one of the biggest fundraisers each year. In the past, we've contributed gift certificates. Auction guests "won" $500 certificates for a little less than the face value and the Challenge raised much-needed money. All were happy.

I decided to do something more interesting this year. I designed and crafted a one-of-a-kind console table with two drawers. The top was made of Vermont maple with a cherry base and legs. But this is a one-of-a-kind table for a different reason. I added a cherry inlay on the maple table top with the words "all come home", which is the English translation of the Indian word "Okemo".

I've done many wood inlays in my career as a furniture crafters, but this one was by far the most challenging. Getting the curves right and fitting them tightly into the table top took many hours. I enlisted the help of the sign shop at Okemo Mountain Resort with their laser-cutting tools, which was a definite help.

The "all come home" table has a few other features that make it truly unique. For the top, I chose tapped maple because it had some beautiful streaks that resulted from moisture seeping in around the tap holes. This particular maple was "rescued" from being firewood, having been felled at a construction site in northern Vermont. The cherry for the base and legs was FSC-certified wood.

I also built in a secret drawer, which is a common feature in antiques. This practice dates back to the days when people didn't trust banks to store their precious treasures and papers. It seemed like a good add-on for this table, given the current state of our financial system.

In all, I invested more than 50 hours working on this one piece. It was a labor of love because I, too, support our schools and recognize that they need more than their meager budgets can provide. The table which would retail for $3,500 (if I had the energy to do this again) sold for $2,550 at the auction.

I feel good that this year, I donated more than gift certificates. I contributed my time, creative energy, and the skills that I have invested a lifetime in building. Giving doesn't need to require writing a check. Time is precious. Give it wisely!

Upholstery: The "cushier" side of ClearLake

Our marketing maven Sue has been bugging me to write more about our upholstery. She says people don't realize that we also sell upholstered furniture that reflects the same quality of our custom-crafted hardwood pieces.

Maybe I spend so much time in the workshop beneath our showroom that I don't see these pieces coming and going so quickly. I know the upholstered furniture is wonderful, even though I'm not usually permitted to sit in it because of my sawdust-covered pants.

Since Sue is also a customer, I suggested that she should stop nagging me and use that energy to write about our collection of Smith Brothers Upholstery furniture herself so I could get back to the workshop. So, here is what she gave me:

Our family purchased a new recliner from ClearLake Furniture for my 85 year-old father for Christmas. He was thrilled to get a replacement for the tired, old chair in which he has been spending his days, where he eats, watches (and yells at) the television, and snuggles his beloved poodle. I think my mother was even happier to see that old chair go to a local charity. But let me tell you about the process of getting this chair, because I think THIS is what truly distinguishes ClearLake Furniture from its competitors:

• Hannah took the time to help me choose the chair and showed me the exceptional construction of both the frame and the cushions. Then she guided me through the fabric choice, wisely helping me pulling out swatches that reflected the wall colors and other pieces in the living room so we could find the fabric that would work best. She was fantastic!
• Once I ordered the chair, Barbara stayed in touch and let me know when it arrived at the shop — a week earlier than expected! She went to great pains to coordinate the shipping with me. She's a real asset to ClearLake!
• The delivery men showed up on time. That, in itself, is a phenomenon in these days of "we'll be there between noon and whenever." They were very careful with the chair and extremely friendly, even after the long day they had already endured.

ClearLake Furniture is not just a furniture maker. You are a team of highly talented professionals who make the experience memorable!

Here's one more compliment for you. Both my sister and sister-in-law said the recliner was so beautiful that they would want it in THEIR homes — and if you knew how picky both of these women are, you'd know this is the highest compliment!

So, when are you going to start telling the world about your wonderful upholstered furniture???

Thanks, Sue I think I just did!

Resolutions that are made to be broken

Well, we're now one month into 2009 and I'm trying to remember the last time my New Year's resolutions didn't include some alteration to my eating habits (the dreaded "D" word). and the solemn vow to turn my treadmill from a clothes hanger back into a fully functioning piece of exercise equipment. Well, I hate to break a streak so I've decided to resolve to eat more fruits and less junk. I will limit my diet soda habit to no ore than one per day. And dark chocolate — which I consider a health food for its antioxidant power — will no longer be one of my primary food groups. And I promise to take my eager dog for more frequent walks, with the firm understanding that cold temperatures and foul weather are reasonable excuses for skipping those jaunts.

I don't know if I'm still feeling some residual warmth from the holiday spirit but I have also resolved to be a better businessperson. No, I wasn't visited by three spirits. In a time when businesses are closing their doors and people are losing their jobs and their homes, the community as a whole needs to work harder for the good of the whole, not just the one.

Price reductions are not the answer — at least not for ClearLake Furniture. The process of hand-crafting furniture with the exceptional quality we produce can't be compromised. To save money and reduce the prices, we'd have to hurry it up, move faster, and cut a few corners, and that's just not acceptable.

Instead, we are looking at ways to support both our customers and the people who are in need. In 2009, I will look to you for suggestions as to how we can be part of the solution to help those most in need. In future posts here, I will share some of the suggestions from our staff, customers friends, and colleagues, so please stay tuned! We can work together to regain the strength that has been the benchmark of this wonderful country.

Ho ho hum

After all the holiday gifts are unwrapped (and exchanged or returned), the decorations taken down, and the house returns to quasi-normal, where do your thoughts turn? Well, you could run to the stores with your new supply of gift cards, but you might as well wait until the inventory has been restored to something more palatable than the leftovers that no one else wanted. Huge discounts are really only worthwhile if it's a great price on something you truly want. I don't know about you, but I've got enough clutter. I don't need more.

I find that once the chaos of the holidays has quieted and I'm surrounded by a snow-covered yard that doesn't need mowing or gardening, my thoughts turn to improving my indoor spaces. That means that one room will probably get some sort of makeover this winter. And when I make over a room, I remove EVERYTHING — furniture, rugs, wall art — and start with a blank canvas. Sure, it makes everyone else in the house a little annoyed, but I'm a domestic artiste and that's what we do! 

This year I'm tackling the dining room. It's boring. The walls are going from off-white to a soft, creamy yellow. The old curtains will soon be history. And the china plates on the wall will head to storage until I'm ready to reconnect with them. In their place, I'll hang some frosted glass shelves to display an array of family photos. The hutch will move to the opposite wall, just for a change. Two new wall sconces, a new area rug, a new table runner and centerpiece, and I'm done — unless I cave in and add a buffet. Every makeover deserves at least one new piece of furniture. And I figure I've saved a lot of money by not getting caught up in the January sales and not bringing home deeply discounted stuff the will clutter my space. In other words, I'm nesting, and investing in my comfort is, as they say in the commercials … priceless!

Home office makeover

The term "home office" used to mean the headquarters for a corporate conglomerate. In the 21st century, "home office" reflects the purest meaning of the two, separate words: an office in the home. Apple Computer, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and even Hershey's Chocolate started as home-based businesses. Whether you're running a business from your home or just need additional office space there, you need to consider a few things when setting up your home office:

1. Organization. File cabinets, desk drawers, and shelves are essential to the home office, but don't let them become repositories of unorganized files, notes, and materials. Create a system that will work for you.
2. Flow. Look at the way you work. What keeps you moving from place to place during an average work day? What do you need within reach of your desk or primary workspace? Do you need certain equipment (e.g., printer, files) close by? With wireless technology, you don't have to be hard-wired in one place. Walk through the paces of your workflow and then lay out your office to accommodate your paths.
3. Space. How much square footage is available for your home office? What do you need for electrical outlets or phone jacks? Do you work primarily from your computer? Is it a desktop or laptop? Should you use a traditional desk or would an armoire allow better use of your space?
4. Aesthetics. Are you going to have clients and vendors come to your home office? What image do you want the ambience to convey? How will you use the natural light? Do you need soft light and natural colors or are you ore stimulated by more vivid hues? What atmosphere promotes more productivity? Your home office aesthetics are as important to a productive environment as the placement of your computer or the size of the room!

Your home office may be in your residence, but it IS a place of work, which means a corner in the kitchen or the dining room table is not suitable. Create the environment that will help you achieve the best results.

Wood goes with everything

I was in the midst of shifting furniture around to make room for my Christmas tree, with the help of a friend. When we moved my beloved curly maple end table next to my cherry tv credenza, she made a comment about my mismatched wood, "Why didn't you, of all people, build a credenza that matched the rest of the pieces?" she asked. I looked around the room and didn't see anything that didn't work, but then, I'm an eclectic. So, I asked her why she thought all the wood pieces in the room had to come from the same type of tree. We stared at each other in one of those Mars/Venus kinds of moments. It never occurred to me that putting cherry with maple could be considered like pairing stripes and plaids. I believe that wood's natural beauty and the common thread of the grain make them symbiotic, regardless of species. I asked around and discovered that most designers agreed with my take. Wood goes with wood. Wood, in fact, goes with everything. If you want to step outside the confines of convention, add an accent piece of a contrasting wood and see how it adds lie to the room.

Get a move on!

You can get very bored with a room — same thing, day in, day out — but not your furniture, if you buy classic styles that are well made. So, if you're feeling a little antsy and need a change, try moving what you have. Are you one of those "up against the wall" decorators? Well, give your furnishings a parole. Try placing an upholstered chair at an angle in a corner and create a reading nook. Move out your sofa, and put a sofa table behind it to add dimension. Break one room into two smaller areas, like a game table and conversation pit. Move your sectional, maybe breaking it into two smaller sofas. And, if you want a bigger change, add one new piece, whether it's a lamp, a different coffee table, a mirror, or an accent table. In my house, we seem to have an unwritten rule that as son as I can navigate the furniture in the dark without banging my shin, it's time to move things.

Afterglow or aftermath?

"Black Friday" sounds so ominous, like a disaster movie. And "Cyber Monday" seems like it should be a marauding video game. And with the horrific tragedy at WalMart in New York where impatient crowds trampled a security guard whose only crime was opening a door for them, maybe the concept of a shopping vigilante is not too far from reality. We are in tough economic times, and holiday shoppers are hungry for a bargain, but I have to wonder if retailers are feeding into this frenzy with the pre-dawn shopping extravaganzas and limited offers that are designed to turn consumers into sharks. Let's not forget what the holidays are really about. It is a time to celebrate the spirit of giving, one that has nothing to do with cheap televisions, laptops, and gaming systems. It's about giving of yourself, not your cash reserves. This season, please stop and take the time to do something kind for someone who will truly appreciate it. Donate a gift to Toys for Tots or your local shelter for victims of domestic abuse. Take some pet food to the humane society in your area. Spend an hour at a nursing home reminding the residents that someone cares. In the words of my beloved Linus, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!"

Get your own private craftsman.

When I started ClearLake Furniture in 1992, I wanted the company to be different. I decided that it was important to have one craftsman handle a project all the way from wood selection to the final touches, rather than having an assembly line process where one person does the cutting, another does assembly, and someone else handles the finishing. This approach helped with quality control, but I also found that a craftsperson takes pride in creating a piece this way. They enjoy being hands-on, using their various skills, and not pigeon-holed into a single task that can get monotonous. Every ClearLake Furniture piece is a unique creation because we customize our furniture and craft every item to a customer's specifications. So, every project is a little different than the last. Some have more challenges, but our woodworkers tell me they enjoy that. I've watched them pick through the wood with a customer to find just the right pieces, with the grain or color they want. They get excited knowing that this raw material will become an heirloom in their skilled hands. When a piece is finished, the craftsman signs and dates it, adding the customer's name, because he has pride in the family heirloom he just completed. How many businesses are confident enough in their work to sign it? And I don't mean "Inspector 17". Wouldn't you feel a connection to that individual whose hands created your product? Doesn't it feel better to know that a person, not a machine, is on the other end? I thought so, and I still do.

Got an appetite for quality?

I was talking with my marketing person the other day and asked her for a ballpark figure on a marketing campaign. She looked at me like she always does when I use the term "ballpark" — with a mix of trepidation and humor. The she turned the tables on me and asked, "How much does it cost to go out to dinner?"

"Well, that depends on where you go and what you order," I answered, a bit confused.

"Exactly!" she said, and went on to explain that until you know the quality you want, you can't put a price tag on it. We talked about how this applies to ClearLake Furniture. Each piece of furniture we make is hand-crafted by one of our our master craftsman. The piece gets the attention of a craftsman from start to finish, someone who can see it through, not handed off from one to another, which can jeopardize quality control. There's no assembly line, no shortcuts. We deliver heirloom quality and you can't achieve that with speed. So it costs more and takes longer. Some customers want that "gourmet meal" while others are satisfied with fast food or casual dining.

We know we can't compete with every furniture company out there and, frankly, we don't try. If you want fine hardwoods (without veneers), exceptional craftsmanship, and a lifetime guarantee, then you're looking at a Wolfgang Puck type of dining experience, that remarkable epicurean experience that will remain with you long after you've left the restaurant, because the meal was lovingly prepared by a master chef who used the finest ingredients and then artfully served to excite your visual senses as much as your tastebuds. That's what ClearLake Furniture is all about. 

Of course, there are times when a quick Chinese takeout in a box is good enough. It's a whole lot cheaper, but I guarantee you'll be wanting something more in an hour or two.

Service: The unsung hero

Did you ever go into a store where you felt like you were looked at only as a sale and not a a person? I went into a sandwich shop and ordered a BLT. The young woman who was making the sandwich asked me if I wanted lettuce and tomato with that. I stared at her for a moment, thinking she would realize the oddity of her question. She didn't. I asked her, "Isn't that the 'L' and the 'T' in a 'BLT'? If I say no, do I just get a 'B' sandwich?"

She still didn't get it. She was so used to reciting her pitch that she didn't know how to step outside that speech. I've been in many stores with clueless sales people, listened to many telemarketers read their scripts, and been treated like an anonymous buyer far too many times. In this time when customers can get whatever they want from the Web, we need to differentiate our businesses with personal service. We need to listen better and provide the solutions that our customers need. And we must learn from our own consumer experiences and tell businesses when they are coming up short. If they correct the problem, kudos. That's their job as sellers. They just earned another chance. If not, let them know they failed and that you're moving on. That's your job as a buyer.

I hope that my customers will let me know when they are less than completely satisfied. If you're out there, please email me and let me know! I will try to solve it. I can't correct problems I don't know about. 

ClearLake's Video Part 1 Thanks to Adam Everett Miller of "Everett Options"

Distressing Tables with Dad

Hello,
I am Brent's daughter, Rachel. We both distressed about 27 tables for Jackson Gore at Okemo Mountain. I wanted to show everyone how distressing is done and that sometimes things are harder than people think. :}

This is one of the tables we distressed.

This is the top of the distressed table.
This is a table that is not distressed, do you see a difference?

You might be wondering , "how did they make those holes near that knot in the picture above?"
Well we used this tool to make that happen.

Before After

This is the edge of the distressed table. Notice how it is a flat edge instead of a straight edge.
Before the chisel work

After the chisel work

The table base would have these hammer marks from the owner hammering the wedge tighter as needed in the olden days. But we glued ours together so that the hammer marks were just for show.
While we were making these tables we realized that we didn't care if we threw our tools down on the surface of the tables, because it showed real "dings" that someone would make. Some of these "dings" were real, some were not accidental and where made like this (below)
These are the main tools that were used in the distressing part of the table. We also used hammers and other banging tools :}
So there you have it, this is basically how we distressed those tables. Some customers like distressed tables very simply, like the tables we did, but others like it very distressed like rolling plates around where the plates would be to leave a round indent. Distressing is hard work but a lot of creativity and fun. :) Thanks for reading!

Garvey

I just missed Paul tapering the legs for a large Walnut Console Table. Notice the dado at the bottom of the leg to support the shelf. You can also see the mortise at the top of the leg to accept the rails. Both of these steps must be done before tapering while the leg is square.










Paul is now sanding the saw marks on the legs. He must be very careful not to sand the square flat surface at the top of the leg where the rail fits into the mortise.













I missed a lot of steps throughout the process, but this is the table clamped up next to Paul's bench.










Nothing like some hand sanding to finish up a job.

Beautifully finished table ready for our shipper to pick up.

A Blanket Chest for Ken

Steve working on the finishing touches for Ken's Blanket Chest done in Cherry wood.

Blanket Chest shown with a drawer and self supporting hinge. This piece will leave Steve and move up to our finishing room where Derek will hand rub an oil finish onto the chest to bring out the beautiful richness in color.

new life for an old tree

Ludlow Health Center

Mark from Springfield Hospital and Doug the craftsman from ClearLake Furniture standing behind maple conference table. The maple for the table was milled from the tree shown at the bottom.

This picture is of a wire that was embedded in the tree over 100 years ago when the power came from a hydro plant behind ClearLake.

Left to right: Brent, Doug , "Doc Joe" and Mark.

This is the new location of the Ludlow Health Center. The large tree in the back by the porch had to be removed to make way for the large addition. The tree was cut down, milled up, kiln-dried and turned into a 4'x10' conference table all right here in Ludlow. From seed to furniture!

A day at the lake

Paul making a piece of maple straight and ready to be made into a table's rail system.

Mark is laying out chair slats and shifting them so they will be all at the same plane. Then he squares them off and cuts them to length depending on the size of the chair.

Steve is cutting tenons on a side chest's door frame.

Jason pushing a pencil.