Where to Buy Solid Wood Craftsman Furniture Online

What counts as real Craftsman or Mission furniture?

If you've recently moved into a Bungalow or other historic home, you may be wondering how to furnish it, to honor the home's history but also stay true to your own style. Great news! Bungalows were always meant to be humble homes, affordable for the working classes and approachable by everyone.

Craftsman furniture typically showcases the "hand of the maker", with details like decorative corbels and tenons, and other exposed elements of joinery that remind the owner of the craftsperson behind the work. Large blocky elements and substantial shapes, especially in oak and cherry wood, are typical.

Mission style claims several fathers, the earliest being Joseph McHugh, a New England furniture craftsman inspired by a chair found in Northern California at the time. The lines were simple and clean, and like the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s, were a rejection of the ornate styles of the Victorian era. The style also inspired Frank Lloyd Wright and his Prairie school later in the 20th century. Wright used long horizontal plains evoking the open spaces of the American west, and thin spindles echoing prairie grass on the plains. Integrity of materials was vital to this movement, and natural materials and local sources were in the forefront.

Solid wood vs veneer vs MDF

Solid hardwood furniture is meant to live with your family and last for the long haul. Instead of replacing it after a decade or two, you can just refinish it to reveal a new surface and update the coloring if you like. Kiln-dried hardwood with traditional joinery is meant to breathe and flex with the seasons, shrinking slightly in the winter and expanding again in the summer, year after year. (we still recommend keeping humidity consistent in your home, for the comfort of both your family and your furniture).

Many modern furniture designs are made from veneer. Shaved thinly from planks of wood and glued, it can be bent and adapted into designs that are more creative in form than can be achieved from solid hardwood. But veneer can delaminate, and is not always meant to last a lifetime, the way solid hardwood furniture does. You won't find any of our builders using it in our Craftsman furniture.

MDF is great for "college furniture" but isn't made to last. You won't find it in any of our products either.

Quarter-sawn oak, cherry, walnut, maple: what to choose

So many choices! We cover it in depth in our guide here, but as a quick reference: 

Quarter sawn oak is quintessential Craftsman, heavy and substantial with a distinctive "tiger stripe" due to the angled way the lumber is cut from the log.  If you've seen a cozy Craftsman study in a movie, we bet it had a quarter-sawn oak desk in it, in a Mission Cherry (the Amish call it Michaels) stain. 

Cherry wood is more versatile, with a smooth grain that takes stain beautifully. The grain is not so pronounced as to define the style of the furniture, so it can lean modern, like a space-age style Midcentury table in a light shade, or classic like a cherry wood executive desk in a deep finish.

Walnut has its fans (we count ourselves among them!) for its unique coloration and high density. We rarely stain it, preferring to let the cool almost-pink undertones of the new wood gently warm over time to a neutral color that blends with all of our decor. North American black walnut, sustainably harvested, is relatively uncommon. So unfortunately this beauty does come at investment-grade price.

Maple is a great choice if you're looking for the smooth grain of cherry at a slightly better price point. It's also endlessly adaptable and takes stain very well. Occasionally you get a beautiful glowing 'ripple' in the grain, and our Amish builders are great at selecting boards to show it off.

Amish-made vs factory-made vs designer showroom

Most Amish furniture tends to be built in family workshops, on site of a builder's home and land, with just a handful of craftspeople in each shop. They tend to build with pneumatic tools, or off the power grid and powered by natural gas or solar power. However, some shops are large enough to resemble more modern furniture factories. Every sect in the US practices their faith slightly differently so the rules do vary. What does stay consistent is the ethos of craftsmanship, pride in ones work, the passing down of woodworking skills through generations, and building with the highest quality materials possible.

Large-scale factory furniture is great for getting as low a price as possible, by limiting choices and keeping the input materials to the cheapest options. While we understand the need for this type of furniture in the market, we rest easy knowing our customers are getting the highest quality we can find.

Designer showrooms that focus on aesthetics first do not always have a strong philosophy around construction or materials. Price does not always correlate to quality, and expenses like importing costs and marketing can make up a big fraction of the price.

Best Online stores for Craftsman Furniture

We were curious about the online options for buying Craftsman style hardwood furniture, so we looked around. We compared a classic Mission-style coffee table to make a price comparison, and checked on delivery costs also. Here's a comparison chart:

Why Modern Bungalow is different

While Stickley is often seen as the originator of American Arts and Crafts style, the name does come at a premium. True Stickley fans are more than willing to pay for the name and the craftsmanship of the American-made collections. More recently, Stickley has introduced more wallet-friendly collections made in Vietnam. 

Vermont Woods Studios is an excellent choice for modern designs crafted from unstained natural hardwood. Hardwood Artisans is a great choice if you're in Virginia and is a great choice for buying hardwood furniture directly from the builder. You can even visit their workshop in Culpeper county for a free tour!

Like Countryside Amish, Modern Bungalow offers Amish-crafted furniture in a wide range of wood and stain options with any custom options you need. However, we focus on helping you curate the style of your entire home in an updated Craftsman and Mission aesthetic. Our nationwide delivery policy ensures that you get your furniture to your doorstep safely at a great price.

How to furnish a full Craftsman living room, dining room, bedroom, or porch

We love the dedication to craftsmanship on display in a Craftsman home, especially our cozy bungalows. But we don't feel like every single piece needs to be straight out of the Arts and Crafts movement. We love an eclectic look- For example, a chunky MaRyan dining table with comfy upholstered dining chairs. Or a Prairie Settle sofa with a midcentury round coffee table. Some of us like to complete the look and that's awesome too. We've got the full Prairie Mission collection just for you! But in all of our looks, you'll find the Craftsman ethos- clean lines, natural materials, earthy colors- with a mix of styles to show a collected, lived-in look that defines your home as your own. 

Delivery, lead times, customization, warranty, and design help

Our nationwide doorstep delivery is just $99. None of our furniture requires assembly except beds and dining tables, which need to come in pieces if they want to get through a doorway! If you're comfortable with your own setup, awesome. If you want some help, you got it! We're happy to offer white glove delivery as well. Usually around $250

Customization is de rigueur with our furniture. Do you love that sofa table but it won't quite fit in your Bungalow entryway? We totally understand, happens all the time. Just chat us and say 'hey- how much to make it 2 inches narrower?' and we'll send you a draft invoice and get our builder started. No problem at all.

Warranty- this is our favorite part. Our furniture and rugs are meant to last. Period. Our builders stand behind their work and we back them up with excellent customer service.  All of our hardwood furniture is warranted for life against any defect in workmanship or materials. Just check out our reviews and you'll see how all of our customers become fans. 

Need help with design? Want to make your home look like one of our amazing room scenes, or like one of the beautiful pics our customers share? Just reach out, we'd love to help you design a room or a whole home.