MBW Furniture Blog

Cherry/Brown Queen Panel Bed

The names hardwood and softwood seem to imply a scale of toughness or hardness, but this is not the case. In fact, both groups of wood, hardwoods and softwoods, have drastically different scales of hardness. In other words, hardwoods are not automatically harder than softwoods. In essence, it is entirely possible to have hard softwood and soft hardwood. The hardwood balsa, for example, is much softer than the softwood yew.

What is the difference? Hardwood structure is much more complex than that of softwood. The major difference between the two types of wood is the presence of pores called vessels, which vary in size, shape, and structure. Hardwood trees are called angiosperms because they produce seeds with a type of covering or structure like fruit and acorns. Softwood trees are labeled gymnosperms because their seeds fall to the ground with no protective covering.

The softwood family includes conifers, or cone-bearing trees like pine. Softwood is the world’s main source for timber. Scandinavia, Russia, and North America oversee the majority of softwood timber production. Humanity relies heavily on softwood for construction, furniture, millwork, and pulp for papermaking.

Mahogany Curio Cabinet Bookcase – Mahogany Jewelry Armoire

The hardwood furniture items showcased in this article will be featured in an upcoming episode of the hit television series, The Walking Dead.

Because of vessel elements and porosity, denser hardwoods burn longer for kindling. Oak, maple, and cherry would all burn hotter for longer than would cedar or pine. Manufacturers and artisans use hardwoods for furniture, cabinet making, décor, accessories, furnishings, construction, tools, fuel, boats, musical instruments, flooring, etc. MBW Furniture features solid hardwood as well as hardwood veneer furniture and everything in between.

Due to wood complexity and material availability, solid hardwood joinery is usually more expensive than softwood. In any case, different types of wood materials lend themselves to various tasks and processes. For instance, the hardwood walnut is great for heavy, solid furniture and popular for veneering; the softwood cedar is ideal for unfinished furniture and also holds paint quite well.

Cast Bronze Classic Sundial

As long as the sun has traveled across the sky, civilization has depended upon it to monitor the passing of time. Historians remain skeptical about the earliestsundials, but the first to appear in archaeological record are the Egyptian obelisks circa 3500 BCE. Babylonian astronomy utilized similar shadow clocks in 1500 BCE. In two different chapters, the Old Testament refers to the “dial of Ahaz,” a device for telling time via shadow-lengths.

Herodotus indicates that Greek culture borrowed the design idea from the Babylonians. Greek mathematician and astronomer Theodosius of Bithynia (circa 160-100 BCE) is credited with the creation of a sundial that would work at any point on the planet. Romans naturally inherited the idea from their Greek counterparts. Plautus, the Roman playwright, complained that his day had been chopped to pieces by the invention. Roman author Vitruvius catalogued all known types of sundials and their inventors in his 25 BCE De Architectura.

Islamic Caliphate cultures and the post-Renaissance Europeans continued to develop and expand upon Greco-Roman sundials. The Greek dials employed temporary, and unequal, hours with straight lines that would change with the seasons. Abu’l-Hasan Ibn al-Shatir used trigonometry to revolutionize the sundial in 1371. “Using a gnomon that is parallel to the Earth’s axis will produce sundials whose hour lines indicate equal hours on any day of the year;” thus, the polar-axis sundial was born. Western sundials began to adopt this model as early as 1446.

In Italy, astronomer Giovanni Padovani’s1570 treatise provided instructions for the creation of vertical and horizontal sundials. Constructio instrumenti ad horologia solaria by Giuseppe Biancani teaches readers how to manufacture the ideal sundial in 1620. Until the advent of the railroad systems of the 1830-40s, the United States depended upon the sundial for the official local time. MBW Furniture offers a varied collection of sundials.

Bronze Gnomon  Roman Sundial  Dionysus Pedestal  Pedestal Sundial

Gnomon: the part of the sundial that casts the shadow (Greek word meaning “indicator”); usually, a thin rod or sharp edge

Style: the time-telling edge of the gnomon

Sundial: a device that utilizes light and shadow to determine time of day in relation to the Sun’s position in the sky

Horizontal/Vertical sundial: the sun casts a shadow from the sundial’s style to the surface marked with hour lines; the shadow-receiving plane is either aligned horizontally or vertically, but the devices work the same

Analemmatic sundial: since the Sun annually travels in a predictable pattern called the analemma, these devices trace an object’s shadow to measure hours, weeks, and months (often installed in public venues as décor, planetariums, and science museums)

Bronze Chinese Guardian Foo Lion Statues

Western culture calls them Foo Lions. Shishi in Chinese, imperial guardian lions reflect eastern thought via pre-modern representations of the lion. Traditionally, the couple guards palaces, imperial tombs, government offices, temples, and aristocratic homes. In antiquity and some modern traditions, people believe the statues to have mystical protective benefits. MBW Furnitureoffers a great selection of Foo Lion and bronze statues. Recently, the Foo Lion Statues featured above were purchased from MBW to appear in the upcoming Iron Man 3, the latest installment in the Iron Man franchise.

Customarily, artisans carve the lions from decorative stone like marble and granite or cast them in bronze or iron. Historically, the lions were so expensive to produce that they became a status symbol for the exterior of homes. Today, thanks to mass production and industrialization, less expensive lions are made with concrete and resin.

Small Cast Bronze Foo Lion Statues

Most always made in a pair, one lion is female and the other male to represent yin and yang, a manifestation of balance. In traditional foo lions, the male has a ball that represents the world, and the female restrains a mischievous cub. It is said that the female guards the building’s exterior while the male guards the building and its interior. Sometimes, one lion’s mouth is open and the other closed. In Chinese traditions, this mimics the enunciation of the sacred word, “om.” In Japan, the male is inhaling to represent life, and the male exhales to represent death. Many Western versions of foo lions are stylized, varied, and sometimes identical.

English and other Western languages have called the lions by many names: Fu Dogs, Foo Dogs, Fu Lions, Fo Lions and Lion Dogs. The term fu is quite close to words that mean “Buddha” or “prosperity” (?pinyin: fó or ? pinyin: fú) in Chinese; however, in their native land, the lions are rarely called fó or fú and never named “dogs.”

ACME Furniture Espresso Bycast Leather Storage Ottoman 

In a world driven by economy, affordability and simple maintenance are qualifiers for a great product. Bycast leather (i.e. bicast, split, or PU. leather) is one such product. Since it is handcrafted and manufactured, there are many more color options available than traditional leather has to offer. Much more affordable than traditional leather furniture, bycast leather is also easier to keep clean, as it requires merely a damp cloth.

The process to manufacture bycast leather has its origins in the shoe industry. Originally for shiny, high-gloss footwear, the process has recently been adopted by the furniture industry. MBW Furniture features many pieces of bycast leather furniture, from bar stools to bed frames. Manufacturers agree that the main appeal is cost effectiveness for consumers. Like glossy shoes,bycast leather sofas are easily maintained and revitalized with regular care and elbow grease.

Tufted Bar Stools  Counter Stools  Wasabi Dining Chairs  Rocking Chair

Construction
Crafted from split leather, bycast leather is a product of 21^st-century technology. Machinery makes it possible to split leather hides into thin layers. After leather is split, manufacturers laminate the top layer with polyethylene. To achieve leather-like appearance, grain patterns are embossed into the material’s surface. The polymer coating allows for an extremely even finish and, again, easy cleaning.

Opponents of bycast leather complain about its authenticity; they are simply promoting their products at any cost (pun intended). The entire point of bycast leather is to provide the market and consumers with an affordable alternative to traditional leather goods. As is the case with any piece of furniture, proper care, maintenance, and knowledge consumers ensure long-lived products.

Victorian Cream Telephone Chaise Bench

Even though there was not a single dominant style of furniture during the Victorian era, there was a commonality amongst interior designers: ornamentation. Artisans, cabinetmakers, and designers drew inspiration from various iconic and historical periods including Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, and Neoclassical revivals. Gothic and Rococo were among the most popular during the period. MBW Furniture offers a wide variety of Victorian décor and furniture.

The Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic movements as well as Anglo-Japanese and Art Nouveau styles have their origins in the Victorian era. Historians refer to this group collectively as Victorian decorative arts because of the excessive ornamentation, eclectic reinterpretations of history, and emerging foreign influences of eastern cultures like those of the Middle East and Asia. The curio cabinet also became a popular item as British ships commonly returned from exotic adventures with new collectible treasures.

The Victorian period is known for its modesty, privacy, and orderliness. Table and chair legs were covered as some thought they were reminiscent of nude human legs. The ideal home was carefully divided into public and private spaces. One of the most important rooms for any Victorian house was the parlor, where the hosts received all guests. This interior showcase usually contained games and collectables to be enjoyed by company. In Victorian popular opinion, heavy ornamentation was important to a well-designed space, so a bare room was considered a faux pa. For this reason, Victorian rooms required many spaces, shelves, and cabinets for objets d’art and knickknacks.

Red Arm Chair  Brass Candlesticks  Mahogany Sideboard  Cameo Chaise

Victorian Construction & Style:

Furniture Legs & Feet: Elaborate turning, restrained cabriole, and round legs; whorl, continuation of leg to floor (no foot), as well as Claw-and-Ball feet

Wood: Oak, Maple, Butternut, Ash, Black Walnut, and Rosewood Veneer

Fabric & Finish: Braid, Hair Cloth, Plush, Tapestry, Velour, Velvet, and Needlepoint fabrics; Gilding (gold leaf) and Oil Varnish

Common Motifs & Ornamentation Styles: Foliage and Scrolls; Carving, Spindle, Inlay, and Carving

Art Deco Cappuccino & Metal Coffee Table

To understand the history of the coffee table, one must peer into the past. European interior designers (housewives included) have used the tea table since the 17^th Century at least. The tall, round tables allowed for group seating and gave hosts the ability to set up tea service in close proximity to guests. The 18^th and 19^th Centuries saw the tea table evolve into the rolling rectangular tea trolley. The old-fashioned tea trolley inspired the modern coffee table. MBW Furniture offers a great and varied selection of coffee tables.

Descendants of the tea table, modern coffee tables were intensely marketed to Americans at the beginning of the 20^th Century by a business called Imperial Furniture Company. President J. Stuart Foote claims to be the inventor of modern coffee tables as of 1920. He said he sliced the legs off a table by happenstance, and the results inspired him. Foote reported immediately knowing the stunted table would be perfect for coffee served in front of the sofa.

ZUO Modern Coffee Table  Hooker Brown Open-Shelf  Cherry Coffee Table 

Seating areas complete with tea and coffee tables have adorned parlors and living rooms alike since the Victorian era. Imperial Furniture’s coffee tables of the 1920s are reminiscent of their modern counterparts. Demand for coffee surpassed that for tea in the United States during this period, and the European tea table became known as the American coffee table. The 1930s saw the repeal of Prohibition and the growing popularity of cocktails in need of a serving surface.

Whether bearing tea, coffee, or cocktails, modern service tables reside in many of today’s homes and hosting spaces. Eventually, coffee tables became the center of at-home entertainment, displaying magazines and books as well as housing party provisions.

Stained glass has a colorful and artistic history that is steeped in religious and interior décor. Traditionally, artisans built the glass into flat panels and framed the multicolored pieces, which became known as stained glass windows. Inspired by The Bible, literature, and history, they have adorned Europe’s churches and cathedrals since the late Middle Ages.

Antique English Window Frames

Applying the same process to objets d’art (works of art) during the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements of the Victorian era, Louis Comfort Tiffany brought new flavor to the art of stained glass windows (leadlight), and also to lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, jewelry, and metalwork. MBW Furniture features a broad selection of antique English window frames, Antique English stained glass Pub Bars, and Art Nouveau décor.

Tiffany created his famous lamps and décor by an arts-and-crafts process called “lead came and copper foil glasswork.” To recreate his process, artisans cut colored glass and arrange the pieces into picturesque designs. The traditional process used to build the wealthy homes and cathedrals of Europe required lead came.

Stained Glass Butterfly Sun Catchers - Art Nouveau Tiffany Lamps

The Victorian era and 19^th Century replaced lead came with copper foil; the switch yielded the newfound ability to build three-dimensional objets d’art.While this style is often labeled “Tiffany,” historians disagree whether John La Farge or Louis Comfort Tiffany is the father of lead came glasswork.

Art Nouveau Tiffany Mission Fireplace Screen

Cast Bronze Lying Dog Statues

A popular resource for weapons and décor alike, bronze has been a favored alloy since before the time of the ancient Greeks (Bronze Age).  They may not have been the first bronze smelters and sculptors, but ancient Greece made the switch from figurines to life-size sculptures.  Since bronze is as valuable no matter the form, few examples of ancient sculptures exist today. In times of war, civilizations would melt down bronze statues to make weapons or raise funds. Conquerors would destroy their rivals’ bronze only to have it remade it their own image.

MBW Furniture features a wide selection of bronze and marble. We have bronze for any possible design space or need: home décor, office, kitchen, entryway, outdoor, dining, and living areas. Bronze items are available in different finishes as well: gilded (ormolu), marbled, deco, oxidized, and classic styles.

Bronze is a unique alloy in that it expands and retracts at moments critical to the sculpting process. Just before completely setting, bronze expands to imprint the mold’s most intricate details. Upon cooling, it shrinks just enough to be easily removed from the mold while maintaining original design elements. The alloy is extremely durable, especially compared to brittle ceramic and stone materials (marble sculpture) that require interior cross sections for support.  For modern statues, bronze is 90% copper and 10% tin.

4ft-Lion Statues   Ormolu-trimmed Vase   Frog on Reed   Rearing Horse Statue

BRONZE PROCESSES

Ormolu: an English term straight out of the 18^th Century, ormolu means “gilt bronze.” Smelters apply finely-ground gold in a mercury amalgam to bronze items. Harmful mercury fumes ensured the early deaths of 18^th-century gilders, as most did not live beyond 40.

Lost-wax Casting: the traditional sculptor’s approach, artists create a model then a mold from soft materials. Molten wax fills the mold until dry. Once removed, the mold is perfected and undergoes several processes before receiving and casting the bronze. Modern investment casting is the same process, but industrialized for accuracy and high-performance alloys.

Centrifugal Casting: a common technique among jewelry makers, this type of casting uses a small mold attached to the end of a spinning arm.

Cappuccino Shaker 5-pc Counter Height Dining Set

Furniture periods are not always named after a monarch or period in history. In the case of Shaker furniture, the distinctive style is named after a religious group: the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.  The furniture period ranges from around 1820 to 1860. The style is unique to the United States. Shaker furniture is simple and utilitarian with straight, tapered legs, woven seats for chairs, and wooden knobs shaped like mushrooms.

Beyond visual appeal and sturdy construction, Shaker furniture is a part of English and American history. The Shakers came to America from Manchester, England in 1774 with Mother Ann Lee, their religious leader. The group brought with them years of experience and the knowledge of English cabinetmakers and woodworkers. The group’s designs sought inspiration from their own beliefs. They made furniture for their secluded villages as well as the secular market. MBW Furniture offers great selections in the Shaker style.

Cinnamon Shaker 3-pc Coffee Table Set   Brown Distressed Shaker Dining Table 

Shaker Style & Construction

Wood: Oak, Pine, Sycamore, Elm, Fruitwood, Maple, Hickory, Ash, Birch, Cherry, and Elm were popular choices for Shaker style.

Furniture Legs/Feet: feet were nonexistent as the furniture legs terminated at the floor. Because of the utilitarian nature of Shaker furniture, legs were varied and numerous: round, simple turned, splayed, square, straight, and tapered.

Fabric & Finish: Cotton, Oil Vanish, and Paint

Joints: Exposed and Dovetail joinery

SmartStuff for Kids – Classics 4.0 Collection

Universal has recently released SmartStuff, furniture built for kids of the 21^stCentury. The furniture features “awesome function, strong construction, built-in safety, and tons of extras.” Jeff Scheffer, High Point-based Universal Furniture CEO, says, “just as it is hard to imagine buying a car today without electric locks and cup holders, we believe that many of our Smartstuff features will set new standards in youth furniture” (hfbusiness.com). The clever design and brilliant construction has something for everyone: safety for parents, surprises for kids, and extras for all. MBW Furniture now features furniture bySmartStuff.

The furniture is safe and strong because manufacturers designed the pieces specifically with kids in mind. All SmartStuff furniture features anti-tip hardware, soft self-closing drawer guides, time-honored English dovetail construction, as well as soft edges and corners. Safety should be a major factor when selecting youth furniture. Safety-conscious parents can appreciate that Intertek, an independent third-party lab, tests all SmartStufffurniture.

The company is able to boast that SmartStuff is “strong, safe furniture that works better so kids can live better,” because of superior construction. Dressers and desks have metal-on-metal drawer guides that extend all the way with built-in stops to prevent them from falling out. English dovetail joints are on the front and back of drawer interiors (full-finish 9/16^th” oak plywood), and the pieces are self-closing. The bunk beds have deep mattress openings, ladders, bolts at each joint, and wide steps.

Entertainment & Media Chest   Saddle Brown Nightstand   9-Drawer Dresser

SmartStuff furniture also has an appeal for kids. Some beds have built-in reading lights and charging stations. Media chests and dressers have split-down drawers for multimedia and gaming consoles. Drawers feature hidden compartments to conceal treasured items from snooping siblings. The top bunk features a tray that Universal calls the “nightstand in the sky.” The collection offers fun options for kids.

Each item in the collection features one of many unexpected extras to promote education as well as mental and physical wellness. Nightstands come with coasters to keep water damage at bay and encourage kids to “respect the wood.” Dressers have handy folding boards for clothing and an exercise sheet for in-room workouts. The desks come with ergonomics guides, and star charts with the bunk beds. Universal has obviously done its homework and wants to help kids around the world to do the same in a safe environment.