Made By Hickory Chair

My Hickory Chair Home - Shannon Murray Interiors

One of our HCC University Alumni, Shannon Murray, shared with us a beautiful home that she completed using mostly Hickory Chair pieces!  Her young client moved from Greenwich, CT to Boca Raton, FL.  She chose to work with Shannon instead of starting over with a new designer.  She trusted Shannon and knew that she would be able to guide her to create very personal interiors in her brand new Florida home. 

Shannon selected Hickory Chair as her primary source for this exciting new home. She knew that the Hickory Chair pieces were appropriate for this project and met budget.  She also knew that with the many options offered, she would be able to personalize the pieces for the color scheme and needs of this young family.  We appreciate that most rooms of the house are adorned with Hickory Chair pieces.

In the Living Room, Shannon chose the Elinor Sofa  and Guilded Lily Cocktail Table in Silver Leaf from the Mariette Himes Collection as well as a pair of Nanette Chairs with Slipcovers from the Suzanne Kasler Collection.  The Mark Desk by Alexa Hampton is used as a sofa table.  She chose our Antique Ivory paint with Antique Silver hardware from our Customer's Own Hardware^TM program.  The fabrics and finishes have created a warm, inviting room for this active family.

The Master Bedroom has great natural light and Shannon used soft blues and whites to make a sanctuary.  The Left Bank Bed was selected and installed without its options four tall posts.  Removeable posts allow you to change the look of your room as your needs or wishes change.  In addition, a sitting area was created using an Oval Pedestal Cocktail Table from the James River Collection in a painted white finish instead of the standard Medium Mahogany traditional finish.  A pair of Stanton Skirted Lounge Chairs flank the cocktail table.  

A retreat was created using the Porter Divan by Mariette Himes Gomez, a Hallings Secretary by Thomas O'Brien and a Hunt Chair by Suzanne Kasler.  Shannon enjoyed selecting the right pieces for each room from the entire Hickory Chair assortment.  She was not bound to pick pieces from one collection so they would match.  She could pick finish, fabric and hardware to tie these pieces together so that she created 'her own collection' for her client. 

Shannon is a professional designer who continues to invest in her training and knowledge base.  She has visited Hickory Chair's workroom in Hickory, North Carolina where over 87% of its wood and upholstered pieces are made to order.  She knows that our talented artisans and craftsmen make each piece one at a time by hand.  We appreciate how she entrusted us to make pieces for her client. 

Do you have a Hickory Chair home to share?  Contact us at press@hickorychair.com

Michelle Obama's Chair of Choice

An Associated News Syndicate story printed in the Palm Beach Post on March 1, 2010, featured Michelle Obama's determination to fight childhood obesity.  The photograph by Marvin Joseph was first featured in the Washington Post. A gentleman from Florida recognized the hand carved mahogany chair as Hickory Chair's own Spool Chair from the Mark Hampton Collection.  We appreciate him forwarding the newspaper article to us this morning. 

 

 

As we looked closely at the chair, we realized that it was one of a pair purchased for the private areas of the White House.  The First Lady and her designer selected these Spool Chairs in a graphic dark brown and white fabric to complement the rich finish.  The chairs were hand made in the workroom in Hickory, North Carolina.    We are proud to have talented craftsmen with the ability to carve mahogany and other sustainable types of wood into heirloom quality pieces in our workroom.

Does it not seem right that pieces made by Americans adorn rooms in the White House today? 

A Hickory Chair With Personality

From our early beginnings as a dining chair company we at Hickory Chair have continued our affinity for chairs of all types.  Recently I discovered a blog that I had not visited before by Tracery Interiors.  The story that I discovered titled Subtle Elegance, featured a beautiful home in Mountain Brook, Alabama.  To my pleasure the designer had chosen Hickory Chair dining chairs for the beautiful dining room!

The Birmingham based designer, Doug Davis, worked with Hickory Chair to transform a set of simple Chippendale Side Chairs with graceful mahogany legs with stretchers to a soft and elegant form with the addition of to the floor kick pleat skirts. The graceful curve of the back posts that begin at the top of the back to the floor creates elegant lines with the kick pleat skirt.  The side skirts were custom made to follow the swoop of the back legs. What is typical is to only make skirts for legs that are straight.  Most would not have attempted a kick pleat skirt for a chair with this type of legs.  The resulting chairs create a soft elegance in the room.

Another designer asked that we make a mini-skirt for their set of Chippendale Side Chairs.  They wanted a box pleated skirt that was 6-inches long.  In addition they asked that we add a contrasting welt down the center of the outback and apply a pair of buttons at the base of the back just above the skirt.  The result was stunning!  We ordered a set for the Hickory Chair showroom and added a graceful motif monogram to the inback.  This mix of options created a unique personality for this classic.

Special construction comes easy for the talented craftsmen in the Hickory Chair workroom.  Every day we are challenged with one of a kind requests. Every day we learn new skill levels as we say yes to the vast majority of requests.  Every day our craftsmen leave the workroom knowing that they have more talent than when they arrived.  They return each morning ready to embrace the new opportunities to learn and please the many designers who entrust their client's pieces to us.  We know that as long as we can say yes, complete pieces in just a few weeks from order at a quality level that exceeds their expectations, then this humble 99-year old furniture company will be able to reach its 100th anniversary in 2011 and beyond making one of a kind pieces in Hickory, North Carolina. 

My Hickory Chair Home - Gabberts, Minneapolis, MN

In this third edition of My Hickory Chair Home, we are pleased to feature a room shared by Randy Nelson, ASID.  We enjoyed getting to know Randy during HCC University this week. He shared this beautiful room that he and his design partner for this project, Lori Berg created.  Randy and Lori are part of the talented design team at Gabberts in Minneapolis, MN.  The room was selected for the front cover of the August/September issue of Midwest Living Magazine .  The issue was devoted to luxury homes. 

Randy and his associate Lori Berg took the challenge presented from the new Medina, Minnesota home.  The article, Serene Design, features the new home, its builder and the contributing businesses.  Randy and Lori worked together on the design aesthetic. They selected several Hickory Chair pieces in their quest to furnish this home.   Image courtesy of Midwest Home - August/September 2009

In the living room, Randy and Lori selected a pair of M2M Knole sofas.   Because Hickory Chair can make custom length upholstery, they determined that 90 inches would be a better scale than the standard longer length.  They chose a Hickory Chair fabric for the body of the sofas and then provided a COM fabric for the pillows and seat cushion along with COM tassel ties.  They requested that we replace the standard smooth finials for a more ornately carved style that was standard on another sofa and finish them in American Antique finish.  Image courtesy of Randy Nelson and Midwest Home - August/September 2009

 In the dining room, a pair of Emma Arm Chairs by Thomas O'Brien for Hickory Chair were selected as the host chairs.  The intricately carved chairs finished in a rustic painted finish provide the balance to the upholstered balloon-back side chairs and dining table finished in a dark wood stain.  Notice how the top rail of the Emma Chair is repeated in the shape of the mirror behind it.  These talented designers think about these elements.  By repeating motifs, colors, textures, fabrics, finishes the room is tied together.  By mixing styles such as the dining chairs, it adds interest to the room and enhances the head of the table.  Image courtesy of Midwest Home - August/September 2009

I am sure that many of you have great Hickory Chair product stories to share.  Please send your story and pictures to lholland@hickorychair.com.  We would love to share with everyone!

A New Feature for 2010 - "My Hickory Chair Home"

This new series, My Hickory Chair Home, is dedicated to sharing with you amazing rooms that were created with Hickory Chair pieces.  The stories may be about the designer's own home or homes that they created for their clients.  These inspirational rooms inspire our talented craftsmen to build their skills so that they can offer even greater personalization. 

Our first story is dedicated to a HCC University graduate, Kirk Holt.  He is the owner of Cisar-Holt, a design firm that he and his late partner, Robert Cisar, began 23 years ago.  Published in the January 2010 issue of TulsaPeople.com online magazine, is the home that Kirk and Robert began building in 2006.  Kirk completed the home in 2009.  As a result of his visit to Hickory Chair, Kirk was inspired to select many pieces for his home.  He loved the fact that he could request not only the pieces, but select from over 60 finishes, dozens of nail head trims and hardware selections, over 1,500 stocked fabrics, leather and trims to create one of a kind pieces for his home. 

 
Photography courtesy of Tulsapeople.com.

In Kirk's living room, he selected the Made to Measure Gallery Sofa at 84-inches wide and the Vendome Cocktail Table (now retired) from the Thomas O'Brien Collection along with the San Marino Bench by Hickory Chair.  The room is fresh and modern feeling with the use of color, accessories and arrangement of pieces.  Do you not love how the room is anchored by a really ornately carved traditional mantle and then is surrounded by classic modern pieces?

 
Photography courtesy of Tulsapeople.com.

In Kirk's sitting room, a Regency Oval Writing Table by Mark Hampton was custom finished in a black finish and facing it is a Reading Chair by Mariette Himes Gomez finished in Modern French Grey finish, a Hickory Chair fabric and then was trimmed in two sizes of Black Pearl nail head trim.  These classic forms perfectly complement the black mantle with quatrefoil motifs.

To read the complete 4-page article published in TulsaPeople.com, click here.  Want to learn more about HCC University? click here or contact press@hickorychair.com.

We invite you to share your home or client's home with us.  We want to publish a new edition of "My Hickory Chair Home" every week!

High Point Market!

It is hard to believe that the spring 2009 furniture market in High Point is right around the corner! We are all hard at work finishing up new market introductions, swatching the new fabrics, proofing price lists and writing press releases. In two weeks we will have our sales representatives attending presentations to learn the nuances of the new products. Then on Friday, April 25th our doors will open and we will reveal the AMAZING new introductions.

What is new this season? What is NOT new is my best answer! Not only do we have some beautiful new Mariette Himes Gomez pieces, but also we have amazing upholstery introductions as well! I have already spilled the news about low profile swivels that is an answer to many wishes during the past HCC University I Wish sessions. We are making hundreds of wishes come true this season. Some of them are "I wish you had more exposed leg sofas that are scaled like your skirted sofas. I wish you could leave off the skirt and add a beautiful leg. I wish that you had sectionals with right or left arm corner sofas so you could use just 2 pieces to make a sectional. I wish that you had more chaises. I wish that you had more exposed wood M2M pieces." Shown are the new Gentry M2M series from our Upholstery collection. These and many other wishes are coming true this season.