L J Foor In Writing: Elevate.

For the Amish Originals Furniture Co. eNews:

On any given day, the simple dining chair is a place to elevate life events.  We sit down to meals and finish homework.  A couple dining chairs and a comforter make a great fort for child’s play.  A dining chair can be the occasional step stool for things out-of-reach, a time-out chair during unfortunate moments, or the perfect place for celebrations, tears, and unexpected heart-to-heart conversations.

From Windsor to Shaker, the aesthetics, simple strong design, and utility of the dining chair endures. For these modern times, the dining chair has become an artful form of expression and comfort - an invisible and expected part of everyday life in our homes.

No matter the style, Amish Originals Furniture Co. hardwood seating, including bar chairs, stools, and benches, is custom made with care and time-honored techniques like mortise and tenon joinery. 

We believe our dining chairs are best experienced in person.  Stop by our 8 N. State Street location to visit, browse, sit, and shop.

L J Foor In Writing: Snowy Evening.

For the Amish Originals Furniture Co. eNews:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

We may have traded horse-power with four-wheel drive, heated seats, and GPS for a sleigh, the company of a warm horse, and leather reins in gloved hands, but the seasons still change, the snow still falls, and we can still stop by the woods on a snowy evening on the way home.

No matter the time or season, home is where the heart is, and we want our homes to reflect who we are and fit our lifestyle.

Amish Originals Furniture Co. features Amish-crafted furniture echoing time-honored standards of hands-on skill, technique, purpose, design, and aesthetic. 

Sustainable cherry, oak, and maple, raised in managed U.S. forests. Everyday hardwood furniture made-to-order in Ohio. Furniture with beauty. Furniture with character. Furniture with purpose. Furniture you make your own. Furniture you love.

Wintery snow or summer sun, the welcome mat is always out, so stop by to visit, browse, and shop. We appreciate you and your business.

In Uptown Westerville, our home since 1992, Amish Originals Furiture Co.: Home Furnishings. Accents. Accessories. Seasonal Decor. Furniture for Life.

L J Foor In Writing: Reflective.

For the Amish Originals Furniture Co. eNews:

There’s trendy, you know, fleeting interest in things like inflatable sofas, mood rings, lava lamps, and the color of the season.  And, then there are trends.  Rivers and mountain ranges, trend in a certain direction over time just like consumer interest and wisdom follows a distinct, responsive path. 

Consumer trends break new ground, inform progress, and inspire ideas for design and expression that often become classics.  The trend toward creating a home environment for socializing and comfort responds to changes in the economy, lifestyles, and priorities.

Combining furniture, accessories, and accents that reflect our lives, journeys, interests, and connections to the world creates a home that speaks to who we are that we can enjoy.

At Amish Originals Furniture Co., we encourage the increasing consumer interest in the value and beauty of hardwood furniture to create an enduring, comfortable environment.

Classic, innovative furniture designs that respond to modern needs, made with time-honored Amish dedication to craft and technique, is the hallmark of Amish Originals Furniture Co.

L J Foor In Writing: NorthStar Pet - Remembering Murphy

In Memory of Murphy 
3.17.90 - 12.27.07

On Earth Day 1990, a friend of mine, on a country drive, found four kittens abandoned in an old cemetery near Union Furnace, Ohio.  She'd driven past the cemetery and in her rear view mirror saw the silhouette of a kitten (baby Murphy) standing in the road.  She and her companion turned around to pick up the kitten, and once out of the car, heard meowing and found the other 3 kittens huddled together by a gravestone surrounded by grazing sheep.

I'd just lost my dog and cat within 6 weeks of each other, and my friend called me and asked me if I was ready for new pets -- you bet! 

So, I took Murphy and her brother, an orange tiger. (My friend found homes for the other 2 kittens.)  I put tiny Murphy and Frank in a seemingly cavernous cardboard pet carrier and headed home. When I got home, I opened the carrier, and 5-week-old baby Murphy looked right at me and hissed the tiniest, toughest hiss you will ever almost hear and thus a friendship was born!  My life is all the better for knowing her. 

To honor Murphy, please give your pets a little extra affection today! Thanks.

L J Foor In Writing: NorthStar Pet Tagline

NorthStar Pet Services Tagline:

Professional Pet Care in Your Peaceable Kingdom

L J Foor In Writing: Child Care.

For the Amish Originals Furniture Co. eNews:

Ten tiny little fingers that always want to play, that never stop exploring the wonder of the day.  Ten tiny little fingers that from the very start, will reach out for tomorrow and always hold your heart. - author unknown.

Watching a sleeping baby is a mesmerizing experience - such peace, bliss, and innocence. Time is fleeting and they grow so fast. Can’t we slow the pace just a little? It’s forever - our role as parents - to love them, guide them, and keep them safe, so they can thrive and grow and continue to reach out for tomorrow.

With classic, ageless style, Amish Originals Furniture Co. hand-made-to-order, bench crafted nursery furniture is designed to change and grow along with your child.

A safe, seamlessly functional nursery space will ease your mind so you can relax and enjoy all the little moments that over-time become big memories.

Stop by our 38 N. State Street location to visit, browse, plan, and shop.

LJ Foor In Writing: Our Horses Rock

For the Amish Originals Furniture Co. Blogger Blog:

(This is Amish Originals' most-viewed blog post.)

The presence of horses in children’s play historically parallels the presence of horses in our lives. Evidence stretches as far back as 400 BC in Egypt and Greece, where literature describes children playing with hobby horses.

In the 16th century a simple, log “barrel horse” became popular.  As woodshop tools and technology developed over time, carved wood rocking horses evolved into the art form of the bow-style sculptured horse. Borrowing from cradle design, the bow-style rocker, developed because it was resistant to overturning during kid-powered play.

In the late 1700s into the mid-1800s, rocking horses were the work of master craftsmen. The rocking horse became a toy for children in affluent families. Each horse was detailed to include real-horsehair mane and tails, leather saddles with stirrups, reins, glass eyes, facial expressions, and iron horseshoes.

Family rocking horses were passed down from generation to generation.

In the 1850s, the rocking horse hit a popular peak when Queen Victoria toured a rocking horse workshop and picked out a dapple grey rocking horse for her children (she had nine kids!). The dapple grey rocker was even packed along with family belongings for vacations.

In the mid-1800s European craftsmen immigrated to America and started their own rocking horse workshops. Hand-crafted rocking horses became popular with the post-Civil War emerging middle class. Many of the major craftsmen moved away from rocking horses in the late 1800s, finding more money in carving carousel horses.

Rocking horses were mass-produced for the first time starting in the late 1800s. Consumer interest in the everyday rocking horse carried forward into the early 1900s, but with workers called away to service in World War I and then the austerity of the Great Depression, demand for rocking horses pulled up short.

In recent years, there’s been a resurgence in interest in imagination and kid-powered toys, including hand-made rocking horses.

Today, our relationship with horses is essentially recreational and very individual, and children relate to their rocking horses the same way. Master rocking horse craftsman, Mark Stevenson observes, “There is something magical about rocking horses that’s missing in today’s toys. A rocking horse frees a child’s imagination.

LJ Foor In Writing: The Farmers' Market - Community

For the Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market:

Food is our common ground, a universal experience. ~ James Beard

There is a very old, quite wonderful children’s story called Stone Soup where three war-weary soldiers, on their way home, stop by a poor village to rest. Hungry, with no rations, they work with what they have and begin to build an open fire in the village square. They place a pot over the fire, and add water to the pot, along with three smooth stones to make Stone Soup.

Cautiously watching the soldiers boiling only water for a meal, little by little, one villager at-a-time contributes the one ingredient they can spare to create a soup that not only feeds the soldiers and the villagers but brings a community together.

Just like the "recipe" for stone soup, farmers’ markets, locally and globally, provide an environment for local farmers and food artisans to earn their living and to provide a place residents can gather to buy locally-raised, locally-made produce and foods.

A farmers‘ market is "food-interactive" where market patrons can meet, chat with, and shake the hand of the person who raised or made their food. It’s a family-friendly place to meet old friends and new, to try new flavors, and buy fresh, nourishing foods, including produce nourished by Ohio rains, that grows under the Ohio sun, in rich, fertile local soils.

L J Foor In Writing: Designate.

For the Amish Originals Furniture Co. eNews:

The statistics are staggering:

▪ Around 20 million Americans are working from home.

▪ By the end of 2011, 30% of the U.S. population will be over 50.

▪ 47% of Baby Boomers (ages 50 to 64) regularly visit and use online social media - that is an 88% increase over 2010.

▪ Baby Boomers are becoming the driving force behind the use of information technology.

▪ The number of people age 55 and older using facebook jumped from 1 million in 2009 to 10 million in 2010!

▪ Globally, over 5 billion people have active mobile phones.

▪ e-Reader ownership doubled between November 2010 and May 2011.

▪ Online educational opportunties for kids are now recognized as a superior option by the U.S. Department of Education.  And, 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled online.

We are embracing technology seemingly at the speed of light because it makes our business of life easier, and keeps us connected to friends, family, and the world.  In spite of all the demographics and the options offered by the pocket-size portability of technology - we still need one thing - a great place to work.

Homework, hobbies, earning a living, play, financial management, home schooling, family budgeting, recreation, or relaxation - the business of being a family is no longer “hard-wired.”  We can go to work anywhere, including outdoors, but we still want and need a designated workspace. 

In a recent American Institute of Architects survey, the top residential upgrades are home offices, then energy efficiency, mudrooms, and outdoor living areas.  AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker observes, “...home offices have become the new home theaters.  Homeowners are placing a far greater priority on specialty rooms that get the most use, as well as incorporating outdoor living elements within their lifestyles.”

Creative home workspace options need to be highly functional, seamless, versatile, durable, and look good.  For those larger-scale office and school supply needs like surfaces, seating, and storage, from traditional offices to unconventional spaces, Amish Originals Furniture Co. is a natural resource.

LJ Foor In Writing: The Farmers' Market - Etiquette

For the Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market:

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use. ~ Emily
Post

Market Wednesday Etiquette....

Common courtesy. Common sense. Kindness.

Treat people the way you would want to be treated.

Relax. (It's a farmers' market!)

Enjoy.