by Juanita | Feb 3, 2024 | Ava Lee's History Corner, customer experience, Tables
We first discovered quality furniture in the small town of Elizabethtown in the early 1970’s. We met Mahlon, the salesperson who showed us a beautiful trestle table made from air dried black walnut. The grain was stunning. We bought a walnut trestle table with two chairs and a bench. George even signed the table for us. The furniture was made and signed by one craftsman.
Years later when the showroom moved to Marietta, PA, we visited the woodshop, where we could see the craftsmen making the furniture. We were looking for a small plate rack for my wife. After learning what we wanted, George got permission from his wife come into their private house and see the plate rack he made for her. His wife agreed to allow us to have a plate rack identical to his wife’s made for us. This was a gift for our wedding anniversary. George only made two plate racks. One for Ava Lee and the second for us. We felt special to have such customized attention.
Meadow Brook Farmers Market
Later we found Georges at Meadow Brook Farmers Market, Leola, PA. Mahlon again greeted us and we ordered their amazing 5 legged extension table, 6 chairs in Walnut along with 4 extra table leaves. Much later, we ordered 4 more chairs as our family grew.
We visited George’s Furniture many times over the numerous years. They keep adding new furniture and styles. We have so many good memories of visiting with Mahlon and ordering from George’s Furniture. We feel like family and have furniture that reminds us daily of the quality we found so many years ago.
Quality lasts forever
Even though we were only in our early twenties and recently married when we began our wonderful journey, we still love our furniture. It is quality that keeps on giving. Now we have been married 52 years and still enjoy all the pieces of furniture we have bought thru the years. Keep the quality coming Georges.
Discover amazing quality
Come and discover the quality that Joy and her husband found so many years ago. Over 53 years of building quality custom handcrafted furniture. Tour the showrooms and woodshop and begin to create your new living space furnished with quality furniture that keeps on giving.
by Juanita | Dec 2, 2023 | bedroom, Coffee End Table, Entertainment Centers, Furniture Care, Georges Difference, Hutch, RV accessories, RV Furniture, Tables, Wedding Registry
You’ve surfed the web hours on end, looking for quality handcrafted solid wood furniture. Countless articles and pages from numerous furniture companies across the country use similar terms such as handcrafted furniture, hardwood construction, and custom build. Companies make bold claims that their furniture is the best. But it begs the question.
- What makes their furniture the best?
- How does their furniture differ from competitors’
- What makes high quality Furniture?
These are excellent questions. There are many aspects portraying the world of furniture that contribute to a piece being truly outstanding.
We strive to rise above and beyond in our manufacture of excellence and quality.
In the following paragraphs, you will learn about the numerous ways we take our game to the next level.
Dining Table to Fit any number of parties
If you have a large family, extension tables are a familiar term. As the name insinuates, it extends, allowing you to seat more members of the family so everyone can partake in a wonderful meal. Many tables extend to fit two or three leaves, but this limitation leaves much to be desired. That’s why we make our tables to extend to fit anywhere from six to sixteen leaves to accommodate even the largest dining rooms.
Where to store all those solid wood leaves
Now, it is common knowledge to those who own extensions tables that storage for these wooden table leaves is a necessity. Many resort to slipping them beneath beds or stuffing them into cramped closets, but for solid hardwood table leaves, these conditions are not ideal. What is uncommon knowledge is that wooden boards need to breath. Wooden leaves breath to regulate their moisture levels and prevent mold from setting into the grain. As an added layer of protection against excess moisture, we always coat both sides of the leave with a catalyzed conversion varnish.
Upright is Best – prevent bowing and warping from gravity’s pull.
- Leaf Storage Solution – Read about table leaf storage. In the early stages of extension table development, the issue of leaf storage quickly rose to the forefront of our minds. Some manufacturers even built storage areas within the table itself, but that kind of storage is limited. Instead, we took what we knew about proper leaf care and, after testing different prototypes, landed on a revolutionary piece of furniture so unique that it created a category of its own. The leaf storage. We designed this new piece of furniture to meet every requirement set in front of us. See the storage options.
No More Water Marks
If you’ve ever accidently left your glass of water on your coffee table without a coaster, you understand the frustration of lifting the glass and finding a white watermark stained on the wooden surface. You promise you won’t forget the coaster next time, but what if I told you remembering a coaster wasn’t necessary? With our furniture, it isn’t. We finish every piece of furniture with a water-resistant catalyzed conversion varnish to protect the grain from the marring effects of watermarks. Inside and out, front and back, even the parts unseen are protected against hard use and floods of water.
100% Solid Hardwood – No waste
Are you tired of searching for quality furniture, only to find most pieces include particle board or plywood in their construction? With our furniture, this is never an issue. We use solid hardwood in every inch of our furniture. Even scraps left over from the furniture making process are chopped up and fed into our furnace to heat our slow, air-drying kiln, enabling us to preserve the richness of our Black Walnut wood. The furnace also heats the woodshop, providing a comfortable atmosphere for our craftsmen.
“Chairs Under Stress”
Chairs take the prize for being the most used piece of furniture in your household. Whether you’re enjoying a meal around the kitchen table, working on math homework, or reaching for the cookie jar on the top shelf, the first thing you search for to aid your plight is a sturdy chair. No matter what your daily lifestyle looks like, you depend on chairs more than you realize. To ensure our chairs meet expectations, we make our chair rungs with eight sides. The eight-sided rung design is stronger and lasts longer than the more commonly available turned rungs. Each rung is precision sanded and properly sized to fit into a thick seat. So, the next time your guest leans back in their chair, you can enjoy the meal knowing you won’t be reaching for the wood glue for unexpected repairs. We even designed stackable chairs for ease of storage.
Guaranteed Quality – Craftsmanship Signed and Dated
We’ve talked a lot about quality, but how can we guarantee it? Many companies nowadays make use of assembly lines to manufacture their product at the fastest rate possible. While this assembly lines are great for efficiency, it often has its drawbacks. One of which is the downgrade of quality. We don’t believe in assembly lines where every person has one job and one job only. Each of our expert craftsman construct a piece from start to finish, paying close attention to every detail. Once finished, they pen their signature and the date of completion on a concealed section of the piece. You can rest assured that the piece you commissioned from us is of the highest quality possible.
Space Saving Extension Drawers
Drawers are a necessity included in nearly every piece of solid wood furniture, but have you ever pulled the drawer out to find an abundance of space behind it, unused and empty? That space is prime real-estate that you could be using, plus it quickly becomes a black hole, stealing your clothing to be lost for an eternity behind your drawers.
At Georges, you’ll never have to worry about unused space. Every drawer we make fills the space perfectly, giving you the most storage possible for that extra blanket, another pair of socks, or maybe even that candy you’ve been hiding from the kids since Easter. Even the bottoms of the drawers are 100% solid hardwood matching the outside of the cabinet. Whether drawers are in a dresser, nightstand, armoire, hall table, hutch or chest of drawers, the drawers will serve with strong heavy-duty full extension hardware for decades to come.
No Creaky Beds – Solid Headboard to Side Joints
Looking for a bed that’s truly one of a kind? Our custom designed handmade bed rooms are just what you need to take your sleep to the next level! Made from the finest solid hardwood and featuring strong hardware and bed slats, these beds are built to last a lifetime.
Remember those creaky sounds of the bed rails and floor boards as you try to quietly sneak out to the bathroom at midnight. How about that new king or queen mattress that requires extra support for their warranty to be maintained. Georges uses strong bed rail hardware to secure the solid wood side rails into the headboard and footboard. Two strong metal hooks feed into a metal plate giving the bed rail a secure fit. Each of the under bed slats are made out of strong oak 1 inch thick boards. The king and queen beds slats have a center support leg to hold the weight of a large mattresses. Explore our bedroom gallery.
Custom Design
We take pride in creating unique and beautiful furniture pieces that are tailored to your individual style and needs. Our skilled designers work closely with you to design and craft custom solid wood furniture. From rustic to modern styles, we bring your vision to life with exceptional attention to detail and craftsmanship. Our custom handcrafted furniture is not only beautiful but also functional, practical, and long-lasting. Whether you’re looking for a statement piece for your living room, entertainment suite or a custom dining table for your home, our team is dedicated to delivering a personalized experience that exceeds your expectations.
Choosing the Right Office Furniture
The shift from going to work or working from home has changed over the years. What are some items to consider when creating a functional space for home office or an executive suite. First measure your space. What size will best fit your space to move around. Will you entertain clients or small meetings? Each piece of office furniture is designed to fit the space and style while enduring years of hard use.
How to Clean & Care for Your Solid Wood Furniture
The finish used on all of Georges Furniture is a durable, catalyzed conversion varnish and the best we have found. No need for Coasters and a complete table cloth to cover and protect the table.
- Weekly Care – Use a damp cloth to wipe off the furniture. Use of duster spray is ok: however,
avoid sprays that contain wax because they may cause undesirable build-up to form on the finish.- Occasional Special Care – When you polish your solid wood furniture, or want to remove fingerprints, use a good grade furniture polish. We use Old English Lemon Oil. Guardsman is also good.
- See what things to avoid and what to do for dents and scratches. Here.
Come See for Yourself – Take our Wood Shop Tour
Come and explore a wood shop tour where solid wood furniture is made the old fashion way by hand, crafted by one craftsman. The furniture is custom made to your specifications, with 100% solid hard wood. Be amazed by the ability to share your unique ideas with talented designers and see your dreams come true. Enjoy years of quality as the natural grains of walnut, cherry oak and maple hardwood furniture serve and endure the rigors of home life. Our showrooms and woodworking shop display solid handmade heirlooms for browsing. Explore George’s difference in construction and protection of natural hardwood furniture. In the meantime, see for yourself by watching our wood shop in action. YouTube channel Our customer reviews.
by Juanita | Dec 2, 2022 | Entertainment Centers, Georges Difference, Hutch, Office
Hutches Exceeds Expectations
So, you’ve decided that you need storage space for your collection of silverware and fine dinning plates for special occasions. Hutches are a wonderful way to store your dinning essentials and display your fine china, keeping them safe until the entire family is over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. When the festivities are over, the dishes and silverware are cleaned and returned to the hutch for display until the next event. No matter your yearly customs, a hutch serves dutifully as a pivotal part of your dinning experience. With this much riding on one piece of furniture, it’s no secret that your hutch must be up to the task. Here are several ways George’s hutches soar above expectations.
100% Pennsylvania Hardwood
Every piece of furniture we make is sourced from 100% solid, Pennsylvanian hardwood. The freshly harvested logs are cut into board and dried, then delivered to our woodshop. Our craftsmen select the boards they need and refine them to precise measurements using a variety of machines ranging from small hand-sanders and routers to large planers and table-saws. Each craftsman follows a time-proven construction method to ensure their piece achieves unmatched strength and sturdiness.
Solid Hard Wood Backing
We construct the back of our hutches with the same hardwood used on the rest of the piece. Each back panel is connected together via a tongue and groove system to allow the wood to expand and contract while maintaining its strength. We also employ a method known as book matching to our back panels. In this method, a solid piece of wood is cut in half, opened up like a butterfly wing, with the opposing grains matched together to give a beautiful, transition from panel to panel. Backing explained video
Cove Crown – a Functional Part
To most manufacturers, the coved crown, the top rim of the hutch, curios and bookcases extends above the top and serves only to enhance the furniture’s appearance. We hate wasted space. To combat this issue, the roof of our cabinets meet the rim of the coved crown, turning that wasted space into functional storage. To finish it off, we fill in the small crevice between the cabinet roof and the coved crown with extra pieces of wood, giving the top a smooth, complete appearance, and making your chore of dusting a walk in the park. See Video of Cove Crown construction.
Solid Drawer Construction, Sturdy Hardware
Solid Hardwood drawer bottoms and sides. Signature and date written inside drawer.
Each drawer is constructed using all solid hardwood. Smaller pieces of wood from the table saw scrap pile are utilized and glued together to make the bottom and side of our drawers. See Video. Each drawer is constructed with high-quality, stainless-steel hardware. This ensures your drawers will endure day-to-day use and slide smoothly for decades to come.
Includes Curios, Bookcases, Entertainment Centers
The quality of craftsmen ship also extends into all cabinet construction such as Curios, Bookcases, and Entertainment centers. The use of all solid hardwood, coved crown design, water-resistant finish and signed/dated by craftsman is evident in each heirloom quality furniture made at George’s Furniture.
Another ingenious design, specific to our curio cabinets, is the inclusion of side doors. As an added bonus, our shelves also come with precut plate grooves, perfect for displaying your favorite platters.
Customize Your Way
Additionally, our hutches come in many different designs and storage arrangements to meet your needs. If you can’t find one that is exactly what you want, we will work with you to design your own custom piece. We work with customers on a regular basis to bring their vision to reality.
Need Storage Only – Try a Buffet
If you have no need for the extra display up top, perhaps a buffet is what you need. It provides the same storage and counter space as a hutch without occupying your entire wall. Custom tailor your hutch, buffet, corner cupboard, curio, dry sink, server, pie safe, or serving cart to meet your specific needs.
Walnut Blend on Table with clear water resistant finish repelling water.
Water-resistant Protection
Once your piece of furniture is completed, our dedicated master sprayer applies a catalyzed conversion varnish to every surface so you don’t have to worry about water marks distorting the beautiful grain you’ve grown to love. See Spraying video
Hidden Craftsman’s Signature and Date
Once your piece is complete, the craftsman signs and dates it. The signature can be found on the bottom of the top drawer on the right side of the hutch and on the back. This gives you the satisfaction of knowing your piece of furniture was built from start to finish by one master craftsman.
Whether you are looking for hutch, buffet or serving cart, check out Georges Furniture, where dreams come true. Visit our furniture store, out in the quiet countryside of Lancaster County and explore the abundant options of custom solid hardwood furniture designed to exceed your expectations for decades to come.
by Juanita | Aug 27, 2022 | Ava Lee's History Corner, Coffee End Table, customer experience, Forestry Management
Recently Carl and Chris Geeseman returned to our showroom after three decades of enjoying the furniture built by George. Like so many of our customers, they wanted to share the memories of George. The memories started back in the 1970’s. Carl worked for Highspire lumber yard. Lumber yard typically cut the trees in the forest and transport them to a sawmill. They are looking for straight long trees. A good veneer log needs to be clear of bark, metal, knots, and blemishes.
Forgotten hammer
Metal is a big concern for logs that come from a residential area where metal hardware, bullets or even a forgotten metal screwdriver, hammer or animal trap discarded in the fork of a tree. Each year the tree grows a metal object will become embedded into the wood and unable to be withdrawn. The metal object will leave a scar and their minerals will seep into the wood. Not only does metal scar the wood it destroys.
Scars and destroys
Along comes a saw blade, cuts through the metal, or goes around the hook and the expensive blade loses its teeth or even destroyed. Metal can shut down a sawmill resulting a loss of time and money. Bandsaw blades are 12 feet long and 1 ft wide. They are razor thin and thousands of dollars. Lumber jacks look at the outside bark for marks or scars that shows healing from metal objects or use metal detectors to find metal. Think twice before hooking a wash line, swing, or sign to a tree. They are alive and growing.
George’s treasure pile
Highspire lumber piled their cut offs like bark, knots, rotten wood etc. aside and sold the straight boards to their customers. George loved to come and rummage through the cut off pile looking for unique knots, grain twists, chain saw wedges, rotten tree butts and odd shaped pieces of wood for his next project. Walnut and cherry were his favorite. Some cross cuts turned into coffee tables, end tables, Lamp bases, or even crosscut critters (a crosscut with a hole in the middle from where the hollow tree healed itself.)
Filling the House
Carl and Chris Geeseman started their furniture collection in 1980’s with a table set, dry sink and hutch. Next a bedroom set. Later as the family grew it was time for the kids’ room, a single bed, dresser and child’s play table and chairs. Then another bed, chest of drawers and nightstands. Next it was dad’s turn with a nice rolltop desk with finished back and swivel desk chair. As the family grew so did the table. Time to order more table leaves.
Resourceful Brothers
During family get togethers Carl and his brother would haul their table leaves to the other’s house. Since both brothers had tables from George’s, the table leaves fit together nicely. A curious situation happened. I discovered a leaf storage box with two different colored table leaves in our shop. The two brothers completed their 8-leaf table set by ordering 4 leaves each. Now the hassle of loading up the table leaves in the car was no longer needed. All 29 people crowd around the table and enjoy the comfort of family. A fun game the Geeseman children play is lining up the little child’s chairs and playing school bus.
Sharing the quality
That is not all the furniture in the Geeseman household. 2 high chairs served the growing family. Chris said that their kids sat in the high chairs so long until they no longer fit in between the arms. Chris stopped using the high chairs when she got tired explaining to the kid’s friends why the kids still sat in high chairs. The high chairs have endured 3 kids, and 5 grandchildren. Other items like rocking chairs (child and adult), quilt rack, cradle, Jewelry box, benches and round end table found their way into the home. There is room for more. Maybe a new bed.
Explore, Watch and Design
Join the Geeseman family and many customers over the 50+ years in their experience with Georges fine craftsmen and quality handcrafted furniture. Everyone worked with our designers to create the perfect piece that meets every need and endures hard use of family and friends. Begin creating your unique living space, designed, and built right in Lancaster County, PA. Explore ideas on our website, watch the wood shop in action (YouTube) and see what possibilities await discovery.
In the mean time, we have created this handy checklist on how to spot high-quality furniture. Down the checklist here so you know what to avoid in your furniture shopping. An informed mind will bring great results.
Download your Guide to High-Quality Furniture
by Juanita | Mar 20, 2021 | Ava Lee's History Corner, customer experience, George's Furniture, Rocking Chairs
Rocking chairs are cherished for their comfortable, gentle rocking ability that calms the nerves of a hard day. Mothers enjoy their newborn babies as they rock them to sleep. This is the story of how the Dubiel family discovered George’s Rocker Recliner.
Rocker’s Lost battle
Dick and Lori Dubiel purchased a rocking chair their home. An unfortunate experience happened to their rocker. Their uncle was rocking comfortably, when the rocking chair lost its battle and broke. Looking through the phone book, Lori found George’s Woodcrafts (presently George’s Furniture)
and visited the store in Elizabethtown, PA, Lancaster County.
Customer Remembers
“My uncle rocked in my not so great rocking chair and as he pushed on the arms to get up, they broke off. I had seen George’s store in Elizabethtown so I went in to ask if he could reattach the arms. As I looked at George’s quality of work, I realized that I did not want him to see my broken chair. Instead, I went and ordered one of his rockers to replace the broken rocker. I wanted a good quality chair that would survive my two boys and George’s non tipping rocker was perfect. I purchased a rocker that George had on the floor.” -Lori Dubiel.
Quality Discovered
As a result of Dick and Lori’s rocking experience, they discovered George’s 
quality furniture. Their first furniture purchase was a walnut oval pedestal table set, dry sink and a crosscut stool. Once placing the order, the couple made small payments. However, as a surprise for his wife, Dick secretly placed additional money on their order. Lori’s mother joined into the fun and purchased her own rocking chair which she past unto her grandson. Five years later a corner hutch joined their collection.
Individual Attention to Detail
George loved to delivery his own furniture. The Dubiel’s remember their corner hutch delivery. Once the hutch was carefully placed in their room, George proceeded to checked all his furniture to be sure that no damage occurred during the Dubiel’s recent move. Years later, the Dubiels moved to South Carolina but remain in contact through George’s monthly newsletter. Discover George’s solid wood furniture in Lancaster County PA today.
