Workshop Blog

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
In the Birdhouse

We were recently asked if we would build a special birdhouse for Habitat for Humanity of Maine, 7 Rivers.  They have a gala event coming up on September 15th called The First Annual Habitat for Humanity Builds for the Birds. At the event there will be an auction of birdhouses crafted by local artists and craftspeople as well as several dozen that have been decorated by local youth.

Of course we said YES.

Bill took on this project personally. His custom birdhouse design is crafted of rings of cherry wood, cut with our CNC router and set together in a stepped fashion. There is plenty of room for a bird family inside as the house is "stepped out" on both sides.

The Birdhouse Auction will be held at The Winter Street Center, 880 Winter Street in Bath, Maine. The silent auction begins at 5:30 and the live auction begins at 6:40. There will be hors d'oeuvres and entertainment until 7:30.

For more information on the Birdhouse Auction and Gala Event, visit Habitat for Humanity website. There is a link there to preview some of the birdhouses too. We wish HfH 7 Rivers a very successful event!

Monday, August 9th, 2010
St. Paul's School

Bill and Saer returned on Friday from a week in Maryland, delivering and installing new furniture at St. Paul's School. This project began in our workshop back in December and with a due date of early August, we were able to schedule the work around other projects, filling in quiet times with this large order. It was a luxury we don't always have.

The order consisted of 25 study tables of various sizes, a conference table, 9 classroom tables, over 100 chairs, several occasional and cafe tables, end panels and tops for book stacks and various other pieces such as atlas stands and periodical displays.

It was a great pleasure to work with the team at St. Paul's School. The Director of Technology at the school, Susan, came to our showroom/workshop a handful of times to see our work and meet with us in person. It's always a special pleasure when we have the opportunity to show new clients what we are all about, tour them through the shop and introduce them to the artisans that will be building their new furniture. That personal connection is what we are all about - well, of course there's also the beautiful furniture.

Below are some images of the finished furniture in place at St. Paul's School; a lovely site, beautiful building and wonderful showcase for our work.


 

Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Dining Table Sale!

DINING TABLE SALE!

August 2-14, 2010

All dining tables 15% OFF!

Have you been coveting a Huston & Company dining table? Already have one picked out from our catalog or website? Want us to design one especially for you?
Well NOW is the time!

All dining tables are 15% Off!

Includes all standard designs in our catalog and on our website
Includes all showroom sample dining tables (usually sold at 10% off)
Includes all new orders for custom designed dining tables

Does not include delivery

And for our Facebook Friends: an additional 5% OFF!
"LIKE" our page on Facebook and receive an additional 5% discount!


 

Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Huston in the Kitchen

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, we were invited to be a part of the filming of The Chef’s Kitchen during the Fine Living Festival here in Kennebunkport in June.

Hear Bill and Saer Huston describe what makes Huston & Company unique in an exclusive video interview. This video was filmed as part of an episode of The Chef’s Kitchen during the Fine Living Festival in Kennebunkport in June 2010.

Our connection with The Chef’s Kitchen is twofold. Two years ago we were asked to build a custom cabinet for the set of the show. The resulting piece of furniture has become one of our favorites and is featured in our catalog: The Horn Cabinet.  It has a very specific arrangement of storage spaces and commercial casters so it can be moved around the set easily.

This spring, as the planning for the Fine Living Festival was well under way, and we had agreed to be the Exclusive Furniture Maker of the festival, we learned that episodes of The Chef’s Kitchen were to be filmed during the festival. We were contacted again by the creator of the show and asked if we could work out a connection between the festival, Huston & Company and the show. The film crew was here in our showroom and workshop for a morning, getting the full scope of Huston & Company, and then Bill and Saer were on set for an interview the following day. A few of our tables were on-set for the filming and tastings during the show.

The full episode, including the interview with Bill and Saer has been completed and will begin airing this week. See the schedule below for program times and channels.

We have included a portion of the show here that focuses on Huston & Company.  We are excited about it, and hope you enjoy watching. And feel free to share.

Click the link below to view the video.
The Chef’s Kitchen

The Chef’s Kitchen schedule:
On the Road with the Fine Living Festival:  “Ziti with Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Lobster, Corn and Sweet Red pepper Cakes, Fashion Show, Huston & Company Interview”

THE COMCAST NETWORK
Mid-Atlantic and Southern areas of the country
Tuesday, July 20, 2010; 5:00PM

WCAU-TV(10.2) NBC
Philadelphia area, digital tier (Comcast Channel 248)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010; 6:00PM

ONN CABLE
Ohio News Network - Ohio and Indiana
Friday, July 23, 2010; 10:30AM

WPXT-TV (12) CW
Maine and New Hampshire
Monday, July 19, 2010

NECN
New England
Saturday, July 17, 2010; 11AM

Thursday, July 8th, 2010
American Library Association Annual Meeting

We recently exhibited our library and academic furniture at the annual meeting of the American Library Association (ALA). It’s a very large meeting, with tens of thousands of visitors and the exhibit hall was packed with hundreds of exhibitors of all kinds; from publishers to archival data retrieval systems to “meet the author” events. And of course, library furniture.

Huston & Company was “the shop on the corner” with our booth perfectly situated, amidst all that traffic.

We spoke with many, many librarians, architects, interiors professionals, school administrators and facilities planners, many of whom were seeing our work for the first time.

It was a great show. We came home with pages and pages of new contacts. These will keep me very busy in the coming weeks.

Monday, June 28th, 2010
Visiting Princeton

The academic furniture that we build is typically designed for public spaces, or private offices: student centers, admissions offices, libraries, administrative offices. It’s not very often that we are asked to build bedroom and living room furniture for our college and university clients.

We recently had an opportunity to build furnishings for some faculty areas at Princeton University, including a Visiting Professor’s apartment. The request was for furniture that is fresh and modern, unadorned and yet strong and substantial.

We were very pleased with the results, as were our clients at Princeton. We took a few pictures as we completed the installation.

And after the space was occupied, we received this image of the full shelves. Look at all those books!

Monday, June 21st, 2010
June Happenings and WIN A HUSTON COAT TREE!

FINE LIVING FESTIVAL
Along with getting our new website up and running, we were also busy as the official Fine Furniture Makers of the Fine Living Festival here in Kennebunkport. Soirees and receptions and fabulous dinners by the region’s top chefs; I said we were busy, I didn’t say we weren’t having fun. Our furniture was on display at each of the main venues of the festival, and Bill Huston was out and about enjoying the festival and meeting and greeting visitors. Many of those visitors were customers and friends of Huston & Company and it was great to see them all enjoying such a beautiful event.

CHEF’S KITCHEN
During the Fine Living Festival, we also had an opportunity to be a featured sponsor of a segment of The Chef’s Kitchen, which airs Saturdays at 11am on NECN. The Chef’s Kitchen film crew visited our shop and showroom, and Bill Huston visited the set at the Chase Hill Events and Conference Center, where they filmed an episode related to the festival.

We don’t know exactly when our feature episode will run, but you can be sure we’ll tell you as soon as we find out so you can tune in!  The Chef’s Kitchen can also be seen on several other television stations, and on the internet in many formats. To learn more, visit The Chef’s Kitchen.

RIVER TREE ARTS EXHIBIT
Throughout the month of June, see Huston & Company furniture on display in an exhibit titled Dedicated to Design and Function: Furniture, Sculpture and Art for Fine Living. The show, held at River Tree Arts on Western Avenue in Kennebunk, combines the work of Bill Huston and Huston & Company with sculpture and textile art. We had a very successful exhibit opening early in the month.  The show runs through June 26th.

HOMESPACE
In addition to all of that, you can also visit some of our furniture at Homespace, a part of The Maine Art Gallery in Kennebunk. Our New Haven Bed is on display through June 26th, along with several other furniture pieces exhibited in a room-like setting.

WIN A HUSTON COAT TREE!
In conjunction with our exhibit at River Tree Arts, we are holding a drawing for a Cherry Huston & Company Coat Tree. All proceeds benefit River Tree Arts.

Drawing to be held June 26.

Tickets:             $5 each
                         $20 for 5

To purchase tickets in person:
Visit the Huston & Company showroom or River Tree Arts

To purchase tickets via phone or email:
Huston & Company: 207-967-2345, huston@hustonandcompany.com

Huston & Company will deliver to the winner, within the Kennebunks, free of charge.
For all other delivery/shipping destinations, charges are the responsibility of the winner.

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
A New Site for Huston & Company

Welcome, everyone, to our brand new website and blog. We are very excited to share our new look with you.

We teamed up with Kevin Brooks and Matt Ludwig for the design, development and creative. Kevin and Matt steered us through the labyrinth that is website design knowledgably, methodically and with only gentle prodding. We are very grateful for their help and wisdom, and for our new site.

We hope you will take a few minutes to explore the three main sections of the site: For Your Home, Academic and Library, Corporate and Small Business. You will find images of furniture and projects, information about working with Huston & Company, links and contact information. Don’t forget to click on the links to Facebook and Twitter too, and register to follow us and become a fan of Huston & Company.

With the new site, we also developed this, our new blog. Please sign up to automatically receive our posts. We will use the blog to share events and projects with you, and to update you on current work in our workshop.

We hope you enjoy our new site, and welcome any comments you would like to share.

Best wishes,
Huston & Company