Greg Aanes Furniture
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  • Info Home
  • FURNITURE CATALOG
    • Beds
    • Barstools
    • Casework
    • Desks and Desk Chairs
    • Dining Tables
    • Smaller and Occasional Tables
    • Seating
    • Serving Tables
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • About Us
    • Faces
  • Contact
  • Particulars
    • Hardwoods
    • Working Together
    • Seat Coverings
    • Seat Covering Size, Orientation and Considerations
    • Drawings
    • Shipping
    • Utility

How Do We Measure the Height of Our Seating?

5/26/2017

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We refer to the standard seat height on our chairs as 18”. Just as a 2x4 is actually 1-1/2 x3-1/2”, our 18” seat height is actually 17 3/4”. Seat Height is always measured to the top edge of the seat as shown in the diagrams below.

Well designed seating has a slope into the chair so that the front of the seat is about 1/2” higher than the back. Without any slope, the sitter may feel like they are sliding off of the chair. We do not adjust this measurement.
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Based on our thirty five years of designing and building chairs we have found that 1/2” or less difference between seat heights is not meaningful, which may be observed while measuring the thousands of differing chairs in our world.
 
Here is a more detailed breakdown of our height measurements:
  • If the seat is wood, then this height is 17-11/16” +-1/8”, measured to the top edge of the front corner of the seat.
  • If the seat is a cushion then the floor to top of cushion measurement is 18-1/4” +-1/8”,  measured to the absolute top of the cushion at the front. Do not measure the waterfall or round over edge. Sight directly across the top plane of the seat. The cushion will compress at a differential rate depending on the size and weight of the person, and compresses further into the webbing.
  • Felt feet add an additional 3/8” the the seat height.
  • Plastic Glides add an additional 1/4” to the seat height.
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People Like You Run the Country

5/19/2017

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​When most people think about business owners they’re thinking about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, or some other flashy high-powered CEO. This image of the high-powered CEO simply isn’t reality for the vast majority of business owners across America. Most business owners are people like you who took something they loved and ran with it.
 
Small businesses constitute 99.7% of all employer firms in the United States. These businesses make up over 66% percent of all newly created jobs. These businesses are run by passionate people who decided to pursue the things in life that they care the most about. Greg Aanes did exactly that in 1981 when he founded Greg Aanes Furniture.
 
I’ve only worked here for two months, and in that time I’ve seen and learned more about the reality of running a small business than I could have possibly imagined. Yes, once you choose to strike out and start your own business much of your time will be taken up with the actual running of the company; but there will still be time to pursue the passion which got you to this point in the first place.
 
For at least an hour every day Greg makes sure to go down into the shop and work on making the furniture he loves. It isn’t all fun and games of course. Without going into the shop and keeping everything running in the shop, the business simply wouldn’t operate as smoothly. He loves to do it, but it’s also necessary.
 
Most successful businesses aren’t run by people who sit in a high-rise office building disconnected from the roots of their business. Most businesses are run by people who still go into the shop and put together a rocking chair. Because it’s necessary, because they love it. These are the people who run the country. People like Greg, people like you, who have a passion and chose to pursue it. Chase after your passions, it worked for Greg, and it can work for you.
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The Woods We Use and Why We Use Them.

5/5/2017

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​Wood isn’t just wood; every wood has different properties. Every wood we use has been selected for its color, weight, and durability to make sure that we are using the best woods possible for our furniture.
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Cherry
American Black Cherry has been a staple of American woodworking for hundreds of years. Sourced from Pennsylvania Plateau, this close-grained hardwood’s reddish color actually deepens in color with age. The structure of the wood makes it ideal for crafting furniture which will stand the test of time.

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​Mahogany
Sapele Mahogany is an African wood which has a fine interlocking grain. Similar in hardness to Cherry, Sapele is much harder than other variants of Mahogany, making it the best choice for making furniture. Almost completely rot and decay resistant, Sapele can be used in a wide variety of environments, holding its form and color in the toughest of conditions.

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​Rock Maple
Frequently referred to as Sugar Maple or Hard Maple, this wood from the northeast corner of North America is denser than other maple variants. This wavy grained wood lacks the figuring that our Figured Western Maple has. Excellent for making maple syrup, Rock Maple’s density makes it more durable than other types of maple.

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​Figured Western Maple
Also called Broadleaf Maple this species can grow up to 120 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter. Sourced here in the Pacific Northwest this wood was vital to the First Nation peoples in the area, using it for carving, cooking, and a variety of other purposes. Today this wood is used for its durability, grain patterns, and excellent color.

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​Walnut
Black Walnut is a wood from Michigan and Wisconsin famous for its deep dark color. If kept in a sunny location this wood medium-grained wood retains its gorgeous color and figure for generations. Walnut’s color retention, when coupled with its extreme resistance to rot, make it ideal for crafting furniture which will last for years to come.

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​White Oak
This Eastern North American wood is a central part of American culture. The state tree of Connecticut, Illinois, and Maryland White Oak has a shorter straight and coarse grain and is incredibly durable. Called White Oak due to the occasional tree with truly white bark this tree usually has a more grey color to its bark, and a light brown color to its wood.

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​Bubinga
Sourced from West Africa this wood gives furniture some of the best color out of any of the woods we sell. Deep red in color, with highlights ranging from deep purple to golden orange this wood never fails to make a gorgeous piece of furniture. Bubinga doesn’t just have amazing color - it’s also one of the densest woods we sell, meaning that furniture made from it will last for years.

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​Mango
This Hawaiian wood is one of the softer woods we sell. Its strongest feature lay in Mango’s aesthetics; the dark “lightning bolt” patterns coupled with the yellow, black, or even pink highlights on the golden wood give Mango an exotic look incomparable to anything else we sell. Dense enough to create long lasting furniture this wood is the ideal wood for our Brendan Rocker.

Throughout years of trying out every available wood, these eight are the ones which have worked best. Figuring out which woods make the best furniture has not been an easy process; we previously carried woods like Beech and Cascade Maple, eventually realizing that they simply don't produce furniture of the same quality as the woods we use today. Having top-tier woods is a necessity for us - we make the best furniture at Greg Aanes Furniture, and the woods we use have to reflect that.
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    Written by Greg.

    Founder and Owner of Greg Aanes Furniture

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Showroom-Office
​2109 Queen Street
Bellingham, Washington 98229
1+360.389.2714 US
​1+604.670.0502 Canada


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​The Shop
​2115 Queen Street
Bellingham, Washington 98229
1+360.389.2714



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