We started because of one badly made chair

In 1998 my mother returned a $2,000 armchair after four days. It looked beautiful. She could not get out of it without help, and nobody in the showroom had thought to mention the seat height.

A joiner marking a length of pale timber with a pencil and square, shavings across the bench.

What we learned in the first year

We assumed the problem was cheap furniture. It was not. Some of the worst pieces we tested were the most expensive ones. The problem was that nobody measured the things that matter and nobody printed them.

So we started measuring. Seat height, arm rigidity, seat depth, cushion density, the force needed to stand. We put those numbers on every listing and we have never taken them off. When a manufacturer will not tell us a figure, we buy the piece and measure it ourselves.

Twenty-eight years on, the test is unchanged: could someone use this comfortably, unassisted, at seventy-five? Roughly two thirds of what we sample fails.

A grey-bearded maker in a workshop apron standing among shelves of finished pieces.

Who actually makes it

Our upholstered frames are built by four workshops: two in North Carolina, one in Vermont, one in County Cork. Raised beds and benches are milled in Oregon from FSC-certified western red cedar. Hand tools are forged in Sheffield, England, to a pattern that has not changed since 1962 because it did not need to.

Nothing on this site is drop-shipped. Every piece has been sat in, planted in, or dug with by somebody on our team before it went up for sale.

Ask us anything about a piece

Warranty, returns, and the small print

Written out in full, because burying this is how companies avoid honouring it.

90-day trial
Use it properly — sit in it every evening, plant a full season in it. If you return it within 90 days we refund the purchase and pay the return shipping, furniture included. No restocking fee, no photographs required.
12-year frame warranty
Covers every hardwood frame, joint, spring system and raised-bed panel against failure in normal domestic use. Registered automatically at checkout.
3-year fabric and foam
Covers seam failure, zip failure and cushion collapse beyond 15% of original height.
Delivery and assembly
Free over $499 anywhere in the lower 48. Two-person room-of-choice delivery on all furniture, including unpacking and removing the packaging. Assembly is included at no charge — you should never be on the floor with an Allen key.
What we do with your details
We use them to fulfil your order and to call you back if you ask us to. We do not sell them, and we do not add you to a mailing list unless you tick the box.
A bright sunroom with a round table, spindle-back chairs and potted figs along a wall of windows.

Not sure what fits? Talk to a person.

Book a free thirty-minute consultation. We measure your room or your yard with you, tell you plainly what will work, and put swatches in the mail the same afternoon.

  • Thirty minutes, by phone or video — whichever you prefer
  • Free fabric and wood swatches, posted to you
  • We will tell you when a piece is wrong for you
Shop now Call us