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| My name is Lary Shaffer. I am the owner of Scarborough Marsh Fine Furniture. My cozy woodshop is in the coastal Maine woods near tidal Scarborough Marsh. |
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I make a wide variety of custom furniture but for the last few years I have invested much of my time in designing and building traditional Morris chairs. While there are many makers of the bold and square Mission syle of Morris chair, I am one of the very few makers of the other sort, which is sometimes called the "traditional" Morris chair. These chairs have an interesting story.
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I am pleased and proud to say that I was comissioned to build two Morris chairs for the restoration of Franklin Roosevelt's former dorm rooms at Harvard. The resoration group kindly let me put a little piece about these chairs on their blog. The picture to the right shows those two chairs in the FDR Suite at Harvard. There is more about the chairs on the current FDR blog front page down at the 12 March 2010 entry. |
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The Morris chair, named for British designer William Morris (1834-1896), embodies the Morris philosophy of practical and honest design that emphasizes shapes found in nature. In America this movement even took a moral tone: the possession of well-made furniture was the hallmark of a virtuous person. Hundreds of thousands of these chairs were made by individuals and factories in America a hundred years ago. The paradigmatic traditional Morris chair has a wooden frame featuring serpentine shapes on the arms and the legs. The sides contain a set of turned spindles.The back adjusts to four or more different angles and the chair has boxy upholstered cushions.
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The Morris chair that I have created is intended to be a tribute to the tradition of the time-honored motif. In the design process, I made a detailed study of scores of antique traditional Morris chairs. I want my chair to be a return to the signature style and classic simplicity of these great pieces of American furniture. |
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Many of the American Morris chairs from the early part of the last century were designed to come apart for shipping. I have continued this tradition. The front and back stretchers of my chair are attached to the sides with forged steel mortised bed-iron type fittings. These enable the chair to be taken apart or assembled without special tools. This is not only an advantage in shipping. People on the move can take the chairs apart for easy relocating to another home. |
The fabric cushions for my chair are made by another quality-oriented small business in Scarborough that can be contacted at Window Opportunities. These custom made cushions are beautiful. We have a wide choice of upholstery fabrics available from Greenhouse Design . I tend to use botanical designs on the fabrics of the chairs I make for my own house. The original Morris fabrics often depicted elements from nature. The choice is yours however, and we will do anything we can to try to help you find fabric that will compliment your decor.
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| I am now able to offer leather cushions as an option. They are made by local Maine leather crafters Tim Conn and Bonnie Killion at Kilconn creations: www.kilconncreations.com in Biddeford Maine. They have lots of experience with leather on antique Morris chairs. You should certainly contact them if you are seeking new leather cushions for an antique Morris chair. They seem to be able to make anything out of leather and do lovely work. |  |
Current Prices for my Morris chairs |
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The price of my chair and the optional ottoman can be affected by the cost of the upholstery fabric or wood. I can use many different species of wood: your choice. The following sample prices can be used as a guide for the cost of a chair including upholstered foam cushions with many of the upholstery fabrics from Greenhouse Design. Prices do not include shipping or 5% Maine Tax. Chair in white ash: $1650.00, Ottoman: $300.00 Chair in white oak: $1750.00, Ottoman: $310.00 Chair in cherry or quarter sawn white oak: $1950.00, Ottoman: $320
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| For a softer feel on the back and seat cushions, you may choose the option of having cushions containing down as part of the filling. These cushions have a soft foam core, surrounded by down. The reason for this hybrid construction is that the cushions will hold their shape. They will not collapse and continually need to be fluffled, as they would if they contained only down. For the down-and-foam hybrid cushions add $185.00 to the price guides above. The price of leather can range very widely. Plan to add about $300 to the total cost for leather cushions. Contact me and I will work with you to determine what extra cost the leather may add to your chair. |
I can pack up your chair and ship it almost anywhere. Knocked down, it will fit in a box that is three feet by two feet by two feet. As an example for weight, a chair made of white oak with all its parts and cushions weighs about 50 lbs. This box can be shipped UPS or, if you have a Greyhound station near you, it can be shipped Greyhound Express. Greyhound is cheaper but the box will have to be picked up at the Greyhound Station. They will not deliver to the door. You can go to the webistes of UPS or Greyhound to get a quote for shipping or I will be happy to do it for you. |
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Want a Morris chair made especially for you? It will last a lifetime and more. It is likely to become your favorite chair. Contact me and let's talk about it: Scarborough Marsh Fine Furniture 10 Mayflower Drive Scarborough, ME 04074 (207) 885-9433 |
Come to Maine to pick up your chair and I will throw in a lobster. |
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