Traditional materials

And Mission to modern styles

Beautiful designs

from beautiful wood

Hand measured

(twice, when I'm smart)

Bird's eye maple and mahogany writing desk with drawer

Fine wood furniture

That belongs in your home

Hand sanded

So it feels as good as it looks

Furniture

Frames

Pictures or Tiles

Lamps

Subheading

Welcome to Dragonfly Meadows

I have a dream of a meadow with a brook at the edge, my father fishing, dragonflies humming, all the dogs of my life playing, and my family together. That's the inspiration for the name. Reading about not only the furniture and designs of the Arts and Crafts movement, but the philosophy...that's the inspiration for the furniture, even the modern styles. Beauty without excess, allowing the wood to show through, useful, simple, yet extraordinary. I hope you'll enjoy looking at, touching, and using our products as much as I enjoy making them.

Matthew Bird, an outstanding teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design, shared this philosophical thought of the Shakers:
Do not make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both, do not hesitate to make it beautiful.

I hope that philosophy successfully guides my hand.

Designed in House

To beautify your home

A little something about the woods we use...

Oak

For Arts and Crafts style pieces in particular, we use white oak (quercus alba), quartersawn when possible, although supply line difficulties or design may require other than quartersawn occasionally. We value it for its strength and beauty, as well as its traditional roots (ha! Get it? Roots? I crack me up). With a natural finish, it’s a light golden wood. We’ll generally fume traditional Arts and Crafts pieces with ammonia to produce the darker tone characteristic of furniture from this time period.

Maple

A beautiful, light-colored wood, both sugar and red maple (acer saccharum and acer rubrum) may be used. Although dramatic figure may be available in many woods, we probably see it most frequently in maple, either as curly maple or bird’s eye maple. We also occasionally see mineral stains or interesting grain patterns that add character to a plank. Finishes generally give a slightly warmer hue.

Cherry

Warm toned and golden reddish brown in color, black cherry (prunus serotina) darkens gradually with exposure to light. Even with the use of UV blocking finishes, the wood will tend to darken, so it’s best to take this into consideration when furnishing with cherry. The fine texture and lovely grain make cherry a favorite.

Walnut

In the United States, we’re talking black walnut (juglans nigra) as opposed to English walnut (juglans regia). The dark brown hue of this wood lends an apparent weight to furniture made of walnut, despite the fact that it’s not truly a very heavy material. It can be pretty variable in color, which can be used to beautiful effect. As hardwoods go, though, it’s not actually very hard and can bruise more easily than sugar maple or white oak.

Mahogany

True Cuban mahogany (swietenia mahogani) is nearly extinct, but a variety of other woods have taken its place under the name mahogany. American or Honduran mahogany (swietenia macrophylla) and African mahogany (khaya ivorensis) have largely replaced it. Generally a darker red-brown than black cherry, it may
even be characterized as having a slightly orange cast to the brown wood. Fairly dark when finished, but lighter in tone than walnut, it may get even darker with exposure to light, but the difference is more subtle than with cherry.

Other woods

Sometimes, I may use other more exotic woods, like leopardwood, wenge, bloodwood, or whatever catches my eye at the lumberyard. Sometimes this works out beautifully, and sometimes an exotic find blows to pieces on the lathe… When it works out, you’ll see some lovely and unusual pieces on the website. Check back regularly to see what we have!