Actually, from now, until the end of next month, all kinds of boxes will be opening.  In fact, I guess that it’s pretty accurate to say that we’re entering the official box-opening season.  Just for starters, there are all of the silverware boxes, cedar chests, and oak chests, from which people will be retrieving their table services and holiday napery.  Beyond those wooden storage boxes, however, millions of people will be digging into gift boxes, before the end of the year.

Naturally, most will be giving, as well as receiving, at least, one of those boxes, which, you can bet, will be as carefully chosen as the presents that they will hold.  On the other hand, in many instances, boxes will be given as gifts; and they will be deeply appreciated and cherished, perhaps, for decades to come.  Some of the timeless favorites include cedar chests, cherry chests, jewelry boxes, jewelry chests, steamer trunks, and armoires.

There’s no denying the significance of boxes; after all, they play very special roles in our lives.  Not only can they be among our most prized possessions, but they are often charged with storing, and protecting, some of our best-loved belongings.  Usually, the things that we entrust to them are irreplaceable keepsakes, such as family photographs, quilts, precious holiday ornaments, special linens, laces, and tablecloths, silverware, and jewelry, which become heirlooms, and, along with the storage boxes, are passed down through the generations.

Indeed, it has been this way for thousands of years, as, throughout the centuries, every known society has placed great importance, and high values, on all sorts of boxes.  These have been made in all sizes, from prayer boxes, which were small enough to be worn as necklaces, to cedar chests and trunks that were large enough to be used for storing household goods.

Boxes have also been constructed from an endless variety of materials, including stone, wood, marble, gold, silver, copper, steel, porcelain, and crystal.  They have been carved, etched, engraved, inscribed, and decorated with beads, jewels, shells, pearls, precious metals, ivory, and symbols of every description.  Some of these special boxes have been – and continue to be – the focal points of holiday, family, religious, and secular traditions.

As far back as ancient Egypt, wooden chests were used for storing jewels, gold, documents, and other important assets.  In Europe, it was common for craftsmen, using whole trees, to carve one-piece chests that were used to safeguard valuables.

In early America, when cellars were dank, and closets were non-existent, the colonists used chests made of cedar for storing blankets, linens, clothes, and whatever scarce items of finery that they owned.  Since it was also rare to find a chair, the chests served as benches, too.  Truly, these chests were so essential to the households that, according to the logs of several ships that brought settlers to America, they were, frequently, the only possessions that families brought with them.  In later years, that was also the case with many pioneers who were traveling west.

Of course, there was a period in which the cedar chest was commonly referred to as the “hope chest.”  According to the customs of the time, it would be given to a young woman, as a place to keep linens, blankets, tablecloths, towels, quilts, and other things that would be necessary for starting a household when she got married.  Fortunately, however, that tradition has long since faded.

So today, women, and men, are free to use their cedar chests and steamer trunks for storage, or as attractive home accents, without any crazy expectations.

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

Get 15% off plus FREE SHIPPING on all of our cedar chests, trunks, and toy boxes.  Perfect for the holidays!  Just enter Chest02 at the check out!

Now that November is here, things are really getting serious.  The Christmas commercials have already started to air (unfortunately), and, from here on out, everything is going to be about the holidays.  In just a few weeks, it will be Thanksgiving, and, in all probability, you’ll be getting ready for that; but, before you can relax and enjoy your turkey dinner, you’ll have to make sure that your home is prepared to deal with the cold weather ahead.

Of course, this includes its interior, exterior, and landscape.  Indeed, even though there’s not much heavy gardening to do, there are a few outdoor chores, including some yard work, left to be accomplished.  So, dig your thick, warm sweater out of the closet or cedar chest, get back into the crisp, invigorating air, and finish those tasks before it’s too late.

Actually, even if you live in an area that’s facing a harsh winter, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re completely finished with planting.  As long as the ground is not frozen, you can still plant the spring-flowering bulbs of crocuses, tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths.  You can also put in some trees and shrubs now, so that their roots will have a chance to establish themselves before spring.  Just remember to cover the trunks of saplings, and other tender trees, with paper tree wrap, before the end of the month.

If you’re going to transplant any shrubs, plants, or trees, such as azaleas or rhododendrons, excavate their new holes before you take them out of the ground.  Make them roomy enough to give the plants plenty of space to grow; and when you dig them up, extract large root balls that include as much of their root systems as possible.  Replant them right away, using a blend of the existing soil, along with healthy doses of compost, peat moss, and transplanting fertilizer.  Stake taller plants and trees, until their roots become steadfast; otherwise, they may be toppled by strong winds.

You can prune the vines on your grape arbors, after they’ve gone dormant; and any climbing vines, roses, or berries, should be secured firmly to their trellises, so that they won’t be whipped around by gusty winds.  If you’re planning to move things around next year, this is also a good time to sketch out a fresh garden design, and to put in new garden structures, such as trellises, arbors, and pergolas.

Another way to ensure that you’ll be prepared for next year is to clean, sharpen, and oil your garden tools.  Besides having your lawnmower’s blades sharpened, have its oil changed, bolts tightened, and other parts inspected and/or cleaned.  Use a file on trowels, hoes, clippers, and shovels, and a whetstone on pruning shears, then coat the metal parts with penetrating oil; and apply heavier oil to any moving components.  Sand rough spots on wood handles, and then rub them lightly with some linseed oil.

It’s also time to put your patio furniture into the garage or storage shed for the winter.  However, if you don’t have a large enough storage area, protect your porch swings, patio chairs, and picnic tables, with outdoor furniture covers.  Just make sure that they have heavy-duty ties that can endure even the fiercest winds.  Remember, you’re tucking them in for a long, winter’s nap.

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

We are so excited to have Pat Sloan guest posting on our blog today! Pat Sloan has been creating since she was a child.  From the first shoebox dioramas to sketches for a fabric line, there has always been creative energy flowing.  When she tried her hand at quilting in 1985, she never looked back.  Now, owner and founder of the quilting design and publishing company Pat Sloan & Co., she has published over 20 books, more than 100 patterns, nearly 10 fabric lines, and has had her work featured in major quilt magazines.

Pat first began sharing her knowledge through her publications, workshops, and lectures, but as expanded her reach through social media.  She has built quilting yahoo groups, forums, facebook communities, and even the group “Quilters in Second Life” for quilting enthusiasts using the popular virtual world, Second Life.  Also interested in beading, painting, and paper crafting, Pat’s overall passion has always been to help others harness their creative energy.

Today, we posted tips for creating a sewing and crafting studio on her blog.  So, she perused out site for what she would use to decorate it!

I’m so excited to be asked to guest blog today on CedarStore.com!  This summer I was part of the Kathy Peterson “Create your own Adirondack Chair” Designer challenge. The challenge was not only fun to do but really showed how easy it is to create your very own CedarStore.com Adirondack chair to fit your decorating style. We had some really amazing chairs come out of the challenge. Mine sits on my front porch and is the official porch visitor chair!

I thought it would be super fun to tell I would ‘Decorate’ that new ‘pool house studio‘ that is over on my blog today.. you know. The BIG ONE! I need lots of great stuff in my studio so I can design and sew and store a few things.

First I’d have to have a nice sitting area. I’ll use it to entertain guests. I’ll sit there to design quilts, and it will be a great place to take a coffee break and read my favorite blogs.  I’ll choose this wicker seating for my studio. I love that the set has a matching love seat, table and extra chair. I think I can do amazing designing in this! Plus I can have friends over to stitch … sweet!

This stack of quilts is currently in my dining room and they really need to be ’shown off’ properly.

I’ll add a Quilt Rack in the corner with my newest quilts displayed.  I’d pick a dark stain to go with the seating area, don’t you think that will look nice?

But you know there are more quilts than on the chair. And of course I have quilts in progress too.

So I think I’ll add a cedar chest to the studio. My living room and dining room are mission style, so I’d like this mission style chest in case I want to move it into the house someday.

Now I need to fix up the functioning part of the studio. A desk for the Sewing machine and maybe another for cutting fabric. CedarStore.com has a ton of table ideas but this one is nice and compact. It is their potting table. I think sewing machine on one table and another for cutting will work out great!

We always need more storage right? I think this classy Cedar Buffet will work for an ironing station and storage, plus I could put an inspiration board on it.. what do you think?

They also have some great Red cedar drawers. You can build your own unit to fit what works for you.  I have a lot of wool and this arrangement would be fabulous for storing it.

The drawers will be perfect for the fabric I now have in baskets. The best part is that you can build it to suit your exact needs, love that!

And of course I’d need a beautiful fan for my studio! I’ve been in love with ceiling fans and have never owned one, so I do think my ‘fantasy studio’ will have a fan like this.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how a Quilter would use CedarStore.com items to build a fantasy studio! Please come over to my blog and see how easy it is to create that studio. Then sign up for my newsletter at my website and join me at Facebook!

Sure, we’re all about outdoor furniture and outdoor living.  However, millions of people have enclosed their porches, patios, gazebos, and decks, in order to bring the outdoors inside.  At the same time, millions more have brought the indoors outside, by turning their yards into virtual outdoor living rooms; and many people have done both.

 More than simply blurring the line between the indoors and the outdoors, this trend has, in many cases, made it all but indistinguishable.  Even so, we haven’t lost sight of it; and that’s why we make furniture that can easily walk that line (hey, it’s got legs, right?).  In fact, it’s so cooperative and agreeable that it can even make your life simpler.  It fits into all of your plans and schemes (uh, design plans and color schemes, that is), and a lot of it is elegant enough to be used in any room in the house.     

 Also willing to work year-round, our patio furniture will come inside and lend a hand – or, in this case, an arm, a leg, or a seat – during this hectic holiday season.  Even when your house is overflowing with guests, they won’t feel slighted – in the slightest – if you seat them at our cherry patio dining set, teak party collection, oak bar set, or any of our polywood, red cedar, or aluminum outdoor dining tables.  They’ll also enjoy relaxing on our gorgeous synthetic wicker chairs, sofas, or loveseats, which feature thick, comfortable furniture cushions.  We also have many pieces, such as our Red Cedar Teagan Table, and our Shea Buffet, that are perfect for holding food, beverages, and hors d’oeuvres. 

 Our products also ease holiday stress by making great gifts.  Besides our wood, metal, and synthetic porch furniture, we have a fantastic selection of accessories, outdoor décor, and home accents, including cedar chests, silverware boxes, jewelry chests, quilt racks, and much more.

Furthermore, if you don’t find what you’re looking for on our site, just call one of our design consultants and ask about having something customized.  You’ll find that they’re every bit as cooperative, agreeable, and obliging as our furniture; but with much better personalities, of course.

 Yours Outdoors,

 Kathy

Okay.  Halloween is over.  The ghosts have gone back to their graveyards, the vampires have returned to their coffins, the witches have left town on their brooms, and the Great Pumpkin has, once again, left Linus Van Pelt alone and freezing in his oh-so-sincere pumpkin patch, wondering where he went wrong. 

Now comes the scariest part of the year – the holidays.  Yep.  We’re facing two full months of Christmas commercials (I saw my first one before Halloween) and decorations.  In fact, the malls are already fully decked out, and Thanksgiving is still three weeks away!  Worse yet, many houses will be ready for Christmas by the middle of the month.  That’s a shame, too, because fall decorations are gorgeous; so, even though the Halloween stuff has to go, leave the cornstalks, haystacks, and strings of orange lights on your gazebos, fences, trellises, arbors, and pergolas, until after Thanksgiving.

When it comes to getting gifts, however, there are times when it makes sense to shop early.  Usually, these are cases in which you want to get someone something extra-special, which has to be ordered in advance, like, say, one of our stunning cedar chests.  That will definitely make a spectacular gift; but if you want to be sure to have it there for Christmas, now would be a good time to order, as it takes four to six weeks for delivery.  Of course, it will be well worth the wait.   

At CedarStore.com, in our ‘Home Accents’ section, we have the most magnificent selection of cedar, oak, and cherry chests, along with some dazzling steamer trunks, which can be finished in several lustrous shades of stain, and double coated with lacquer.  Available in all styles and price ranges, they will not only be among the most outstanding gifts you could ever give, but they will surely be the most cherished and enduring as well.   

Besides our cedar chests, we also offer breath-taking jewelry boxes, jewelry chests, armoires, toy chests, and silverware boxes, many of which ship in two weeks or less, and all of which will be shipped free.            

So, you can either throw yourself into the fray to get an ordinary present, or sit leisurely at your computer and choose an extraordinary gift that’s bound to become a treasured heirloom.  Hmm – it sounds like the case for a cedar chest is open and shut.

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

When it comes to furnishing our homes, naturally, we all have different tastes (of course, that applies to everything, but, with limited space for such a discussion, we must draw the line somewhere).  Even so, there are certain common denominators that figure prominently into most motifs; and wood is right up there at the top of that list.  It’s universally prized for its strength and beauty – as it always has been – and it comes in so many varieties that it accommodates all personal preferences.

Obviously, here at CedarStore.com, we love wood; and we offer our wood outdoor furniture in so many styles, that there’s something (actually, many things) to suit virtually everyone.  Our expertise, however, is not restricted to porch swings, picnic tables, and patio chairs.  No-o!  While that’s certainly what we’re best known for, it wouldn’t make sense for us, under the circumstances, to confine ourselves to one area.

You see, because we have such extraordinary woodworkers – nay, artisans – on our design team, it would be a shame to hide their talents under a bushel basket; or an outdoor planter, as the case may be.  Instead, we have always thought it best to allow their incredible talents to shine in all directions.  That, as it turns out, is a great philosophy; and if you want to know just how great, go to our ‘Home Accents’ division, where you’ll see some dazzling illustrations of their handiwork on indoor wood furniture. 

Besides being among the most spectacular pieces that you’ll ever find anywhere, some of the items in this section can be essential to your décor.  For example, you can often give a room a very rich aspect by using one outstanding piece of furniture that has looks that will take your breath away, and a price tag that won’t.  With its undeniable beauty, as well as its sheer practicality, a cedar chest fills these requirements, and more.

A cedar chest will give any room in your home the look of luxury; and we have an incomparable selection of them, along with magnificent oak and cherry chests, with radiant, lacquered finishes, in a variety of wood tones, crafted in traditional and contemporary designs.     

So, it really is possible to do more than one thing – and do it well – as long as you have a staff as talented as ours.  And they’re going to be around, creating stunning wood furniture, for years to come – uh, knock on wood!

Yours Outdoors,

Kathy

It seems as though Christmas comes earlier every year.  It’s not just because retail stores start pushing it in August, either; after all, everyone knows that they have always been one solstice or equinox ahead of the earth’s rotation.

I think it’s because the rest of the world is starting to go along with the idea.  Just look at their outdoor décor; not only do some people not even wait until after Thanksgiving to deck their homes out for Christmas anymore, but even Halloween gets at least a month’s head-start.  I’ve been seeing scarecrows in porch chairs, pumpkin-headed creatures on loveseats, ghosts hanging from arbors, and spider webs on trellises, practically since the school year began (and, no, I’m not hallucinating)!

Decorating issues aside, there are those who have always gotten a jump on the rest of us when it comes to holiday shopping.  This is an entirely different matter, as these people are not fanatics; they’re just very annoying to certain individuals who traditionally don’t start until, say, Christmas Eve (I only know this because I have a “friend” who does it).        

Furthermore, it can be a good idea, especially if you’re ordering something that has to be shipped, and may take awhile to arrive.  In fact, it can be a really smart move, because, in this hectic, hurried world, where more people every year simply pass out gift cards (which, in many cases, they pick up at grocery and drug stores), getting someone an actual present – and one that has to be shipped, no less – is a great way to show that you cared enough to shop for something specifically for that person.

If this sounds like a good thing, in theory, but you really don’t have a lot of time to shop, you’ll be glad to know that you can get some spectacular gifts right here at CedarStore.com.  I’m not talking about knick-knacks, either; I mean gorgeous cedar chests, oak chests, cherry chests, steamer trunks, jewelry boxes, silverware boxes, and armoires, available with many different staining options.

No matter which one you choose, you’ll be giving a gift that can be opened again and again, for years to come.  That definitely beats a piece of plastic!

Yours Outdoors (or, in this case, indoors!)

Kathy