The Czar of Mod Mom Furniture East

One of the absolute joys of moving manufacturing to an Amish shop in Ohio is that my parents live there!  Well, not with the Amish but in Ohio.  As most of you know, my dad built much of our furniture growing up.  He was a football coach/PE/Health teacher who taught himself to build traditional furniture and I had the pleasure of seeing him do it.  And learning from him, that I could teach myself almost anything if I wanted.  No need for fear.  It's just a table saw, after all. 

My parents drove over yesterday to L&J Woodworking to approve a few samples for me and take photographs.  As you may have guessed, working with an Amish manufacturer takes a bit of creative thinking to make up for the lack of ease of email, internet, digital photographs, etc.  We've come up with a great system where I send a fax via internet/email to their fax machine which runs on steam-powered electricity.  But when it comes to approving samples, either I have to fly in or my dad heads over.  I'm so thankful that my parents are willing to make the four-hour one way journey for me.  And it helps that dad knows woodworking.  A lot!!

Check out this great picture of dad taking notes while writing on the top of the NEW Owyn Table and Chair set! You'll recognize some of my other designs around him. (Photo credit goes to my mom, Cheryl Parsons.)