I’ve recently had the pleasure of completing a dining room set and bar stools for a couple who live in Germany and who also have a summer home on Lake Champlain. I'd like to share with you this wonderful story of serendipity...

A few years ago, Sandra and Jorg came in to my Stowe Cotswold Furniture Gallery and we talked for quite some time about the furniture. They were in the process of buying a lake property which would need major renovations. Sandra put my business card in her wallet and there it stayed. During that time, my family and I moved, I closed down my retail galleries, downsized the business and simplified my life.

A year ago last summer, I built my workshop on our new property. During that time, Sandra and Jorg were in the middle of their lake house restoration. One evening they were invited to have dinner with some friends in Hinesburg. They noticed a structure being built next door to their friends’ home and asked what was going on next door. Our neighbor and friends, Nicole and Sean, told them all about me and my furniture making business that would be housed in the new barn.

They were intrigued, but said that they had been to a furniture maker in Stowe the year before and they really wanted their new furniture to be made by him. Then Sandra took out her wallet, pulled out a business card, showed it to Nicole, and said, “This is who we want to make the furniture for our new dining room.” Nicole couldn't believe it when she looked at the card and saw my name!

I cannot tell you what an honor it has been for me to make the Chalford Farmhouse Table, Chalford chairs and bar stools for Sandra and Jorg. The fact that they loved my furniture enough to hold on to that card for so long, in the hopes of having me make their dining room set one day, is one of the greatest compliments to my work that I have ever experienced.

‍