Gentlemen,

My name is Michael Maybach and I am a furniture repair technician in the Chicago-land area. My email is a bit unusual as I am writing to both of you to express what a pleasure I have had to work on one of your pieces recently.

I had a customer or yours in Chicago that had a moving claim. The movers moved the customers’ bedroom set which consisted of pieces from your Chardonnay collection done in a black finish with the edges rubbed to expose the wood underneath (maple I believe). The movers had gouged the top rail of the foot-board and also had scraped one of the side rails. I was the person that went out to do the repair.

Gentlemen, I have repaired furniture for various retailers around Chicago and Milwaukee, from low to high end. I have repaired various pieces done in a similar black finish. Every time I have had to repair a piece finished this way the black was sanded through while using a fine grit sandpaper because the finish itself is very thin. Imagine my surprise and pleasure as I sanded quite a bit on the repairs for the Chardonnay and did not sand through the black to the bare wood. Most times the repairs on this type of finish are such a pain because of the finish being so thin the repair ends up going from a  small repair to a larger one. I did not break through the black, and actually I do not think I sanded through the clear-coat either.

It was such a surprise to see a quality finish on some fine furniture for a change.

I have often heard about your company from customers that I have serviced through the years and I must say I never have heard anything negative. On a whim I had a service cancellation one afternoon and I stopped at your Downers Grove location to see the furniture for myself (this was several months back and you were still operating as PM Bedroom Gallery). I was greeted promptly at the store by Cathy Segraves. I explained to her that I repair furniture for various retailers and I am often asked about different stores and their quality so I wanted to come in and see Penny Mustards’ merchandise for myself. Cathy was gracious enough to spend over an hour with me, answering any question that I had with authority and knowledge that is quite refreshing. Not once did she say she didn’t know or would have to check with a manager or anything along those lines.

As a small business owner I like to be informed and be able to speak with some authority when a customer asks whom do I feel has the best furniture in the area. Usually this is when I am inspecting something from another retailer and the customer is lamenting about the terrible quality and ridiculous price. Without hesitation I recommend that the customer stop by Penny Mustard. I explain to them the quality that I have experienced with regards to build, and now I am able to tell the customer that I am impressed with the finishes as well. You gentlemen may want to stress the finishes in an upcoming commercial (the elephant one is a good one too). Not only is the new furniture from many of your competitors being made out of softer woods but the customer doesn’t realize that the new dining or kitchen table they just received may only have 1-2 coats of finish and that is all that is protecting the wood. The customer is doubly impressed with my recommendation when I tell them that I am not affiliated with Penny Mustard in any way. I simply tell them that I was trained to repair furniture the proper way, and I have grown tired over the years of seeing the degradation of today’s furniture and finishes, especially at the price points today’s furniture is being sold at. I explain that I would not want to be taken advantage of and I don’t want a customer to be taken advantage of as well, and I remain an independent contractor to this day so I can offer a client an honest assessment of furniture retailers and manufacturers. Thank you for reading this and I wish you both much success in the future. I will continue to recommend Penny Mustard to everyone I come across in my repair travels.

Sincerely,

Michael Maybach
Renaissance Furniture Services, L.L.C.

The furniture found inside of a local Penny Mustard showroom is handcrafted by Amish, Mennonites, and other small builders predominantly located in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Everything is built to perfection! You choose the fabric, lumber, stain choice, and even your hardware. So get out and make Penny Mustard your number one stop for quality home furniture purchases.

As all of you know solid well-built American made products have always been the focus at Penny Mustard and now you can find that in the Living Room category all the way to the Occasional Table category. Stop into a showroom near you in Greenfield, WI; Brookfield, WI; Menomonee Falls, WI; Naperville, IL; Downers Grove, IL; Lincolnshire, IL or Hoffman Estates, IL to see first hand the new products.

Table designs range from Classic to Contemporary, Scandinavian to Mission and everything in between. The construction techniques used by the many Penny Mustard small builders that include Mennonite and Amish workers include solid wood construction, corner blocking, geared slides, table levelers, self-storing leaves, and so much more. For chairs and stools choose from wood or fabric seats, chair height to bar stool height and several styles and lumbers. The buffets and hutches include hidden compartments, lighting, beveled mirrors and glass, velvet-lining, wine cube, wine glass holders, and a removable silverware tray.

Penny Mustard sofas are crafted using a hardwood frame made of select Maple hardwoods and they contain a true seat spring unit that flexes with the movement of your body. Contained in each cushion is Qualux® foam, the highest quality foam available. By using the highest quality materials available, the line boasts a lifetime warranty on the frame, seat spring, and foam. With over 1,000 fabrics to choose from and more styles than imaginable Penny Mustard is the perfect choice for your new sofa.

At Penny Mustard you will find cutting edge technology in materials used to create these finest beds. Platinum Dreams was chosen as the innerspring mattress supplier after a careful search to find only the best quality mattresses available. A large part of the line-up includes what is called an  “independent coil system”. This system uses a heat tempered coil that is individually wrapped, and then placed inside of a fabric sleeve. Each coil once wrapped in a sleeve is then adhered to one another until they form a size suitable for a mattress. Thus, allowing each coil to act as an independently suspended coil. The advantage to this type system is that there are no pressure points left for your body to be irritated by. Each coil moves according to the amount of pressure placed on it. So for example, the small of your back stays supported because there is very little pressure in that area.

The other types of mattresses available such as the water beds, air beds, and latex beds can be seen at your local showroom where a sales consultant can spend time assisting in the bed buying process. Locations can be found in Greenfield, WI; Brookfield, WI; Menomonee Falls, WI; Naperville, IL; Downers Grove, IL; Lincolnshire, IL; and Hoffman Estates, IL.

If you like the look of a conventional bed you can have that at Penny Mustard with under bed storage drawers placed underneath and within the framework of the bed. An additional benefit to using the drawer storage is you eliminate the boxspring which offsets some of the cost of the drawer storage. Thus, making the drawer storage very functional and affordable.

You will see furniture designs that are refreshing and inspiring. The selection is constantly changing and improving to meet the latest design trends, not the same “me too furniture” recycled again and again throughout the furniture industry. Penny Musard’s partnership with the small-shop builder (90% in Wisconsin and Minnesota) allows them the ability to experiment with the latest, hottest designs.
Another benefit of having the Amish and Mennonites build your bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, living room furniture, and occasional furniture is the many lumber and stain options available. The stains range from light to dark stain, you can choose between Cherry, Quartersawn Oak, Maple, Rustic Maple, Hickory, Birch, American Elm, Pine, Alder, or Poplar from which your furniture can be built. After you have chosen the stain color and wood type, you can choose from 60 knob options and 32 handle styles to complete your unique décor. When you consider the style, the selection, the handcrafted quality, and let’s not forget the lifetime warranty… it just simply makes sense to go with Penny Mustard for your upcoming bedroom furnishing needs.

Take a look at the Stoney Creek Collection to see an up-to-date fresh design that includes bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, home office furniture, and occasional furniture. Penny Mustard has locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota.

This beautiful wood features a vibrant color, fine grain, and high luster that suit it superbly to furniture making. Black Cherry is also known for its markings; most Black Cherry wood has prominent gum streaks and or small knots throughout its fine grain. These are not considered defects and most woodworkers like the way the pockets highlight the grain patterns and reward the eye. Black Cherry in a natural finish has a beautiful lustrous color that gets darker with age, most notably in its first year of being finished. Many woodworkers stain Black Cherry with darker stains and if stained dark enough, virtually eliminates this lumber from darkening any further. The demand for Black Cherry is at an all time high, making it increasingly harder to find and higher in price. Many believe that, if taken care of, Black Cherry furniture will increase in value indefinitely.

The Venetian Collection has been all hand built out of solid Black Cherry and is one of the many fine furniture collections available at  Penny Mustard. The fine lines, solid wood construction and beautiful curves make this bedroom set at Penny Mustard one of the finest available in all of the world.

Many hypothesize as to what causes the Birdseye effect and have come up with ideas like fungal or viral infection, genetic mutation, climate change, soil conditions, growth history, or some mysterious element. Being able to cultivate Birdseye, in maple trees would be a valuable commodity, hence many researchers and arborists vigorously study the mysterious phenomena. So far, they have not been able to answer what really causes it and no one has successfully been able to produce it.

Hard maple trees that grow in the Great Lakes region yield the largest Birdseye Maple supply. Most Birdseye is hidden under the bark’s surface and there is no sure way of knowing if it is Birdseye or not until you fell the tree and cut it apart. Sought after world wide, Birdseye Maple has been used in many specialty applications such as the dashboard of a Rolls Royce, wooden jewelry boxes, guitars, violins, mantels, and humidors just to name a few. Woodworks agree that the Birdseye maple is extremely durable, very stable, and resists scratches and dents extremely well, and is an all around pleasure to work with.

Currently, Birdseye Maple boards are several times more expensive than normal maple boards. The future of Birdseye is unknown, and many presume that in a decade or two the demand for Birdseye will exceed the supply. Getting any at all will become next to impossible or if available, only for the very few that will be able to afford it.