Check out our new Etsy site:

As part of our ongoing mission to let everyone know just how great the Children’s Furniture Company is, we have opened up a new sister shop on Etsy. We love Etsy because it’s a place where handmade and ethical goods, like ours, are available. Our products are carefully sourced and we use water based paints, renewable source wood and in the case of our duvet covers, fairly traded cottons from India. You can find our Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChildrenFurnitureCo

We have placed a few of our accessories and our famous Kombi Kart on Etsy to give you all a taster of what we do. We hope that through Etsy you will also visit our main site: http://www.thechildrensfurniturecompany.com/

Whichever site you visit, we hope that you enjoy your visit to the Children’s Furniture Company. Thanks for checking us out.

Sarah

Partners ... For Life, For Business

When you walk down the aisle on your wedding day and agree ‘to have and to hold’, ... do these vows also apply when you enter into business together too? New small businesses are popping up like daisies in the wake of the recession and this means more and more couples, married or not, are taking the business plunge ... ‘for better or for worse’. As with all things, there are positives and negatives about working with your life partner.

So what’s the upside? Well obviously you got on with each other in the first place, so there should be high levels of trust and honesty – and no doubt you’ve both got the same goals in mind. You’ve worked out where your relative strengths and weaknesses lie, and hopefully if they’re complimentary, you’ll avoid having to take on outside help in the first years of building up the company. But perhaps the biggest perk is actually being able to spend time with your partner and build something together for you and your children’s future.

Everything that’s an upside can be viewed equally as a downside! ... You see too much of each other; you never switch off; your conversations are dominated by the business and you never actually have time for your children because you’re working night and day. Even the boundaries that exist in a more traditional workplace can be strained and a power struggle between couples about who’s in charge of what, may occur. So working with someone you are married to, can mean that the line between the person you love and the person you work with, becomes blurred. And as a sanguine thought, when you have all your eggs in one basket and things are going well, that’s great; but in a downturn such as now, it’s a bit scary to think there is no other income but the business.

A couple who have had to experience many of these issues and just get on with it, are Charles and Sarah Codrington of The Children’s Furniture Company. They have been working together since 2002 and whilst it hasn’t always been a bed of roses, they have a few helpful strategies in keeping home and work harmonious. At work they have agreed a clear demarcation of labour and try not to interfere too much in each other’s area of expertise. Charles deals with all the furniture design, manufacture and production side of things; whilst Sarah is in charge of marketing, sales and logistics. So day to day they keep out of each other’s hair and when the working day is done ... ‘keep away from the dreaded email,’ is their advice, (or at least try), focus on the children and enjoy individual activities if you can - in Charles’ case he’s a mad keen cyclist and in Sarah’s, a passionate tennis player.

Despite the ups and downs, they still find it great fun to collaborate creatively on overall direction for the company. After 8 years workings and designing children’s furniture, they have a good grasp of what customers want and need for their children. Sarah comments that “we feel really chuffed when customers are happy with their purchases and we get positive feedback on the things we have designed and made. We really take it very personally!”

It’s That Time of Year Again…

We are on the verge of announcing our Superb Summer Sale 2009.

The sale is due to start 13th July, so keep watching this space to learn about great reductions and our now famous ‘Star Buys’ - they are always on a first come first served basis and last year, sold out in under an hour!

Also, for those of you who are MUMSNET members, be sure to have a peek at their ‘competitions’ section for your chance to win one of our Vanilla white beds (valued at £295) as well as any one of our beautiful cotton duvet sets to match (worth £49). If you are not registered on MUMSNET, simply go online to http://www.mumsnet.com/ and sign up!

You Get What You Pay For!

The credit crunch has switched everyone’s focus to the value OF money as opposed to value FOR money. The old adage of ‘taking care of the pennies so that the pounds take care of themselves’ has collided with the mentality of our recent throw-away society and resulted in people purchasing furniture that will do the job for the time being until they find something better. Whatever happened to finding furniture that you loved and that helped create a home as an expression of yourself? Whatever happened to heirloom pieces?

Durable, high quality children’s furniture is our specialty and we often get asked about the difference in prices between independent furniture companies like us and the big retailers. The gist of my answer is that if you want a quality item, you will generally find that it has a higher price tag attached. Retailers of mass produced furniture have done a lot to skew the public’s perception of furniture prices as well as their perception of quality. Cheap furniture is available everywhere! You know the sort, relatively stylish, inexpensive, quite cookie cutter-like and mass produced; the type of things that wobble after a year of “tough love” in a family home.

The best way to tackle making a furniture purchase, especially for children’s furniture, is to spend your money consciously and look at the purchase as an investment, not as a temporary solution that can be chucked away on a whim. Remember that overtime, replacing cheap furniture that you only sort of liked in the first place will cost you at least the same amount as the quality item that you loved, but was just out of your price range when you first went shopping.

It’s fair to say that people are starting to realise that the world’s resources are not inexhaustible – we’re told about it nearly every day - and slowly attitudes are beginning to change about the purchase decisions we make. Now, it seems that more and more people are looking to restore and care for things they may have previously decided to throw away, or as we have heard from our customers, are considering spending wisely on things they know will last.

It seems clear that there’s a growing number of people who understand the logic of paying a bit more for craftsmanship, design and sustainability of quality furniture. These people look for furniture, such as the pieces we sell at The Children’s Furniture Company, that you can build a room (and ultimately a home) around – furniture that will last through childhood and beyond. No matter what design elements you want to change over time, beautiful quality pieces of furniture provide a foundation from which you can explore with soft furnishings and décor. A good piece of furniture will always be in style!

Keeping it Close To Home

Over the years, we have explored different options around the world for sourcing manufacturers who can make our exclusive ranges of children’s furniture, and have found, in time (thanks to plenty of trial and error) that in more ways than one, British is often best! So now, made by our UK suppliers are, the Victoria, Pic’N Mix, Toffee, Caramel, and Vanilla ranges. This post mentions some of the reasons why we have made the decision to stick to Britain.

1. Transportation and the big, scary carbon footprint: Everyone is trying to do what they can for the environment. As business owners, we want to be sure that our company’s negative impact on the environment is as small as possible too. When dealing with furniture, it’s not unusual to see woods being sourced from Europe, then furniture being made and assembled in China before returning to Europe and finally being sent on to the UK. That furniture has travelled further than lots of people ever will! Think of the carbon footprint! All the benefits of cheaper production and material costs, one could argue, are entirely offset by the environmental impact made by massive ships plying their way across our Oceans - let alone the time needed for the whole process. Because of the distance furniture needs to travel when it’s made overseas and the amount of handling that it endures, each piece needs to be packed into containers with many protective layers of plastic and cardboard wrapping. Comparatively, transportation across the UK in one of our environmentally friendly LPG (liquid petroleum gas) vans can be done with those items wrapped securely in reusable, recycled furniture blankets!

2. Simplicity: It sure is a lot easier to coordinate shipments with UK suppliers. There are no language barriers, no international shipping containers to arrange and considerably less concern over damage occurring during a long transit. At a basic level, furniture that’s made and dispatched from within Britain gets to us and then to you a whole lot faster. It allows us to replenish stocks quickly which means that we can provide people with what they want within a reasonable time span.

3. The current economy: There is lots of interest in keeping British jobs for British folks to help spur on the economy. We do have an interest in trying to help out with this where we can and if a British supplier is available for a line we are interested in making, we try to deal with them for all these reasons and because we really like the idea of having our children’s furniture mostly made here. It must also be considered that now that the pound is not as strong as it used to be, getting furniture made in Europe or Asia is not always a better deal.

4. Reliability: British companies tend to be pretty reliable. I am not trying to knock companies from other countries, as the majority of those that we have dealt with have been very good, but different cultures do not always have the same sense of urgency or quality control that is commonly expected in the UK. British workshops have Health and Safety standards to adhere to (as mentioned in the previous post about MDF) which makes us very comfortable to use them to make our products. We have achieved an assortment of accolades and awards for our British made furniture, such as The Furniture Maker’s Manufacturing Guild Mark, which is an award for excellence in manufacturing. This really is a tribute to the workmanship in our furniture and gives us the confidence to say our products really are top notch!

MDF is safe, right?

MDF has a reputation of being a questionably safe building material, and so we hear from concerned mums and dads all the time asking us to clarify its merits. In short, yes, it is 100% safe once it is used to construct a finished piece of furniture, but it does require care if you decide to do a DIY project with MDF where there will be sawdust flying about. (Wear a mask!)

For those who may not be familiar with it, MDF (or medium density fibreboard) is a building material composed of wood fibres which are held together with resin, heat, and pressure to create a solid piece which can then can be used in all the same ways that natural wood can be.

The main issue perceived with MDF is that its production involves a resin containing formaldehyde which is a known toxin and carcinogen in high concentrations. In the process of cutting and working with MDF in building, sawdust and formaldehyde are released. Both of these are bad to inhale (particularly the formaldehyde), there are very strict health and safety regulations in place in the UK and around the world governing MDF dust and its extraction and disposal to ensure a safe working environment in the workshops. Because much of The Children’s Furniture Company’s furniture is made in the UK (including in our own workshop where my husband Charlie works) we take every precaution to make sure that everyone in contact with MDF dust is adhering to the rules! (It really is horrible stuff)

During the ‘machining’ process, however, is the only time that MDF poses any kind of health risk. The reality is that once the MDF is cut and finished with sealant or paint, it is no more harmful than a tomato. In fact, weight for weight, MDF and tomatoes have the same percentage of formaldehyde content. I am quite sure no one would be tempted to eat a lethal dose of 56 pounds of the fruit in one sitting, just as no one would sit in a room of MDF saw dust all day every day for years and years!

The benefits of MDF make it a great choice for children’s furniture as it is strong, stable, and provides many fun options for design.

Versatility: Anything that can be done to wood, MDF can handle! It can be glued, nailed, screwed, moulded, painted and so on. When compared to timber, MDF actually takes better to veneers because it is made to be dense, flat, stiff, and flaw-free which results in a superiorly uniform finished surface. Unlike other particle boards, MDF can be cut easily and leaves a smooth edge which makes it easier to use in final products.
Stability: Timber is hydroscopic (acts as a sponge) and adapts to different humidity levels. For instance, in the colder months when the central heating is running, the air in the house will be drier, which will draw the moisture out of the wood, causing it to shrink. Conversely, in the summer months when the windows are open and the air in your home is more humid, the wood will swell again.

Seasoned timber can be expected to change in size by anything up to 5%, depending on the direction of the grain, even Antiques are prone to timber movement, and that wood was seasoned hundreds of years ago.

These dimensional changes manifest themselves as cracks, splits, cupped and bowed panels. Wood is somewhat elastic, so it will maintain a generally uniform size and shape, though eventually, the expansion and contraction can cause warping and may wreak havoc on the fittings used in the furniture which will impact the longevity and overall resilience of the piece. MDF does not have this problem to the same extent as the fibres are packed so tightly, there is little room for the material to react to the atmosphere.

The particles in MDF also provide stability without a predominant grain which means that MDF is less likely to split or fracture. This is a particularly important consideration for painted furniture which shows very obvious splitting and cracking in the finish when the wood changes.

Environmentally Friendly: Because MDF uses “leftovers” and waste from wood processing, it is economical and environmentally friendly. A piece of MDF uses a much higher percentage of the tree it is sourced from. Wood requires the disposal of imperfections in the tree, (it is not uncommon for only a 1/3 of the wood in a tree to be good enough to make furniture with) while MDF uses more of what would be considered rubbish in traditional planking.

Because MDF is a manmade board with no faults, or grain a much greater percentage of raw material ends up in the furniture and not the furnace, thus saving all the associated emissions transporting quantities of heavy timber from the mills to the workshops.

Another thing to consider is that if perfect, natural timber is used in furniture then painted over (as opposed to varnished or stained), the beauty of the wood is covered up completely, which is a real shame!


Please keep the questions coming!

What Should I Look for in a Child's Mattress?

Concerned parents often contact us to ask us for help choosing a mattress for a child’s bed. Because children do a lot of their growing while they sleep, the mattress you choose for them is very important to ensure proper development. With all the options available, it is understandable to feel overwhelmed. Here are a few points to consider.

1. Mattresses Have a Lifespan!

It is generally suggested that mattresses are changed every 10-12 years which really makes sense if you think about it. Using a mattress consistently over a 10 year period will equate to over 30,000 hours of stress on it! The poor mattress must also contend with some of the 4 to 6 cups of fluid which are lost during sleep every night (Plus the odd accident in the case of toddlers!)

Another thing to consider if you are thinking of using a hand-me-down mattress is that modern technologies and materials have come a long way in the last decade. Investing in a new mattress may offer you better value for money and a longer use period.

2. The Materials Matter

There are lots of foam based mattresses on the market now, but these may not be the best choice. Pediatricians recommend avoiding memory foam mattresses particularly because these can be too soft to assist with encouraging proper bone growth. Also, children are too light to make proper use of the body-forming technology and the visco-elastic material used in these mattresses holds in a lot of heat which can be uncomfortable.

Pocket sprung mattresses are another grown-up feature which children do not really require in their mattresses. Pocket sprung mattresses tend to be a little more expensive and are meant for people who share a bed; the coils are not linked and so reduce the amount of disturbance that one person feels when the other moves. Since children typically sleep alone, an open coil (linked) mattress is perfectly sufficient.

With coil mattresses, the thickness or gage of the wire and the coil count are important to consider as more springs and a thicker wire coil will both contribute to a greater degree of support. The filling is another feature that adds to the comfort and support a mattress offers with better quality and deeper wadding making for a more comfortable mattress.
For these reasons, we only stock and recommend a well stuffed, open coil mattress.

3. Higher Price = Better Mattress?

The root of the “How do I choose the best mattress” question, however, always comes back to price. Is it worth spending more money on a mattress?

I honestly do believe it can be if you have followed the advice above and avoided spending money on unnecessary bells and whistles.
For a little more money, you will typically get a higher value mattress. Features that you should expect for a higher priced mattress include better quality filling, more layers of wadding, a larger number of coils, higher gage coils, and all around better construction which will make a more comfortable and longer lasting mattress.

The Children’s Furniture Company stocks two different styles of mattress which gives an example of what you get for the difference in price.

Standard
Price: £ 127
13 gauge 6” open coil spring
Hi-loft quilting
Cotton Ticking (quilting stitched just on top)
Two layers of wadding

Traditional
Price: £146
13 gauge 6” open coil spring
Belgium damask covering
Hand Tufted (stitched all the way through the mattress)
Four layers of wadding

Ultimately, the best mattress for your child will fit in your budget, supply them with enough support for their growing bodies, avoid unnecessary adult features and be comfortable!
Please feel free to comment or to get in touch with any follow up questions or comments. We would love to hear from you!

Children's Furniture - we've learnt a bit about it over the years.

Designing and making furniture for children over the last 8 years has made us realise that we've picked up quite a lot of knowledge about what paretnts are interested in and the common questions they ask us - which seems to cover just about anything and everything to do with children and how they interact with furniture.

So we're going to pass on some of this information that may be useful to new Mums and Dads out there trying to make decisions about what to buy; what will last; when their kids should move from cots to beds; what's ethical; what's safe.
So many questions and possible directions.

And if our experience helps people a bit, then that's great.

Watch this space for different topics every so often and ask us questions - (we're experts according to Homes & Garden Magazines, Designer Expert, December 2008). Please also feel free to visit our website: http://www.thechildrensfurniturecompany.com/