Church Furniture Blog

You may have noticed that the majority of the furniture we sell is made from Northern Red Oak from New York State. Why is this? Is the wood cheaper to use or is there another reason? I will go into more detail on why we use this type of wood and what the benefits are in this article.

Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) is a type of tree typically found in the United States and southeast Canada. This type of tree typically grows anywhere from 90 to 140 feet tall. It is considered to be a hardwood. It grows straight and tall (along with the wood grain), making it easier to cut into wood sheets for furniture. The tree itself is very hardy, capable of living in soils of varying conditions.

The wood of the Northern Red Oak has a reddish brown color to it, hence the name Northern Red Oak. The tree is sometimes simply called Red Oak, but it is not to be confused with the Southern Red Oak (aka Spanish Oak), which is a different type of tree.  Spanish Oak is considered to be a lower quality wood for furniture.

Northern Red Oak is considered to be a highly valuable wood and considered to be high quality among woodworkers. Northern Red Oak is not only used for furniture, but is commonly used for flooring, veneer and interior trim.

We don’t use New York Northern Red Oak in our furniture because it is cheap or inexpensive to use, but because it is of high quality and reserved for the most valuable furniture. Our church furniture, as previously mentioned, is almost all made from this type of wood. Our furniture, even before it is stained, radiates quality and has an almost regal appearance to it.

You can find our entire selection of church furniture here.

We are pleased to announce our new 2010 church furniture catalog, now available upon request. Best of all, it’s free! This new catalog features our current lineup of church furniture and also includes several new products that will be available online in the coming weeks.

See something in our catalog that’s not yet on our site yet? No worries. We can get you anything listed in our catalog, even if it’s not on our site. This means you can easily order new styles of church furniture for Christmas or Easter services now!

You can either request that a hard copy of the catalog be mailed to you or you can view / download the catalog in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. You can find forms to access both the digital and physical copy by going here.

Again, we are excited about this new catalog and hope you will find something you like in it. Remember, our furniture is hand made and is a prime example of the utmost quality available in church furniture today.

Most churches, at least ones that I have visited and attended, have to deal with a lot of literature on a fairly regular basis. This includes brochures, magazines and other literature. While a lot of this material can be placed on a desk or table, it usually ends up unorganized. Brochure holders and magazine racks help cut down on this clutter.

Literature racks come in a variety of styles and formats, but for church use we have found that countertop and wall-mounted brochure holders and magazine racks are most popular. Most of our racks are available in a variety of wood stains, and fit in really well with existing furniture.

If wood isn’t what you’re looking for, or we don’t have something that matches well, our acrylic plastic racks are a great alternative. They make literature easy to see and the clear look of the racks fit in well with almost any environment.

Many of our racks can hold magazines and brochures, with an assortment of different sized pockets. We also have racks that have adjustable pockets to fit exactly what you need.

Our brochure holders and racks can be ordered online and shipped directly to your church. The wall-mounted racks usually include all the hardware needed to hang up and our countertop models work right out of the box.

Time permitting, stop by our store and see what display racks we have available. There is probably something here that you will like or need. Get your church organized today! Click here to see our entire selection of brochure holders and magazine racks.

Church furniture and the term inexpensive aren’t always two words that go together well. When it comes to church furniture, you will probably sacrifice a lot on quality if the price is “too good.” There are, however, ways to still get affordable quality church furniture at a reasonable price.

While we try to keep prices affordable for you with all our church furniture, you can save a little extra money by purchasing a factory second or overstock furniture.

Factory seconds are furniture that has a small blemish, during the manufacturing process, that is insignificant to the naked eye, but significant enough that it can’t be passed off as flawless. Factory seconds look great and are an affordable way to purchase a chair, table, lectern and more.

We also have a nice selection of overstock furniture. This is furniture that was made for another customer, but the order was never completed. This also includes furniture that we have had sitting in our warehouse for a while and we now need to clear out to make room for more furniture.

Both our factory seconds and overstock church furniture are available in finished and unfinished formats. You can find our overstock and factory seconds church furniture here.

At Heavenly Wood we offer a wide selection of wooden crosses for purchase. These range from small freestanding models to larger wall mounted crosses. The largest cross we currently sell is the plain oak cross (found here). It stands at an amazing 8 feet. Although that is a tall cross, do you know where the tallest cross in the world is located?

The world’s tallest cross can be found in Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen) near Madrid, Spain. The cross is made from stone and stands at an amazing 500 feet (152.4 meters). Although I’ve never personally been there, it is a sight to behold.

One of the United State’s tallest crosses can be found in Effingham County, Illinois and stands at 198 feet (60 meters). It is made from steel.

Those are some pretty interesting and impressive crosses. You can see Heavenly Wood’s entire selection of wooden crosses by going here.

You’ll notice on our site that we sell ambos, pulpits and lecterns. They all look fairly similar. Lecterns typically are a little skinnier and pulpits are a little bigger. Are they all the same thing or is there a reason they carry three distinct and very different names? You may not realize this, but they are all different and historically used for different purposes.

In medieval times, ambos were the center stand in a church. Ambos now, however, are often used for all speech purposes. In Greek the word Ambo means “both.”

Traditionally the pulpit of the church was located on the left-hand side of the church. Pulpits were primarily used for giving sermons. The left side (pulpit side) of the church is even today often referred to as the gospel side of the church.

Lecterns were historically found on the right side of the church or cathedral. They were primarily used for reading scripture. For this reason the right side (lectern side) of the church is often referred to as the epistle side of the church. The word lectern is Latin and means “to read.”

Lecterns, pulpits and ambos are now used universally for all speech-giving purposes, but still retain their traditional names. We have a great selection of lecterns, pulpits and ambos that are handcrafted from wood and look great. Time permitting, stop by and take a look at them here!

Customers frequently ask us if they can get a podium or cross unfinished. The quick answer to this is yes. We can sell you unfinished church furniture.

Why would someone want unfinished church furniture? There are a lot of reasons for this. Some people need to have a piece of furniture exactly matched to existing furniture. For this reason, many people like to stain the furniture themselves. You would be surprised how accommodating we are regarding our church furniture. Not only can we get it to you unstained and unfinished, we can also make modifications to the furniture.

Unfinished furniture often costs less than a finished, fully stained piece of furniture. Be aware, however, that buying unfinished furniture means you are at the mercy of your own staining talent. If you’re not 100 percent sure you can properly stain furniture, you may want to let us go ahead and do it for you.

Call us at 1-800-257-2968 or click here to contact us for a price quote on unfinished furniture.

We get requests on a regular basis regarding custom furniture modifications. One of the most common questions is, “what can be modified?” To start with, there isn’t much that can’t be modified, and we love offering custom furniture modifications because it gives you the option of buying the perfect furniture. I have come up with a list of the most common furniture modifications that we can offer.

• Height – Height adjustments are one of the most common modifications we make.
• Width – Width adjustments are a very common request.
• Text & Wording – We get a lot of requests from people to add scriptural lines or text to tables, lecterns and more.
• Emblems – We have many requests from people to have wooden crosses added, adjusted or removed on furniture such as pulpits, lecterns and podiums. We also have customers of other religious affiliations that have emblems, such as a Star of David, added.
• Lamps – Some people like to have a lamp added to a pulpit or lectern for added visibility.
• Casters – We have many people ask if we can add casters (wheels) to furniture for added mobility.
• Wood Stain – Some wood stains can be modified to match existing furniture. This modification depends on the furniture.

All custom modifications and adjustments to furniture require a custom quote, as the pricing will change depending on what’s done. Quote requests can be made by calling 1-800-257-2968 or by e-mailing us.

When Heavenly Wood first came online, eight years ago, many people asked us why we would sell church furniture online. Many didn’t understand the many benefits of ordering online and many didn’t think we would be successful at it. Honestly, it was pretty strange to see church furniture being sold online back then. Here are a few reasons you may want to consider ordering your church furniture online from Heavenly Wood.

As a pastor, priest or cleric, chances are pretty good that you’re very busy. Looking for church furniture is very time consuming and it can be difficult to free up time. Hopping online and finding church furniture from the comfort of an office is very convenient. Once an order is placed, either by using our toll-free number (1-800-257-2968) or through our secure shopping cart, it can be shipped directly to the church. Nice!

At Heavenly Wood, we try to provide great pictures of our products so there are no surprises. We understand that using church money to by furniture is no simple matter. We want to make sure you are happy with your purchase. You can, at our expense, request a free full-color catalog by going here. You can also make requests of wood and fabric samples to make sure everything matches prior to making a purchase.

Keep in mind that our church furniture is hand made and hand crafted to perfection. It looks great. Just read what our customers have had to say about their furniture from heavenly wood by clicking here.

We are always looking for new ways to help all of you beautify your church and make your job a little easier. We are very happy to announce the addition of six new podiums to our site. These new podiums are made from cherry hardwood, with some models also being available in walnut and oak.

We offer two versions of each podium. The Evolution model includes a sound system capable of operating without any cables. The Evolution version can hold a charge for up to three months of non-use.

NEW PODIUMS:

1. Collegiate Podium

2. Collegiate Evolution Podium

3. Counselor Podium

4. Counselor Evolution Podium

5. Ambassador Podium

6. Ambassador Evolution Podium

Time permitting, stop by and take a look at these new models. These pulpits are beautifully hand crafted and feature all the quality that Heavenly Wood is known for. Feel free to call and speak with one of our church furniture specialists by calling 1-800-257-2968. Our furniture specialists will not pressure you into a sale and are more than happy to answer questions.