BareWood

09/01/2026

People measure the wall. Almost nobody measures the way in. 📏

↩️ The turn. The one you can't solve by turning the piece sideways. A hallway ending in a 90° corner doesn't need the piece's width — it needs its diagonal. Measure the hall, then the doorway it turns into. Both have to work at once.

🚪 Then the doorway, with the door still on. An open door eats about two inches off the frame. Popping the hinge pins usually buys them back.

🛠️ Ask what comes apart before you buy. A lot of dining tables have removable tops, so the top and base go in separately. Beds and some hutches break down too. Worth asking before you rule a piece out on a showroom floor.

Four minutes with a tape measure, saved in your phone. ✅

We're on US-19 in Clearwater. Come on in and see us. We'll surprise you. ❤️

08/25/2026

Somebody has probably warned you not to buy real wood furniture in Florida. The humidity will get it — it'll warp, it'll swell, you'll regret it.

Six years of selling it here and I'm still waiting to see it.

My theory: wood doesn't react to how humid the air is, it reacts to how much the humidity swings. Your house runs AC most of the year, which holds the air in a narrow band. A house up north goes bone-dry every winter and muggy every summer. Which one sounds harder on a dining table?

That's my reasoning, not a study. And if I'd worry about anything, it isn't Florida — it's furniture that isn't in conditioned air. The garage during a move. The storage unit. The lanai, which is outdoors no matter what the roof suggests. The house closed up for the summer with the AC off.

The risk isn't Florida. It's unconditioned Florida.

We're on US-19 in Clearwater. Come on in and see us. We'll surprise you. ❤️

08/18/2026

A child ends up in an emergency room every 53 minutes because furniture fell on them. That's CPSC's number — out of about 17,800 tip-over injuries a year across furniture, TVs and appliances, 44% are kids.

Less known: it isn't only kids. Tip-overs among adults 60 and over have more than doubled in a decade. Someone steadying themselves on a dresser is a different accident than a toddler climbing one. Same dresser.

Worth knowing why it happens: a dresser with two drawers pulled out isn't the same object as one with them shut. The weight moves forward and the whole thing turns into a lever.

The fix is a few dollars and ten minutes with a drill — anchor it to the wall. And if your piece came with a strap still taped inside a drawer, that's what it's for.

Luckily the furniture is changing too. Since September 2023, pieces like dressers and chests have to pass a federal stability test to be sold — on carpet, drawers loaded and open, simulating a child up to 60 pounds pulling on it. It's called the STURDY Act.

It only covers what was built after that date, though. So anchor what you already have.

Follow the directions that came with your kit (or furniture) — and if you've got plaster, block, or metal studs instead of standard drywall and wood, that's a different job. Worth asking a handyman.

We're on US-19 in Clearwater.

08/11/2026

Two things to know before you shop for a nightstand.

One: the height of your mattress. Floor-to-top if you're keeping an existing bed, or mattress thickness if you're replacing both the bed and nightstand.

Two: whether you like the height you've got. Lie down and reach for your water. Sit up and reach for the lamp. Too low, too high, or Goldilocks?😉 No correct answer — but you already know which way yours is wrong, and that's the thing to bring to the store.

Last week for the anniversary sale on our featured bedroom collection — solid wood, built in Ohio by a family company since 1900. 20% off through Monday the 17th, and orders go in that day.

We're on US-19 in Clearwater.We're on US-19 in Clearwater.

08/07/2026

You know us. You know we run honest pricing — we don't mark our pieces up just to mark them back down like the big boys. So real sales aren't something we do often. But when one of our manufacturers runs one, you know we pass it straight on to you.

This one's worth it. Archbold Furniture is turning 125 — Ohio's oldest furniture maker, American-built since 1900 — and they're celebrating with Heritage Days. 20% off Archbold pieces through August 17.

We're talking real-wood bedroom sets and bookcases built to outlast the trend cycle — the kind of thing you buy once and hand down, not replace in five years.

Come see them in person, just down the street on US-19 in Clearwater.

Barewood Custom Furniture · Clearwater

08/07/2026

"So… is it broken?"

We get this one on the floor constantly. Somebody opens a drawer on a new chest, it stops three-quarters of the way out, and they look at us like we tried to pull a fast one. 😄

Totally fair. But that drawer is doing exactly what it's supposed to do — and the reason goes back to a federal safety standard that took effect in 2023 that most people never heard a word about.

We also got into the part nobody talks about: tip-over injuries among adults 60 and up have more than doubled over the last decade, and it's usually a dresser that does it. Which is worth knowing in a county like ours.

Plus the big one — a drawer that stops short is NOT a cheap drawer. That old rule of thumb doesn't work anymore.

That new chest stops three-quarters of the way open and you assume something's wrong. It isn't — and the reason involves a federal law most people missed.

08/04/2026

Don't pick a wood finish under store lighting.

Showroom light is bright and even and nothing like your house. A stain that looks warm and golden on the sales floor can go orange next to your floors, or disappear against the dresser you're keeping.

Two ways around it. Take a sample home and look at it in your own room — morning and again at six. Or go the other direction and bring something with you: a drawer from the nightstand you're keeping, a scrap of flooring, a cabinet door. Matching in person beats matching from memory every time.

Matters most with furniture that's built after you order it, because there's no floor model to eyeball. The collection we're featuring this month comes in 27 finishes — 14 stains, 13 paints.

It's built in Ohio by a family company that's been at it since 1900. 125 years this year, and they're marking it with 20% off through August 17th.

We're just down the street on US-19 in Clearwater. Come on in and see us. We'll surprise you. ❤️

07/28/2026

Two dressers can look almost identical on a showroom floor. Same size, same finish, similar price. One will still be rock-solid in twenty years — the other will have sticking drawers and a back panel working itself loose by year three. 🔍

The difference is construction, and most of it hides in the places people don't think to look.

Our newest post walks through exactly what we check when a piece comes across our floor — dovetail joints, mortise-and-tenon joinery, drawer boxes, the back panel, the wiggle test. No woodworking degree required.

And here's the honest part: real wood is necessary for a quality piece, but it doesn't guarantee one. Same goes for labels — "Amish-made" included. A label tells you where a piece was made. It doesn't tell you whether the construction is good. That part's still on you to check.

Give it a read before your next shopping trip. 👇

Two dressers can look identical but age completely differently. Here's how to spot quality construction — dovetails, joinery, glides — before you buy. Clearwater FL.

07/24/2026

Ever wonder why two pieces of the same wood can look so different? It's the finish.

Here's one board wearing all three. Matte on the left — barely any shine, the most forgiving with fingerprints and everyday scuffs. Satin in the middle — a gentle glow, the easygoing pick for a house that actually gets used. Gloss on the right — reflective and dramatic, beautiful on the grain, but it'll show every smudge.

None of them is "the good one." It depends on the piece and the room. Kids and a dog? Matte or satin will save your sanity. A statement cabinet you want to shine? Gloss earns its keep.

Worth thinking about before you buy — the finish changes everything about how a piece lives with you.

We're just down the street on US-19 in Clearwater. Come on in and see us. We'll surprise you. ❤️

Barewood Custom Furniture · Clearwater