Habersham Furniture Southern Elegance

My Love Affair with Habersham Furniture

Habersham furniture has gotten complicated with all the marketing fluff flying around. As someone who spent eight years visiting showrooms and furniture factories across the South, I learned everything there is to know about what separates authentic handcrafted furniture from mass-produced knockoffs. Today, I’ll share what makes Habersham worth the investment.

I still remember the first time I walked into a showroom and saw a Habersham piece up close. It was this massive armoire with the most incredible distressed finish I had ever seen. I literally stood there for like ten minutes just running my hands over the surface, trying to figure out how they got the wood to look that way.

That was maybe eight years ago, and I have been slightly obsessed ever since.

Where This All Started

So here is the thing about Habersham – they have been doing this since 1972, way before handcrafted became a marketing buzzword. Joyce Eddy started the company in the hills of northeast Georgia, and honestly, you can still feel that Southern craftsmanship DNA in every piece they make.

What kills me is how they have managed to stay true to their roots. I have visited furniture factories that have completely sold out to automation, churning out stuff that looks handmade but definitely is not. Habersham? Their people are still hand-planing wood, cutting dovetails by hand, the whole nine yards. It is almost stubbornly traditional, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

That’s what makes Habersham endearing to us furniture enthusiasts — they refuse to compromise on technique even when shortcuts would be easier and more profitable.

The Finishing Work – This Is Where It Gets Interesting

Okay, if you are a furniture nerd like me, this is the good stuff. Their finishing process is honestly a little nuts. We are talking multiple layers, hand-distressing, glazing, waxing – sometimes a single piece goes through fifteen or twenty steps before it is done.

I tried to recreate one of their finishes in my own shop last year. Total disaster. Ended up looking like I had attacked the piece with a chain and then half-heartedly tried to fix it. There is a reason these folks train for years before they are let loose on a piece.

What you get from all that work:

• That aged patina – looks like your grandmother owned it, in the best possible way
• Durability that is actually impressive – the finish protects the wood while looking delicate
• Colors that shift and catch light – seriously, pull a piece near a window and watch what happens

Finding Your Style

They have got several collections, and honestly, they are pretty different from each other. The American Treasures line is your classic colonial-inspired stuff – think Philadelphia highboys and Virginia hunt boards. French Country goes totally different direction with that rustic European vibe.

My personal weakness? Their kitchen cabinetry. I know, I know, it is not the sexiest category, but putting Habersham cabinets in your kitchen is basically the furniture equivalent of buying a really nice watch. Nobody needs it, but once you see it every day, you can not imagine going back to mass-produced stuff.

The custom options are where things get fun too. You can pick your finish, your hardware, tweak the dimensions – it is like building your own piece without actually having to build anything.

The Green Angle

Probably should have led with this section, honestly.

This matters more to me than it probably should, but Habersham actually cares about where their wood comes from. They work with responsible suppliers, they recycle scraps in the shop, they use water-based finishes where they can.

Is it perfect? Probably not. But compared to a lot of furniture companies that slap a green label on their marketing and call it a day, they are actually walking the walk.

Working with Designers

I have talked to a few interior designers who specify Habersham regularly, and they all say the same thing – the pieces photograph beautifully, but they are even better in person. The craftsmanship details just pop when you are standing next to them.

If you are working on a project and need a statement piece – like a dining table that will make people actually stop eating and admire it – this is where you go. Yeah, you will pay for it. But you are paying for something that will outlast you.

Is It Worth the Money?

Look, I am not going to pretend Habersham is affordable. It is not. A nice armoire could run you into five figures easy. But I have also seen forty-year-old Habersham pieces that look better now than they did new.

The way I think about it: cheap furniture is an expense, good furniture is an investment. Maybe that is me justifying my own purchases, but I do not think I am wrong.

If you get a chance to see their stuff in person, do it. Even if you do not buy anything, you will learn something about what good craftsmanship looks like. That has been worth the trip for me more than once.