Maine Cottage

Maine Cottage Furniture headquarters and company store in Yarmouth, Maine

Maine Cottage is a privately held American furniture company specializing in high end coastal cottage style furniture.^[1] Their product line includes painted solid wood, wicker, and upholstered furniture. Customers can customize their furniture by selecting from exclusive paint colors and signature fabric patterns.^[1]

Started in Yarmouth, Maine in the United States, the operation is now fully run and operated out of Annapolis, Maryland.^[1] Their products ship worldwide, and are available through their Annapolis retail store, online, or through their catalog.

History

The company was founded in 1988 by Peter Bass and artist Carol Bass.^[2] It was originally located in Yarmouth, Maine in a restored cannery^[3] on the Royal River. Bass is the great grandson of Wilton, Maine shoe maker G.H. Bass.^[4]

Maine Cottage was the first company to offer American Country, Early Shaker, and Mid Century Modern-inspired painted wood furniture in a multitude of original colors.^[3] The idea originated with artist Carol Bass painting and selling "found" pieces of cottage furniture.^[2] The company then began to design furniture and paint its own custom pieces. Maine Cottage expanded their product line with the introduction of their textile line in 2000, producing colorful whimsical patterns for use on their nostalgic upholstery and wicker furniture lines.

• In 2001, as Maine Cottage was continuing expansion efforts a competing furniture company called Russell & Mackenna was launched. Russell & Mackenna got its start after Lauren and Kevin Russell began designing and building furniture in their Severna Park, Maryland garage.^[5] Lauren's father, Larry Strassner, was recruited in 2004 to help with financial and operational aspects of the business freeing Lauren to focus on designing for and marketing the company.^[6] When Russell & Mackenna outgrew their garage manufacturing,^[7] they employed artisan furniture builders in Delaware to continue the bench-built, made-to-order method of production.^[3] When their signature piece, the High Tide Hall Table, was featured in Coastal Living Magazine the brand gained a loyal following nationwide.^[8]
• In 2006, Russell & Mackenna launched an upholstered furniture line adding a playful element to their painted furniture collection with bright colors and cheerful prints.
• By 2009, under Strassner's leadership, Russell & Mackenna was a multimillion dollar business.^[8] Designs were sold direct-to-consumer and specified by members of the trade in coastal inspired homes around the country.
• In 2011, Maine Cottage was in financial distress and faced foreclosure.^[9] Russell & Mackenna acted quickly and acquired the intellectual property of their competitor, Maine Cottage. Product lines were merged and the resulting company continued to run operations as Maine Cottage.^[10]

The Maine Cottage Flagship Store located in Annapolis, MD.

During 2011, the new owners of Maine Cottage launched a new website, catalog, and a Flagship Store at the new company headquarters in Annapolis, MD.^[1] Today, Maine Cottage has grown into a multichannel national brand for painted furniture, textile design, upholstered and wicker furniture.

Store

The 2,000 square foot storefront was located in Annapolis, MD.^[1] Russell’s vision for the space was “an airy and fresh feeling reminiscent of a summer breeze that genuinely makes people happy.” The company's core furniture lines were showcased in the historic Livery building built in 1903,^[11] with architectural details in the barn space that recall the history of the building and the relaxed coastal style of the Maine Cottage brand. The Flagship Store attracted visitors from around the world.^[1] The storefront closed on March 30, 2015.

Maine Cottage had one brick-and-mortar store and continues to have an interactive online store featuring thousands of examples of Maine Cottage furniture. The online store showcases over 350 pieces of furniture in over 200 fabrics and 46 paint colors.^[1]

Catalog

Maine Cottage produces a coffee table style catalog, coined their “Colorbook.”^[3] The first catalog, printed in 1989, featured 5 pieces of furniture and 3 paint colors. The latest Colorbook was a special 25th Anniversary Issue released in 2012. The book features over 350 pieces of furniture, 130 fabrics, and 46 paint colors.^[1] The next catalog is due to be released in Spring 2014.

Products

Maine Cottage Stella Sofa in the color: Vast Sky and with the fabric: Rambler: Ivory

Maine Cottage product lines include furniture, home decor accessories, signature fabrics, and exclusive paint colors.^[12] Their furniture lines include solid painted wood furniture, upholstered furniture, and wicker furniture.^[13] Painted furniture is bench built to order^[14] and painted in wood shops in Maine, West Virginia and Delaware. Hardwoods used in the furniture are Maple, Cherry and quarter-sawn Oak^[3] are milled nearby each wood shop using trees that are indigenous to the region. Painted furniture includes beds, dressers, chairs, tables and bath vanities. In-house designers create and work within a palette of 46 paint colors, available on every painted piece of wood and wicker furniture. Their upholstered furniture, including sofas, loveseats, armchairs and ottomans, is crafted to order in North Carolina. Signature pattern fabrics are designed exclusively by Maine Cottage, based upon the paint palette so the upholstered furniture coordinates with the painted pieces. Frames are made of 5/4", or thicker, kiln-dried select hardwoods with joints that are double-doweled, glued and block reinforced for extra strength. Wicker furniture is hand-woven in Manilla in the Philippines. Currently their home decor offerings include rugs, mirrors, hooks, artwork, and lighting.

Maine Cottage furniture is principally manufactured in the United States.^[15] Signature furniture designs include the fiddlehead side table, introduced in 1998, the Venus loveseat, introduced in 2003 and the low tide hall table, introduced in 2008. Exclusive printed patterns include Rambler, Really Rosie and Lotsa Dots.

Maine Cottage furniture has been shipped to consumers across the US,^[8] Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Press

Maine Cottage furniture can be found in the homes of celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow,^[16] Conan O’Brien,^[17] Joanna Garcia Swisher and Nick Swisher, Chad Smith and Nancy Mack Smith. Their furniture has been featured in national publications such as Coastal Living,^[18] HGTV Magazine,^[19] House Beautiful,^[20] and Better Homes & Gardens Magazine.^[8]

References

External links

• Website
• Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter