Gary Sullivan, an antiques expert and an old friend of The New Yankee Workshop, shows Norm an antique Window Bench probably built in the early 19th century. Although it doesn’t appear to be in good condition with it’s tattered upholstery, Gary tells Norm he wouldn't consider restoring this “rare” example of what he believes is a “museum quality” bench. “You don't expect to see more than a handful of these in a lifetime,” he explains to Norm. The simple bench is little more than an upholstered seat with two rolled arms on dark wooden legs. Such benches are meant to be used at a window to frame the view or, perhaps, at the end of a bed to sit and relax. Norm calls upon the experts at Lee Industries, the fine furniture manufacturers, who come up from their base in North Carolina to help Norm upholster his version of the Window Bench. The result is handsome and very comfortable.

Corner chairs go way back in the history of furniture. Some say their early popularity had to do with the convenience of those wearing swords who could sit on such a chair comfortably. During a visit to Historic New England, a preservation society, Norm is shown a number of variations on this classic form. Norm decides to build his chair out of cherry.

Norm has said many times that chairs are the most challenging projects a woodworker can attempt. Not only do they have to be strong enough to support the heavy twisting action of a human body, they also have to be attractive enough to take their place at the table. Norm visits historic Deerfield in central Massachusetts where he discovers, amid the vast collection of antique furniture, a comfortable, handsome, American-built side chair of the early 1800’s. Norm makes a faithful reproduction back in the workshop and upholsters it in a modern fabric that should stand up well to the rigors of time.

The Lancaster County “Fan Back" Windsor chair is perhaps the most challenging woodworking project of the 16th season. Norm pays a visit to chair makers Bill and Sally Wallick in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania for some invaluable help in building his “Fan Back". Bill teaches Norm how to start with carving a seat, then turning the legs, then fitting the steam bent maple “crest" rail, and adding the delicate, but strong spindles. Then Sally Wallick takes over to show how she is able to add instant age to their new chairs, giving them a realistic patina of antiquity that will fool even an expert.

Norm happened to mention to a reporter that he had never made an upholstered piece of furniture. This led to an invitation to partner with Lee Industries of Newton, North Carolina, one of America's most highly regarded furniture makers. In the first of a special two-part program, Norm visits the Lee Industries factory to understand how upholstered chairs and sofas are made. He gets a tour with Norman Coley whose family has been making furniture in North Carolina for 40 years. Coley suggests Norm try making a "cigar" chair, which can be made without sewing and stitching. Back at the shop Norm starts by building the hard maple frame, the skeleton underneath this handsome chair.

In part two, Norm cuts the leather using patterns and tackles the padding and other steps before showing his new-found skill at applying the rich looking leather to the frame. It's all about stretching, tacking, stretching, and re-tacking until the desired look is achieved. You'll be impressed with this project.

See Note below

It used to be when you cruised the ocean on a liner you would be offered a comfortable place to read and relax on a sun deck. A deckhand would show you to your wooden lounge chair, often made of teak, fitted with brass and combined with a footrest. Today you can enjoy the same comfort with Norm’s version, made of plantation grown teak and specialized brass hardware designed to withstand the elements.

Project #0212, Deck Chair, 6/15/2002: The illustration shows the curved seat slats in both the "major anatomy" drawing and "chair assembly" drawing with the curved part forward. They should be reversed so the curved part is to the rear.

See Note below

One of the all-time most popular projects ever built in The New Yankee Workshop was the Adirondack chair Norm built years ago. Now, with this Adirondack loveseat, Norm has the chance to revisit his original design and make improvements not possible when the original was built. For example, a new generation of weather proof adhesives are now available to secure the various parts to one another. Elsewhere Norm makes refinements in joining the various elements with all weather screws and conceals them with plugs. What results from these improvements, the Adirondack loveseat, is an extremely comfortable double seated version of our all-time favorite project.

Project #0204, Adirondack Loveseat, 3/3/04: The Major Anatomy drawing shows the incorrect measurement for the front legs. The length of the front legs measure 23 1/4 inches as stated in the Materials List.

A visit to the historic Grove Park Inn in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains provides the inspiration for this project when Norm spies a handsome Arts and Crafts-style hall seat among its stunning collection of antique furniture. Back in The New Yankee Workshop, he crafts his rendition out of quartersawn white oak. Nicely sized to fit in even the narrowest hallway, its tall back features a mirror and period brass hat hooks, while its hinged seat offers ample storage for boots and other accessories.

In Arizona, Norm goes on a search for Arts and Crafts-style furniture in Tucson's Historic Arts District. Responding to the many viewer requests he receives each season to build more of the ever-popular Arts and Crafts-style projects, Norm ventures into the F.L. Wright Furniture Gallery where he finds a virtuoso example of the era-a classic, reclining Morris chair. Norm recreates this vintage design out of quarter sawn white oak and in the process, shares his secrets for mastering the techniques required to build the chair's reclining back.

On a recent sojourn to the quaint New England island of Nantucket, Norm found a wonderful lidded settle that can double as extra storage space and a hallway showpiece. Norm crafts a rendition out of beautiful cherry wood and, in the process, demonstrates a variety of intermediate woodworking techniques including spindle-turning and how to make framed panels.

The witches of Salem, Massachusetts may have once sat upon the high chair that Norm spies at the House of the Seven Gables. But that doesn't stop the master woodworker from building his own version. Intended for toddlers aged two to four and made of cherry, it features legs and spindle rests turned on the lathe.

Children always want a chair that is their own size. Norm's is one they might someday pass on to their own children. The beauty is in the details with this challenging project, as the master woodworker turns the legs on a lathe and forms the curved backrest by laminating three pieces of cherry together. The holes for the arms, legs and stretchers are bored on the drill press using a series of homemade jigs with tapered angles and wedges. This rocking chair is perfectly proportioned and likely to become the favorite in any child's room.

The ladderback chair with simple, elegant turnings and a woven seat is one of the Shaker's most ingenious and well-known designs. The chairs came in several sizes to fit different physiques. Light and sturdy, these chairs are a hallmark of the Shaker furniture industry. The New Yankee version is made from cherry. Norm demonstrates how to weave the seat.

In a departure from the traditional New England-style furniture usually featured on The New Yankee Workshop, Norm draws inspiration from the furniture craftsmen of the southwestern United States to constructs mission-style sofa whose signature simple lines and oak frame allow for cushions. Despite its distinctive regional flavor, Norm's design for this project features the same woodworking techniques - including mortise-and-tenon joinery - he employs in creating his other pieces.

Norm travels to the Massachusetts harbor of Gloucester to look at a high-backed, curved hearthside settle at Beauport, the home of tarry 20th-century interior decorator and antiquarian Henry Sleeper. The house is now a museum run by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. Norm's version of this pine piece closes in the area beneath the seat to create a storage space and adds an access hatch in the seat. Norm shows how to cut the settle's curved cross-members and shaped side pieces, how to join the back boards with tongue-and-groove joints, and how to bend the back base board along the bottom of the frame.

Norm travels to the Museum of the Adirondacks near Blue Mountain Lake, New York, to inspect a collection of rustic furniture, including a variety of Adirondack chairs. Extracting the best features from each of these chairs, Norm designs his own version built of cypress, an excellent outdoor wood that needs no preservatives or treatment. A project that relies heavily on the band saw to shade its many curved pieces, the Adirondack chair requires no fancy joinery, it's fastened together exclusively with screws, nails and nuts and bolts.