I read an astounding statistic recently: In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy—the tropical super-storm that hit the Northeastern United States in October, 2012—the New York City parks department recorded 8,577 fallen street trees, as well as 3,365 fallen limbs and...

Living in a New York City apartment building and working in a high-rise office tower, I’m used to having the view out the window framed in steel. Maybe that’s why I’m often captivated by hardwood window frames. Whether painted or stained, traditional or modern, rustic...

If you live in a multistory house, chances are you’ve looked at the dark wedge of no-man’s-land under each set of stairs and thought: That space could be made to look and function much better. The classic solution is to fill the unattractive void with a closet, which...

I’ve long admired the work of Linda Banks, an architectural and interior designer based in Falmouth, Maine. Whenever she can, Linda uses hardwood to clad the walls of her residential interiors. “Wood creates more soul, atmosphere, texture, and character than drywall,”...

I’ve been a major fan of Kaufmann Mercantile, an online store specializing in simple, high quality, great-looking housewares, since it launched six years ago. Founded by Sebastian Kaufmann, a young German-born entrepreneur with a discerning eye for good, unpretentious...

As gift-giving season approaches, I’ve been on my annual hunt for useful and attractive presents made of American hardwood. As always, the range and quality of wood products I’ve been able to find—from graphically inventive alphabet blocks for young children to...

A story on the website of our sister organization, the American Hardwood Export Council, alerted me to an extraordinary project involving the even more extraordinary use of American white oak. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the Heydar Aliyev...

Wandering around the vast Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York the other day, I found myself in front of a famous American painting I hadn’t seen in a number of years: Washington Crossing the Delaware, an enormous historical canvas created in 1851 by the German-born...

Is there anything more beautiful than a majestic, full-grown hardwood tree? If I spot a particularly magnificent specimen, I’ll often stop the car, get out, and have a really good look at it. I usually have no trouble identifying the species, especially in the...

    Ever since I first discovered them as a young girl, I’ve been fascinated by Shaker furniture and buildings. A Christian sect founded in 18th century England, the Shakers came to colonial America in 1774 and began establishing communities in New England....