Mission Style Furniture
Beautiful, strong and simple, mission style furniture has an enduring and classic look. Of course, in a craftsman style home or bungalow, it forms the basis of a no-brainer approach to decorating.
However, purchasing authentic mission style antiques may not be the only option. Several vintage furniture brands had successful lines of mission furniture, and they devoted entire design teams to reproducing and adapting Mission style furniture.
Indeed, many of these quality furniture makers adapted classic craftsman style pieces for the modern age. So, you can find some excellent mission style recliners, mission style sofas, mission style coffee tables and end tables for your historic or modern home!
Furthermore, many of these companies put their own twist on the style, using mahogany, cherry and oak to create new furniture designs.
The Best Vintage Mission Style Furniture
The following reproduction furniture companies made excellent mission style furniture that we whole-heartedly recommend:
- Stickley Furniture
- Thomasville Furniture
- Ethan Allen Furniture
- Bassett Furniture
- Durham Furniture
- Lexington Furniture
Stickley Furniture
Obviously, no list about Mission style furniture would be complete without mentioning Stickley Furniture!
In fact, Stickley Furniture Company more or less invented the style. Gustav Stickley, one of the four founding brothers, started the design trend in the early 1900s, aiming for simplicity of design and authenticity in craftsmanship.
Stickley’s simple mission chairs, tables and cabinets had a recognizable linear design, and very clear stain. Of course, this allowed the heavy grains of the oak wood to really stand out.
Later, in the mid to late 20th century, the company re-introduced many of these original Gustav Stickley designs.
Today, you can find over 150 models of mission-style furniture available on Stickley’s website. Many of these designs work for the comfort of today, with mission style recliners, chairs and sofas.
Of course, most of these lovely pieces have a bit of history and connection to their founder’s past. Additionally, you will see these age-old designs feature original signs of craftsmanship. Butterfly joinery can be found on the doors and tops of Stickley sideboards and dressers.
Thomasville Furniture
North Carolina company, Thomasville Furniture, has a great line of Mission style furniture that was introduced in the 1980s. Of course, Thomasville was not exclusively known for Mission furniture. Indeed, they produced a multitude of styles, ranging from French Provincial to classic traditional Federal furniture.
However, Thomasville’s mission furniture can offer a great solution for a mid-priced craftsman style furniture set.
Indeed, they offered Mission style dining room furniture, like mission chairs, mission tables, sideboards and china cabinets that evoked the classic simplicity of craftsman furniture.
On the vintage market, Thomasville Cinnamon Hill Collection can offer an affordable option for those who love the look of Mission style, but don’t want to break the bank.
Ethan Allen Furniture
Unfortunately, Ethan Allen no longer offers mission style furniture on its website. However, in years past, Ethan Allen Mission furniture was quite popular.
Of course, Ethan Allen made beautiful mission style hutches, mission style sofas, and even mission style recliners in the 1980s and 1990s. As these craftsman style pieces took off, they added to their collection with accent furniture, mission coffee tables and mission style end tables.
For that reason, vintage Ethan Allen mission furniture is a great choice. The company used mostly cherry wood as the basis for the Ethan Allen American Impressions Mission style furniture.
Additionally, Ethan Allen New Impressions line offered “Mission-inspired mullioned doors and end panels” in their sideboards and other case pieces. So, you have lots of choices, when it comes to Ethan Allen mission furniture.
Bassett Furniture
Bassett Furniture company, often called Vaughan-Bassett Furniture, company also released lines of Mission inspired furniture.
Surprisingly, Bassett Furniture made some really lovely Mission style pieces, which show great craftsmanship. Even though Bassett is not known as a fine furniture company, these mission sideboards, mission buffets, and mission style bookcases all have a really beautiful look.
Certainly, you will find that Bassett’s mission style furniture seems much more competitive in price than, say, Stickley Furniture.
While they might have skipped really time consuming processes, like pin and mortar joints, Bassett Furniture offers a really nice option for Mission style furniture.
Indeed, Bassett approximated several of the classic Stickley furniture features in their Mission style desks and chairs. So, you will still see the vertical stiles along the front of the desk, iron hardware, and lighter finishes on Bassett furniture.
To cut on costs, you may find that the backs of Bassett furniture are not solid wood, or you may find that there are not as many bells and whistles as other furniture companies. Nonetheless, Bassett Mission style furniture is great used furniture to consider for your craftsman style home!
Durham Furniture
Canadian company, Durham Furniture, made beautiful Mission style furniture in cherry, oak and other solid woods.
Of course, as one of Canada’s premier furniture companies, Durham Furniture dabbled in several different modern and classic styles.
However, their mission style furniture really sticks out to me as a classic! Of course, Durham made beautiful mission bedroom furniture, accent furniture and dining room furniture in this style.
Today, you can find that there is still some influence from this style on Durham’s current product line. While they do not have a collection called the Mission style, many of Durham Furniture’s bedroom collections recall the straight lines and paneled furniture of craftsman style.
Lexington Furniture
Like Durham Furniture company, Lexington Furniture does not currently offer any Mission lines today. However, in years past, Lexington Furniture made several different types of Mission-inspired furniture.
Of course, we can see the Mission influence in the Bob Timberlake Collections by Lexington Furniture. Many of these solid cherry Bob Timberlake furniture pieces featured paneled sides and backs, straight drawer profiles and vertical slates.
Obviously, they also made some really nice thick rectangular dining room tables with tall back slatted chairs. These mission style tables often had large pedestal bases joined with stretcher bases. Additionally, Bob Timberlake for Lexington made very simple Mission style hutches.
In the late 1980s and through the 1990s, Lexington really honed in on the trend for Mission furniture.
Mission Styles by Vintage Furniture Brands
If you are in the market for used mission style furniture, consider the brands we have mentioned above.
Certainly, you will find very nice quality used mission furniture at a fraction of the price of new furniture. And, you can rest assured that these vintage mission pieces have the qualities of high end craftsmanship.
Although it might take some time, searching for these vintage or used mission pieces no doubt will be worth it in the end!
So, let us know, do you have mission style furniture in your home? What are your favorite brands of Mission furniture?