PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2023

Dixie Perez works in the finishing department at Green Gables

Green Gables furniture designer Tim McClellan works on a piece at the Green Gables factory in Bradford

about the Yellowstone “look,” Para mount canceled its plane reservations for High Point and began working with Green Gables. The result is The Yellowstone Collection, with two lines of furniture: The Dutton and the Gallatin Valley lines. Furniture in the Dutton line is made of reclaimed, naturally textured wood that can be up to 150 years old. The Gallatin Valley line is made of hickory, the wood valued by American settlers, who appreciated its strength and usefulness. Paramount approves each furniture design before it is finalized. The company also provides marketing assistance and star power. Last year, Paramount sent Jen Landon, the actress who portrays Teeter on Yellowstone , to be in the Green Gables booth at the High Point Market. The actress, daughter of the late actor, director and producer Michael Landon, stayed in the booth for more than five hours, greeting visitors, giving autographs and posing for selfies. Because the Yellowstone sets and furnishings had been well established before the licensing agreement with Green Gables, none of the company’s furniture actually appears on the show. But the Yellowstone Collection has quickly become the top-selling furniture for Green Gables. THE PRODUCT Much of Green Gables’ furniture is constructed from barn wood or re claimed wood, which comes from other types of deconstructed buildings.

You can find its Yellowstone Collection line at Sauder Furniture in Roanoke. “It’s neat seeing the recycled wood being used,” said Skip Sauder, company president, who mostly appreciates working with the Rouse family. “As a fifth-generation family store ourselves, we're proud to support local people doing well. We don’t put anything in our store that we wouldn’t put in our own homes, and Green Gables lives up to our standard of quality.” Each piece of Green Gables furniture is handmade, bench-built by a craftsman and made to order. Custom orders are routine. New wood was used when the com pany first started making furniture, creating updated designs of arts and crafts and Mission-style furniture. Bob and Tricia pushed within the company for Green Gables to start using the old wood. “The rustic market was driven by log homes,” said Rouse. “You were seeing people using reclaimed wood, but not really making traditional designs with it. We were taking that wood and translating it for a regular home. You didn’t have to be in a log cabin to have the reclaimed wood look.” The company offers 70 furniture collections, with an estimated total of 500 individual pieces. There is a Green Gables piece of furniture for every room in the house, including the bathroom. WHOLESALE ONLY What Green Gables Furniture does not have is a showroom. Green Gables is strictly a wholesaler, offering its furniture exclusively through more than 200 retailers across the country.

The company’s building doesn’t even have the company name on it, as it is not open to the public. You can find its Yellowstone Collec tion line at Sauder Furniture in Roa noke. “It's neat seeing the recycled wood being used,” said Skip Sauder, company president, who mostly ap preciates working with the Rouse fam ily. “As a fifth-generation family store ourselves, we're proud to support local people doing well. We don't put any thing in our store that we wouldn't put in our own homes, and Green Gables lives up to our standard of quality.” Green Gables sets a strikingly fast pace, with 55 employees making enough furniture to fill a semi-truck every four days. The interest in Green Gables furnish ings is mostly from the west. Seventy percent of its furniture is sold west of the Mississippi River. Once a customer places an order, de livery can be expected in six to 10 weeks. Sadly, barn wood is a vanishing re source. “We’ll run out of barns,” said Rouse. “You really can’t fake the patina of aged wood. It’s almost impossible. Whoever figures that out is going to be a multi-millionaire.” That diminishing resource is just one reason Green Gables makes legacy furniture. “Our furniture is heirloom quality, passed down generation to generation, built to the highest standards possible,” said Rouse. Linda Smith Brown is a 37-year veteran of the newspaper industry, retiring as publisher of Times Newspapers in the Peoria area

JUNE 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 63