Our Chairs

Our chairs are made for us in kit form in Ontario, Canada and we import them directly into the UK which means that we can offer them at very competitive prices.

The mill in Ontario - taken during lunchtime!

We wanted a chair that was made in Canada because this is the 'birthplace' of the Muskoka and we are proud to offer a Country of Origin product. We fell in love with this design of chair whilst on holiday in Canada and the USA because of its comfort and stylish good looks. It looks just at home in large sweeping gardens as on a balcony or in a garden room. Even though they have been around for years the design still holds for the 21st century.
We offer the chair as a kit which includes all of the parts in bare Northern Ontario White Pine, Northern White Cedar or British Columbia Western Red Cedar, full instructions and stainless steel screws (which means no rust or black marks on the wood). You will normally have one spare screw so don't worry you haven't missed anything!

You only need to provide the screwdriver, and finish. You get the satisfaction of making it yourself and you can even customise the finish. Why not try stripes, spots, flowers or your favourite team's colours? Your imagination is the only limit. We'd love to see photos of your chairs.

The kit is boxed and ideal as a present for someone who enjoys a small project. The record for assembling a pine kit is 29 minutes (one of our customers not us) but we would say normally about 1 - 2 hours.

You make a huge saving if you buy a kit but we also offer an assembly and finish service. We take our premium sanded kit and sand it some more to round off edges. We then assemble the chair and all joints are glued and screwed. The Pine chair is given two coats of preserver followed by two to three coats of paint. You can choose from a range of colours or have one made in a colour of your choice. The Western Red Cedar chair is given an oil finish. The folding chair and White Cedar chair are left natural for you to finish as you wish. You can be assured that we only release the chair to you once we are happy with it, and we can be very fussy!

No camera trickery here, the chair really is this big. Whilst it's a bit larger than our chair, it is more or less an exact replica. We can't offer this size chair but we can certainly do the same colour!

Design Features

The arm rests (paddles) are a lovely feature of this chair and they are wide and flat enough to support a dinner plate. Our paddles are wider than others we have come across, the routering is superior giving a lovely rounded finish and they are made out of one piece of wood. You won't see any screw heads or plugs in our paddles as they are attached by screwing in from underneath so keeping the paddles smooth and clean.

Our customers tell us that they are the most comfortable garden chairs they have sat in and this is because they are third generation Muskoka chairs which means that they have an angled sitting position with a flat base seat and a slightly curved back. The chair is comfortable yet supportive at the same time. Some chairs in the Adirondack style have flat backs and a fully angled sitting position which are not as comfortable. Other chairs may look the same but each one will have subtle differences, we sat in a lot chairs to find the most comfortable. The elegant look of our chair is due to it being proportionate, the back and seat slats are of similar size and the wood is the right thickness to not look too cumbersome. On a recent trip to Canada and America we tried to find a better chair but couldn't, we still believe that ours is the best!

Which Wood?

The ideal choice for Muskoka Chairs is either Pine or Cedar as any other wood will either not be durable enough outside or be too heavy to move. Our Western Red Cedar is slightly larger overall than our Pine chair and White Cedar chair.

The main difference between Pine and Cedar is that Pine has to be treated with an exterior finish in order to be left outside, whereas both Cedars are naturally weather and insect resistant so will last a long time untreated. Western Red Cedar is a beautiful wood which offers so many different grains and shades, no two chairs are the same. White Cedar tends to be more more uniform in colour and is a great choice for staining. Both Cedars can be left untreated to weather to a silvery grey colour. We don't recommend painting Cedar as the natural oils could react with the paint. So if you want a coloured chair, it maybe best to chose the Pine. Some woodworkers dismiss Pine but it does depend on the Pine. Ours is excellent quality and provided you look after it will give you many years enjoyment. Cedar is ideal if you want a natural chair and its longevity makes it the first choice of Canadians and Americans. More information regarding British Columbia Western Red Cedar can be found at www.wrcla.org

Sustainable Wood

Our chairs are made from Northern Ontario Pine, Northern White Cedar or British Columbia Western Red Cedar and the mill in Canada has received FSC certification.

The Forest Products Association of Canada gives some interesting facts in the publication 'What Buyers Need to Know - Certification and Canada's Forests':

'Canada has maintained almost 92% of its original area of forest cover, more than any other country. This means only 8% of all forests has ever been converted to farmland or cities. Annual harvesting levels in Canada are strictly controlled by government foresters and all harvested areas must be promptly regenerated. In total, only one quarter of Canada's 417 million hectares forests are managed for timber production and less than 1% of that working forest is harvested annually.'