We have been making furniture at Walker Creek for almost 20 years and have had our store in Essex, Massachusetts since 1986. Essex has been called the "antique capital of New England," and our furniture has always been inspired by 18th and 19th century furniture in style and construction.
How Walker Creek furniture is made
We use mortise-and-tenon joinery instead of dowels, and smooth our boards with a hand plane rather than a belt sander. We use only solid wood, no chip-board or veneer. While most furniture is finished with a sprayed-on polyurethane or colored lacquer, we finish every piece by hand using linseed oil, shellac and milk paint, just like 18th century furniture, so the surface feels as good as it looks. And rather than mass-producing stock designs we custom design each piece to guarantee proper scale, composition and detail. We can also use antique boards, doors, and architectural elements from old New England farmhouses and barns to create "new antiques" and colorful, one-of-a-kind pieces. We also sell antique furniture which we restore to a usable condition while retaining original finishes whenever possible.
Windsor chairs
One of our specialities at Walker Creek is Windsor chairs. We offer a wide variety of new Windsors in both traditional and contemporary designs, including hand-made reproductions by Robert Elliott. We also have a large collection (over 200 chairs!) of antique Windsors from the late 18th and early 19th century which we restore and assemble into usable sets. Styles include bow-back, rod-back, birdcage, step-down, arrow-back and thumb-back. We also sell rush-seat "fancy chairs" from the same period.
Walker Creek customers
Homeowners, decorators, architects and businesses who need just the right piece for their home or office, come to Walker Creek Furniture. The casual, aged look of our furniture is especially suited to period antique houses, second homes, and beach houses.
About our name, Walker Creek
Walker Creek is not just a furniture store, it is a mile-long tributary that flows from Haskell Pond in West Gloucester out to Conomo Point on the Essex River behind Crane Beach. Two of our workshops are located near the creek, which powered a sawmill and a grist mill 200 years ago. This small tidal river remains unchanged by time, and its strong, quiet beauty makes its name fit our furniture.
