David Marsh Furniture

Handcrated in Texas

In 1970, David Marsh discovered the thing he most enjoyed: woodworking. He started making small wooden boxes and selling them at flea markets. Then, in 1975, Marsh and three partners began making elegant rosewood and walnut conference tables and credenzas for Houston bankers and oil men. In his spare time, David made a very different kind of furniture ordinary pine pieces, along the simple lines of Shaker, Mennonite, and other folk styles.

In 1978 he began to produce and sell these pieces. David continues to be an artist as opposed to a businessman. He has no catalogue, business card or fax machine. All pieces of David Marsh Furniture are constructed of Ponderosa Pine. This is a harder pine than most and holds up better to the wear and tear of daily life & (like active kids and pets, bumps, knocks and scratches). Each piece is hand crafted and decorated individually. Imperfections are part of the beauty and character of each piece, so perfectionists beware!

The finish of each piece requires up to eight different applications including overall painting, detail painting, combing, distressing, burn holing, stamping and urethaning. What is unusual about this painted furniture is not only the unusual color combinations, but the fact that the paints are semi-transparent allowing the grain and texture of the wood to come through. The use of pine for Marsh's furniture stems from his belief that only wood that is a fast renewing resource should be used to build furniture.

Each piece of furniture is unique: its creators sign each piece with carved names, symbols, nonsense words and always somewhere, the word "HA." Explains Marsh, that's to tell the customer, "if you don't love it, don't buy it," and to remind himself, "if it's not fun don't do it."