I always think of Stanley as lower mid level, so $5900 seems high to me. I've never owned anything made by them though. Have you checked with Lexington Furniture in Kentucky and Furnitureland South in NC to check prices of your pieces? I wouldn't pull the trigger on the purchase until I was absolutely sure I was getting the best price.
It sounds, though, that this set meets all your criteria.
Dee

It seems like a pretty set, and I always love the panel beds. I also think of Stanley as lower-mid level, so just be sure you have seen the pieces in person, not just from pix, so that you know the quality of the finishes and the way the pieces are constructed.

As far as the nightstands, I would not buy two of anything. A nightstand an a cloth-covered table, or a nightstand and a glass table, would be much more interesting, and less 'matchy'. But if you want matching pieces, then I have to say I would think twice about the telephone tables used as nightstands. That bed is massive, and the skinny phone tables will look too small. We did that in my older DS's room because of space issues, but he has a queen size bed and no headboard/footboard, so it doesn't look so small.

set=-?? sure hope that means an entire bedroom, not just a bed?

I definitely would look at it in person before buying. I purchased Stanley youth furniture for my boys and found it to be not of great quality. The drawer slides had a plastic piece(I don't know what the correct term is) and pretty much all of the drawers broke.

Also, what kind of wood is used? You need a hardwood for it to hold up over time. Awhile back someone posted a chart with the hardness of woods which would help to give you an idea of how durable the set would be. Perhaps you can look online for that information.

Just know what you are buying. They can really make some poor quality stuff look pretty.

Lauren0319, the set sure is beautiful and I love Panel beds but I had to return my Stanley bedroom set and now I have a Durham bedroom set that is definitely quality. See my link below. Hope your set comes in better shape than mine did.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazing the poor condition my Stanley Furniture came in

Stanley Disappointment Post from the Home Decorating Site. The other link was from the Furniture site. I tried to reply so it would appear but it seems to be such an old post that the new replies are not showing up here so I am adding the link. I do love the style of Stanley and maybe they fixed their poor quality control after sending most of their manufacturing over to China.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stanley Disappointment Post from the Home Decorating Site

lauren,

I think what you've picked is very beautiful and timeless, though I am not familiar enough with Stanley to give an opinion on their quality. A few years ago we purchased a wonderful bedroom set (solid maple) that included a sleigh bed, armoire, dresser and both nightstands for about the same price as what you found. We have been extremely happy with the construction and durability. My sleigh bed actually exists in panel form too. I've included a link below if you want to take a look.

People might say that my bedroom is too matchy, but I like it. For a minute I thought about doing a fabric covered decorator table on one side, but both DH and I really wanted the storage for books, magazines... etc.

Hope you're able to see your set in person : )

Here is a link that might be useful: Durham Furniture - Savile Row Panel Bed

I really think you should see it in person before you buy it. I know that sometimes that's really hard but $5900 is a lot of money to go on blind faith. You mentioned that you didn't want very dark wood, but that looks dark enough to me that depending on what it looks like in real life, it could end up being too dark for your tastes.

I know how frustrating it is to want to just find something and be done with it but with something you plan on living with for many years to come, you want to make sure you really love it.

One thing you might consider is whether you really want a triple dresser. We have a really large bedroom (and usually have had through the years), but I find that I just don't really use my triple dresser much and would really prefer that it were a taller chest style to make for more ease in arranging things since they really take up lots of wall space--or wish that I didn't have it at all. We have a taller chest that DH uses, and an armoire, but I primarily use our walk-in closet for 90% of my stuff. I'm about ready to put my triple dresser on CL, but know that I'd get practically nothing compared to what it originally cost. So just another thing to think about.

Sorry I don't know Stanley quality. My set is American Drew--great quality, but also over 30 years old.

southernFrenchie, if my bedroom was bigger, I would have went with the Durham Saville Row in the Mahogany (had two color choicres) color since that is the one I fell in love with but I eeded a lot of furniture in a small size so I went with the Sand White Cottage set.

I saw the Durham Saville Row in person and it was definitely solid wood and quality. The set I had here that I finally sent back to Standley was very pretty but the quality was not there and it was fallen apart before being used.

Knowing what I know now, I would buy solid wood over veneered wood. I hope Lauren reconsiders after reading my post and seeing she could get solid wood at the same price but if not, I hope the furniture arrives not in the poor state my furniture came in from Stanley Manufacturing after waiting 12 weeks for it. My Durham Furniture came in less than 6 weeks from Canada is great shape.

I have a round side table by Stanley that I bought several years ago and it's beautiful. All wormy looking...

I agree you need to see a piece in person somewhere before you order to check out quality and depth of color. Also, you said you don't want dark wood, and to me, it also looks pretty dark. Even the name City Club reminds me of something like, well, a City Club, where it's lots of dark wood and very formal.

Lynn2006, your Stanley pieces were gorgeous. I actually have very similar pieces in Lexington Seaside Retreat since discontinued, made here in good ol' Lexington, NC while I was living in VA at the time. I love the pieces (bought them when I was single so DH less enamored but I bought these to LAST so I was willing to pay for quality), and I was able to see some pieces in the furniture store before I ordered. They are solid hardwoods and very heavy, and all the pieces match in color. I did have an online quote which they matched but were not happy about it. I also have an iron bed frame with it.

BTW, Lynn, I posted some updated pics of my kitchen a couple weeks back. I remember you were asking about it.
http://s336.photobucket.com/albums/n321/gsciencechick/kitchen%20remodel/

bumblebeez, several years ago, Stanley was quality and made in America. Now the majority of their furniture is being made in China. I only hope that they improved their management of their outsourcing in China so their furniture can be known for quality again.

Lynn, I was typing my post when you put up yours, and was amused to read that we had both recommended Durham. I saw your photos of your damaged Stanley pieces. Unbelievable! I've never seen drawer slides crumble like that. I'm so glad you found something you like with good construction.

As far as our bedroom goes we lived with DH's bachelor hand-me-downs for the first 8 years of our marriage. We had talked about what kind of furniture we would like to purchase for our room but nothing had caught our eye. Then one day we were at a showroom looking for a piece (can't remember what) and DH called me. I turned around and he pointed out the armoire and bed to me. My jaw dropped. We fell in love with it right away but waited until could afford it. We bought most of the pieces the following year and the armoire the year after that. It's a set I will never grow tired of, and so well made. But my favorite part is that it will always remind me of how well my DH knows me. : )

As everyone else has said, please look at the furniture in person.
I have a bedroom set in 1997 from Stanley and it is well made. It was made in the USA back then.When I buy a new piece of furniture, I usually look for a long time. I know it when I see it. When I got the bedroom set it was a real fluke. My neighbor asked me to go with her to look at a dining room table.She looked at the table and right next to it was the bedroom set in the same collection. I loved it and bought it. She bought the dining set.
This summer, I purchased an iron bed from Brass Beds of Virginia. I had picked one out online and called them for a price quote. Pat invited me to the factory to see them IRL. Very few were in the complete stage but I had the visuals. I ended up buying a different one from the one I picked out online.So, I think with such a major price like that ,please make sure you see it.

Also, go visit www.myfurnitureforum.com
Duane over there used to be on the furniture forum here and started his own site. He is a wealth of information. He owns a store in Alexandria VA. Has lots of insight.
Good luck.

I actually thought Stanley was considered a decent brand. We finally ended up with a Wesley Allen iron bed but prior to that I really wanted to buy a Stanley four poster bed and the only reason I didn't was because our room just isn't big enough.

I'm pretty sure I saw the bed you're considering IRL and even have a photo of it somewhere, I'll look more tomorrow. The bed I was going to get, and the other one (I think this one) was nice. I wasn't real wild about the dressers because the drawers just weren't big enough. We ended up buying vintage dressers off CL.

I should preface this saying, I'm not not one to spend $10 grand on a bed. I can understand someone really wanting quality if it's a couch but the mattress should be taking the beating here, not the bed, you know? That said, if you feel like me about the above, I think you'll be happy with the quality. The four poster Stanley bed I looked at, with the rest of the furniture was about $10 grand also. I can honestly say I spent about a year looking at furniture with a specific look in mind (high headboard also), and NONE of the other wood beds I looked at came close to the Stanley, IMO. The price may have been cheaper, but I also thought they "looked" cheaper.

I hope this is somewhat helpful! I'll see if I can track down that photo.

Sorry, I was wrong. This was the bed I was thinking of. It was in the finish I was considering for the poster bed.
{{!gwi}}

gsciencechick, I love your kitchen and the changes that you have made to it. I had such a stressful year that I had to put off finishing up my kitchen until after then next tax season passes. My little 5.5 year 4 lb Maltese has two holes in her heart and the Cardiologist bills and testing have been so much and I needed new equipment. But I am saving the link to your kitchen for ideas since maybe I will just change the doors on my cabinets and add a new floor and counter. I am not sure what I will do but I wish my budget was more. Maybe I will have a successful tax season.

I was at a shelter with a client that needed my help since he has no friends and wanted me to give him an opinion on a shy kitten. I fell in love with an older light orange tabby female and keep thinking about her and wanting to adopt her. My friends think I need to wait until 1 of my 4 little dogs passes away since two are very sick so my vet bills are so high and I have a tax season coming up. Are cats difficult to take care of? I haven't had a cat since I was a child and I miss the purring.

If you read my posts, I fell in love with the Stanley Furniture style and wanted to keep the set if they would fix the damage and give me matching pieces but the store would not and Stanley would not work with me telling me I had to work with the store. The pieces were particle board on the sides with the pretty bead-board veneer and parts were solid wood. But the paint was mismatched, the drawer slides were crumbling, the drawers were cracked, and I can go on and on.

southernfrenchie, I had wanted that Saville set for a long time but if I bought the beautiful bed with the foot board, I would be unable to fit a dresser in my room across from it. I also could only fit one night stand and the Armour was too big for my room but I fell in love with it in the store. I do love my White Sand Cottage set since it is modern at the same time and brightens up my small bedroom and I never had light furniture before. In my office I have cherry furniture since I love Cherry and Mahogany furniture and will one day have it in my bedroom if I ever get married and move to a bigger place. For now my Durham set is made so well of solid Maple and I am happy with my choice that fits in my bedroom.

ScienceChick, maybe you did not see the link to the damaged furniture. Stanley Furniture was pretty but took weeks to be shipped form China when I was told 4 -6 weeks and despite how pretty it was some pieces were gray and some were ivory and the damage was worse in person than can be seen by the pictures in the below link. I only sent the post in so you could see how emotional I was since I fell in love with the styling. If I would have known how beautiful the shutter doors would be on my Durham Furniture, I would have sent back the furniture the day I saw the unbelievable poor quality. What a shame since the styling was so pretty and the set held so much more clothes than the Durham Set. I loved the Chest of Drawers and Triple Dresser styling but now that I have a double dresser that is smaller, I was able to fit a small armoire which I could not fit with the Stanley Furniture.

I can't wait to have funds and time to finish my kitchen. At least I love all my high quality appliances especially the way my dishwasher cleans.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link directly to the damaged furniture pieces from Stanley Furniture

P.S. The damage CAME like this (see the pics in the linkand after 1 week and sending these posts to Stanley ) rniture, they must have talked to the store to take back the pieces that the store refused to fix. Amazingly, I was afraid to part with the furniture and wanted it fixed since I loved the styling but I finally realized I wanted my bedroom set to last a long time so I had to go with Durham Furniture made in Canada that was highly recommended and I am glad I did.

Hence, if you really love the Stanley set and can take a chance on the set, make sure you are dealing with a store that would not deliver furniture damaged to your home like the store I dealt with did that claimed they inspect all pieces of furniture first.

Lynn, sorry for your dog's illness. I hear you on the furniture in that although it was gorgeous, it was defective in paint/workmanship and damaged and had to go back. You really had no choice here. I had a pretty good experience buying the Lexington set, so I guess I was lucky and just didn't realize it. That Seaside Retreat line is no longer made. I bought my set around 2000-2001, so now any additional pieces I might want are through CL or Ebay. I looked for a queen headboard forever and finally gave up and got another iron headboard when we upgraded from full to queen this summer. Of course, just recently saw the queen headboard on ebay, but I am over it.

As far as the kitty is concerned, I would say go for it. I would prefer to never have a kitten again and two of the three I have were adopted as non-kittens. Both were still pretty young, 1-2 years. I got my grey & white kitty right after I finished my dissertation because I thought I'd have no time, but in reality, he would have been great to have, and he spent about 3 months at the shelter waiting for me. He's had some health problems but is pretty stable right now.

Lauren
I bought a Durham king panel bed, triple dresser and two 3 drawer night stands for $3326. in May of 2002. Also bought Durham Queen bed, triple dresser and two night stands for our part time town house. I gave the king set to our son because I no longer wanted a king bed. I would think about buying a mirror (I did not) because if you really need one you can probably buy something for less that would work as well. For this house I bought another Durham dresser/mirror because it was on clearance. I was one who encouraged Lynn to look at the Durham furniture.

If you like it - get it. I think it is a very good looking group.

I have Stanley in our bedroom and here are pictures from every direction. You walk in the room and see the french doors. We have had so many people come through and tour our home, with nothing but OMG comments. I don't think they all leave thinking, "nice house but did you see their bedroom furniture "matched"?" or "oh my, did you see that production furniture, it might have been Stanley......."

I looked a long time to find what I thought worked best in that room and Stanley Montecito it is. It could have been anything but happened to be Stanley. So it is not hand rubbed......It has held up very nicely and we like the look. I am a shopper and definitely found what I thought was a good price for what I was getting. Actually, we liked the group so well we have some tables and a desk as well. I like a strong style but with flow and color and calmness throughout the house, I am not a "it can be totally different room by room" type at this point - kids are grown, we are in a different and "calm" phase of life. For me, sometimes having too many things going on with different pieces detracts or makes it too busy. Sometimes that looks great, but I couldn't live there.

I see that some people have had bad experiences with Stanley, I think they sell enough furniture that it is probably not the norm. I am not familiar with the one brand that was mentioned a few times, perhaps it is a better quality for the money.

There is certainly worse out there though high end does not come without "war" stories as well. I have a very high end (Ralph Lauren) sideboard that arrived looking great until I sat across the room to admire it and realized that the insides of the legs were not stained. Then I opened it and found the hinges loose and sub-par.

Good luck with your bedroom. I would love to see what you get.....

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

lv_r_golden,

Your home and your furniture are absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous is all I see : )

lv_r_golden,

Love your bedroom furniture!!

lv_r_golden, I love your bedroom furniture. What year did you buy it in? All your furniture matches. Mine did not and was damaged.

They still had about 20% of their furniture made in America when I had to wait 12 weeks for the damaged furniture from China. I am hoping they spent more for quality control and supervision of the Stanley China Facilities since Stanley had stunning styles.

Lauren GREAT News- I was told 20% Stanley made in USA still- 80% made in China. I was told this when all my furniture had stamped made in China when I was told it was made in America and then found out I had to wait 6 weeks longer for the furniture to arrive from China making the wait 12 weeks.

I just looked up your furniture set on Stanley again and each piece I looked at said Made in the USA so mabe the furniture you like and chose will not have all the problems I and many people had from buying the Stanley Furniture that was made in China.

Now you just need to trust your store to make sure they do not give you damaged pieces and refuse shipment of any pieces of furniture that need to go back to the Manufacturer.

OK, I must get some sleep. But I know how it is to be so excited you found what was perfect for your bedroom retreat and then find out that it may not be so perfect but made in the USA may mean that Stanley is making some of their collections still in the USA so they may cost more but it is worth buying quality.

The set looks beautiful, I would go ahead and buy it. Same as lv r golden somtimes I do like some furniture to match.

I have a Stanley dining room set and love it.
Stanley does a great job creating peices that are indeed
timeless. You can't go wrong with your choice. I love it.
~boxer

Boxer, the bedroom set I was looking at that had the rubbed out cottage feel appears to not be sold my Stanley anymore.

I am glad you are happy with your dining room set. I am glad they are still making some of their furnitue in the USA.

Another one is Land's End now making their clothing overseas which has me so upset since despite washing my red flannel PJ's before wearing them, when I was sweating at night, the red came off all over my sheets, through my sheets with my expensive mattress now stained. I can't get the stain out totally and it is bothering me. I have been meaning to call Land's end with this post reminding me to call them. They seemed to have the petite PJ's that fit me. Their ivory ones with a design on it seems to be colorfast but the red ones I guess are not and they should not have noncolorfast PJ's being sold without a warning!

Thank you for the compliments.

We bought it in 2008. I had found this site when researching French ranges in 2006 while we were building and I remember the original posts of the damage and mis-matched color of your experience. I gave it a try anyway as there just wasn't anything else around with the right "look" and it worked out for us. (The furniture forum was certainly more busy in those days - guess more people had more $ to spend....)

Now that I am thinking more about it, I did order only some of the pieces first just in case we didn't like it. Also, I forgot to mention that the chests that are beside the bed and the long dresser opposite it all had nice beefy bun feet, but even when I was ordering it, I knew that a "raised off the floor" look was not going to work for me in the space and they easily came off. The buns might have worked for me if the room had carpet.

Just wanted to mention that I have also purcahse Stanley furniture for my children's rooms and it has held up well. I did have one issue with the desk top of my DD's desk. It has a knot hole in the wood and given, it was a natural maple, I felt it should be replaced. It was noted on delivery, my DD used the desk while a replacement desktop was ordered, then they came out to swap out the desktop. II do think it would be prudent, though, to check not just Stanley, but the furniture store where you are ordering from. Some of the issues discussed above may be attributed to poor customer service from the furniture store; whereas others to Stanley.

lv_r_golden: You have a lovely MBR!

valinsv, I agree that 50% of my problems was with the store I chose that was recommended by my client when the father owned it. If I went with the store in Flemington that I bought my Durham Furniture from, they would have NEVER delivered furniture in that state and any pieces that I was upset with, they would have worked with me to make right but the store in the Harrison/Nutley/Newark area in NJ refused to work with me and I had to either reject all pieces or accept all pieces. I forgot the name of the place but it is in my post and it was the most upsetting experience for all the lies I was told about when the furniture would arrive and letting the damaged furniture come into my home. Stanley says on their website that once their furniture is sold by a store, that is the place the customer must work with and that is also wrong that they did not want to help me when I had wanted that set but not damaged or mismatched.

There was also another set I loved that Stanley had but the sales guy talked me out of it and maybe I should have switched stores and called more stores and not relied on just my referral.

But I am happy with my Durham Set and I really love having an Armoire that fits in my bedroom since the Stanley one that went with my set was too big for my room. due to vents and windows in the back and width of my room not being wide enough for both the Armoire and a dresser. I had planned to put the TV on the nightstand due to being so in love with the triple dresser which was really way too wide for my bedroom unless I did not buy the mirror and installed the TV on the wall above the bureau which I should have done if I was going to buy that Stanley set I see now but the set delivered to me was in the worst shape desoite the unique beautiful styling of the furniture.

The original poster, Lauren, never came back on. All of us tried our best to help and then at least we found out the set she liked is made in the USA and not China. We'd love an update on what she chose and pictures of the room when she is done with it.

Thank you for your insight!!! There are pieces from this set in a local store and I am going to go check them out this week (dresser and night stands. They do not have the bed.)
For nearly $6K, I am expecting very good quality so we shall see! Thanks again :)

Hi lynn.... so sorry to not come back sooner ;) I have a young toddler, one on the way, I work, AND we were out of town all weekend... I just didn't have time to pop on the forums ;)
I really really appreciate everyones thoughts and will be looking at the furniture in store this week. I have high standards and if I like what I see, I'll be dragging my husband there as well. I'm excited! We are currently using a dresser that my grandparents bought me from a garage sale 28 years ago; it is time to replace!!! We have small closets and desperately need more drawer space. I hope to take some pics of my master bedroom in its current state and PIP (once I can remember how) just to make sure these pieces are not *too* massive for our space.
Thanks again!!!

Lauren, Thanks for posting again. I understand since I get so busy myself and I am glad we all helped you giving you insight and finding out that the furniture you like at least is made in the USA and is very beautiful. When you have time, please update up and if you buy the set, pictures please. Remember to measure your room and areas that have vents and windows and see how each peace of furniture will fit in your room. I wish my room was bigger since I really wanted a wooden bed with a headboard and foot board and a triple dresser but these pieces would not fit into my bedroom space. When I have time, I also will take updated pictures of my beautiful bedroom since the accessories of the right lamps (went with crystal), blind and curtains really changed the look of my room making me love my bedroom's peaceful retreat space.

So my husband and I went to look at this set in person. We both love the look of it. Sadly, I am questioning the quality. The drawers seemed "loose." I don't know how else to describe it. I walked all over this mainly upscale furniture store and found the same thing w/ other brands. Maybe I am expecting too much? I dunno. The drawers just didn't feel as sturdy as I would expect, especially for the price.
My mom has a new Bernhardt set and I'm going over there tomorrow afternoon. I am anxious to compare...

Lauren, thanks for updating us. I hope you find something you're happy with : )

I don't own any Stanley furniture myself but a friend bought her daughter's bedroom from them and it was very poor quality to begin with that looked worse with every passing year. That said, I would not purchase a "set" of anything.... IMO it doesn't allow any one piece to stand out as special or noteworthy as they are all, obviously, the same.

Bernhardt should be nicer, and perhaps the store where you are buying could suggest some pieces from different lines or manufacturers that do
not match, but "go" with each other?

Beautiful, stunning. Massive, so needs a large room, else it will overpower the room. Very masculine, softened only a little by the lovely panels. It looks like a man's bedroom, and in that photo everything around it is masculine. I'm trying to picture what it would look like in more feminine surroundings, for the contrast. Contrast can be really cool if you get it right.

Good luck finding just the right pieces~ :)

Good luck finding the right bedroom set that is made well so it can last you many years. I would look into Durham Furniture.