Please scroll down the page for more details on the Decorah chest.
Our Decorah cedar chests are created from solid Oak hardwood, and are designed to last. Each chest is handcrafted individually by an Amish craftsman.
Our chests are shipped fully assembled, and are lined with aromatic red cedar.
To help you decide on a wood and a finish, individual wood samples and wood sample color collections are available for purchase.
Cedar Chest Lock: Add a lock to your cedar chest. The lock is small and unobtrusive, and is child-safe (it cannot be locked from the inside).
Cedar Chest Trays: Our cedar chest trays are created from solid unfinished red cedar. They ride gently upon a pair of cedar rails built into the interior, and lift out easily to reveal the interior.Our chest trays are intended to hold smaller, loose items while the main compartment of the chest holds larger items.
Our cedar trays are available in a variety of sizes, and are built to cover the full depth of the chest.
The craftsman may modify the length if necessary. For example, two 25" trays cannot fit inside of a 48" long chest. In this case, the craftsman would create two trays to cover the full length of the interior.
Chest Casters: Casters allow your chest to roll along the ground, which is a useful feature for our larger cedar chests. The casters are installed prior to shipping, but are removed to prevent damage -- you need to 'pop them in' when the chest arrives . Casters can be set to one of two heights, suitable for use on a carpeted floor or a hardwood floor. Please select the appropriate caster height for the room you will be placing the cedar chest in.
Finished Rear Panel: Our cedar chests are made with solid hardwood on the front, top and side panels. The bottom and rear of the chest are finished with red cedar. The rear panel generally faces a wall or bed, and is not visble.
When you upgrade to a finished rear panel, the back of the chest is finished to match the rest of the chest (it will be created to match your chest -- whether that be oak, cherry, hickory, etc). Chests with a finished rear panel are slightly deeper than standard cedar chests.
Chest Interior:
Padded Chest: Our cedar chests are strong enough to double as a seat (assuming normal use), either by a window or as an extra place to sit in your living room. Our padded chest option makes this a bit more comfortable.
This option consists of a rail to hold the cushion in place, and a cushion in your choice of color.
The cushion is handmade by the wives and daughters of our Amish chestmakers, who are experienced in hand sewing and making quilts. The inner padding is made from soft foam. Custom colors are also available (if you're willing to wait a week or two for the cloth samples), these colors depend on locally available cloth materials and vary seasonally.
Each chest is created with 100% solid hardwood on the front, top and sides. The bottom and rear panels are finished with solid red cedar. This rear cedar panel generally faces the wall or bed. A finished rear panel option is also available, where the rear panel is created from solid hardwood to match the front of the chest (see under 'Product Options').
The exterior wood is finished to preserve and protect the chest. The interior wood is left unfinished, making the opening of your cedar chest a very pleasurable experience. Cedar adds a sweet, pleasant scent to any room.
Genuine Solid Hardwood: Our Decorah cedar chests are created from 100% genuine hardwoods. There is no pine, plywood filler, pressed wood, "select hardwoods" or veneers used in our chests.
Repair: If the cedar chest is dinged, scratched or gouged via accident then your chest can be sanded and refinished. This is the benefit of solid hardwood. Our cedar chests are very solidly constructed and are intended to be a living part of your home and family, to be handed down from one generation to the next for many years to come.
Our cedar chests include twin safety latches, which lock in place to hold open the lid. This allows for easier access to the interior of the chest. (Our small and medium chests require only one latch).
Our chests are crafted without a lock, and are thus created to be child-safe. However, you may also choose to add a lock to your new chest. This optional lock cannot be turned without a key, ensuring that the cedar chest cannot be accidentally locked from the inside.
We can also create custom sized chests to nearly any size, including chests up to 80" in length. The price will be roughly proportional to the amount of materials needed to create the chest.
Chests larger than around 50" x 22" x 22" are too large for UPS, and will need to ship via freight service.
Please see our shipping guide for more details.
