It’s nearly impossible to find affordable custom furniture in Cherokee County. Handmade furniture is also notoriously expensive. Having just spent everything we had on our brand new home, my budget was limited. I spent many painstaking hours trying to find the right pieces for our brand new home, but they were way expensive for the look I wanted. I felt like my house would be empty forever.

 

That’s when I found Mark and Marea of Mark’s Woodshop. If you’re trying to make your own furniture and using this as a design inspiration, then be sure to click here for the best hand saws for the job. 

 

Mark and Marea gave me a little discount to help them out with photos and sharing. I paid for the majority of this work. All opinions are mine and sincere.

 

handmade furniture georgia

 

Handmade Furniture, Georgia 

 

During the contingency period of our home, I was super excited to start decorating. Realistically, we needed about 19 pieces plus shelves for 3 different rooms. And we had about $2.5k. Even at Walmart prices, getting everything we needed to fill our new home was going to be impossible.

 

I wasn’t finding anything new that I could afford but I wanted that Crate and Barrel meets Pottery Barn look. If you’ve ever looked for a dining table on Crate and Barrel then you know you’re going to be in for about $5k. And that’s just one piece! I just couldn’t spend that much.

 

I knew that our budget would be limited since we were spending everything on the down payment so I started digging through the Facebook Marketplace for furniture I could repurpose. That’s where I first saw this beautiful farm style dining room table. It was custom built and being sold for about $500.

 

I contacted the seller and was told, “if you can think it, Mark can build it!”. So I found a $5k West Elm table that I loved and before I knew it I was making sketches of pieces and had an order of 14 pieces for my home. All within my budget!

 

handmade furniture georgia

 

The Custom Building Process with Mark and Marea

 

Before I go into the details of all the beautiful pieces Mark and Marea made for us, I want to take you inside their building process. The very first thing that took place was a phone consultation. I gave Marea a verbal idea of my vision and she priced everything out. Then, I used a drawing app to conceptualize my ideas and sent her the drawings. I also sent photos of the things I found online.

 

Since it was the contingency period for my home buying process, we didn’t live in the house yet. But Mark and Marea were able to meet me at the property to take customized measurements so everything would be perfect.

 

handmade furniture georgia

 

After that, Marea met me at Home Depot to pick out the perfect stains for the pieces. I loved her attention to detail and how she paid close attention to everything We needed.

 

Since Mark builds everything by hand it took several weeks to get everything in. But for about the first 8 weeks of our new home ownership, they were making weekly deliveries. They also gave me regular updates on the progress so everything would be perfect.

 

handmade furniture georgia
Checking out my benches at the shop!
handmade furniture georgia
Mark and Maria’s first delivery!
handmade furniture georgia
Just a little elbow grease here.

 

Every single time we got a delivery I was elated. And in the end, my home looks like a showroom. We still can’t believe how many pieces we were able to get under $2.5k. We ended up adding on a few more pieces and now our home is complete!

 

Just Take a Look at This Photo Journal of All the Work They Did!

 

Handmade furniture, Georgia photo journal

 

Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, custom farmhouse table georgia
Inspired by $5,000 West Elm table, cost $550

Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Love the light stain!
Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Benches by Mark
Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Stools by Mark
Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Sofa table inspired by Crate and Barrel
Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Love the wood grain

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

 

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Side table

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Coffee table with components tables (because I had no idea where to out the PlayStation)

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse dining room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Love the stain on our coffee table

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
I love these bookshelves, they filled that massive wall perfectly!

Farmhouse living room, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse entryway, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture
Entryway bench with hooks and baskets for shoes

Farmhouse entryway, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse entryway, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse entryway, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse entryway, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse entryway, budget friendly farmhouse decor, handmade furniture

Farmhouse entryway, entryway table, budget friendly farmhouse decor
I love the way our entryway table turned out. I even picked out the knobs!

Farmhouse entryway, entryway table, budget friendly farmhouse decor

Farmhouse entryway, entryway table, budget friendly farmhouse decor

Farmhouse entryway, entryway table, budget friendly farmhouse decor

Farmhouse entryway, entryway table, budget friendly farmhouse decor

handmade furniture georgia, boys bunk bed
My son’s bunk bed (full size)

handmade furniture georgia, stand up desk

handmade furniture georgia, stand up desk
My matching stand up desk! (It has a stool to match now too)

 

We could never have filled our home with such amazing pieces, customized to all of our needs and size requirements anywhere else. Mark and Marea are total wizards, they made our house a home. And there isn’t a single day that goes by that we don’t step back and say, “wow, this is beautiful!”

 

If you’re looking for handmade furniture in Georgia then get with Mark and Marea. There is no doubt in my mind that they can make your special pieces come to life just as they did for us. For those of you who might not be local, consider checking out Resident Home for quality home furniture brands.

 

Author

Christa Thompson is the Founder and Chief Editor of The Fairytale Traveler. She started traveling the world in 2003 when she attended a summer abroad study at the University of Cambridge in England. Since then, her wanderlust has been fierce. Her three passions in life are her son, traveling, and being creative. The Fairytale Traveler brand gives Christa the opportunity to do all of these things and to live intentionally every day. "It's never too late to believe in what you love and to pursue your dreams." -Christa Thompson

24 Comments

  1. I love all of these pieces! Buying handmade furniture is such a great idea . . . you support an artisan, it’s unique, and it’s probably better quality than you’d get from a store!

  2. mrhappywork Reply

    I love the table! The wood grain looks wonderful is so many of the finished products too! Thanks for sharing!

  3. I am not handy AT ALL, so I am always in awe of people that can make beautiful things!

  4. Elizabeth O Reply

    Wow there are some really great pieces of furniture here. I really love the pieces you picked.

  5. I don’t even know if I can confidently pick a favorite!
    I love love love the bench seating and table! We have a harvest table and I have been playing with teh idea of doing bench seating on one side – I love this trend!
    The table behind the soda is absolutely amazing!!
    Basically, what I am asking is, when can I move in?

    • Ha! I love this! Thank you! Really I basically wanted about $20k in furniture from Crate & Barrel and West Elm and I got it for about $3k. UNREAL!

    • They did a wonderful job. I never thought I would have been able to afford all the pieces but we did! It’s nice to have all our furniture in place.

  6. Wow, all that is handmade? That’s amazing! My grandfather was a carpenter in his younger years and had great skills.

  7. Dana Brillante-Peller Reply

    Wow, I can’t believe how many pieces came from those hands. I love handmade items for the home. It really gives the place character.

  8. I like how simple the table look and I wonder if it is easy to fix them? The bench also look unique! i would love to have such setting in my garden.

  9. Wow, the furniture looks professional yet they are handmade. I love the table, the bookshelves… ahhhh, I love everything. They are simple yet beautiful. Nice job!

  10. Becca Holloman Reply

    This furniture definitely looks so amazing! I love the style of it and would love something like this in my home.

  11. I like making handcrafted decorations but I have never done it like you. I like all of their ideas and they are very nice and warm. I adore you, you are very good. Thank you!

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