Fenton MacLaren Home Furnishings

Tops in quality and customer service. I previously worked in the furniture business for 32 years and when we needed to purchase furniture for our new home, Fenton MacLaren was our first and only stop. With our experience in the furniture business and home construction we appreciate all that Fenton MacLaren has to offer.

We bought two nightstands and a dresser from here and loved it! The drawers opened and closed smoothly and they had a soft close feature. All their pieces are high quality and you can feel it! It will ruin you when you go to compare furniture from other stores. Their furniture looks and feels great!
Their service was awesome as well. One of the nightstands we bought had a little nick on the top and they were able to fix it before delivering it to our home. Looks brand new and they were fast!

I had a problem with a recliner I bought 2 years ago. The responsiveness and professionalism with which the 5 different staff members who were involved in resolving the problem treated me and the issue were exemplary. This experience truly confirms my belief in patronizing local merchants.

Fenton MacLaren is a wonderful place to buy furniture.
Everyone that works there is extremely knowledgeable about and interested in the products, and they are typically well staffed with at least three to four people on the weekend, maybe more. They are also really prompt on the phone if you have follow up questions about orders.
Most of what they carry is Amish (80%+). Many of their bookcases are made locally and are pretty customizable.
They were very accurate about delivery time frames and the delivery itself is very carefully executed. They place and level all your furniture and show how any functional components work.
You can buy anything off the floor if you don’t want to wait (most beds are queen-​sized), and you can mix and match pieces from different woodmakers to be all finished together (I am pretty sure). If you order Amish stuff, it takes around 3 months, and the local bookcases are 1 to 2 months.
Pricing ranges by quality of the wood and furniture maker. I would say it’s at most 30% more expensive than buying furniture from something like West Elm, and generally similar to or cheaper than places like Wooden Duck, Restoration Hardware, and the mid-​century modern importers (actually, way cheaper than those guys).
You can return anything you don’t like within 30 days, even if it’s special order. Pretty unbeatable policy.

This is a testament on the value of businesses who are quality, lasting, and understand the importance of solid service… When I first moved here, single and free, I had a small apartment and purchased a round table for my small space. Someone had recommended Fenton MacLaren in Rockridge (at the time) and I went over from SF and found my table (with 5 leaves!) Now… nearly 30 years later and after raising two children and much use of the table in all it’s sizes, the table locked in place and a small piece of the wooden slider broke off. The table was stuck open to a «seating 12» size! I Called Fenton MacLaren for advice and they were so helpful and accommodating. They assured me they could fix it, came to pick up the table, called to review repair options, and returned the table in significantly better shape than they found it. The table closes back down to the round size, the sliders are working, the legs had been straightened and reinforced, and the table was touched up so that it looks almost new! All without charge since I had originally purchased from them. I would have paid whatever for the service but was so appreciative of their pleasant and highly competent support, and am a loyal supporter! Definitely consider as you furnish your home!

Can I add another 5 stars for this business? After waiting 3 months for my furniture, I was unhappy with a couple of pieces, but I paid some good money for this stuff. I called them and they immediately responded, with «we’ll do what we can to fix this». How amazing is that response in today’s world? So they contract with the manufacturers of the furniture, which meant the fix was with them. They fit me into their tight delivery schedule, talked with me about the fix, and delivered the «corrected» furniture within one week. I am so amazed and pleased and shouting out the praise for this incredible store. I couldn’t recommend them more highly. Fenton MacLaren is the BEST furniture store in the bay!

Quality solid wood furniture at reasonable prices and with beautiful styles. We spent lots of hours driving around looking for a dining table that was solid wood and less than $ 3k but didn’t find many or like the ones we did. Then we walked into Fenton maclaren and loved all of their tables! From elegant to rustic, they had a huge range of styles in stock, or you can tell them what you want and get a different piece or size made custom. We also bought some matching pieces and the delivery was easy and sales folks friendly. Just a great place with quality products!

We bought a new dresser here a few months ago. When I was unloading it with help from a friend, we dropped it on the curb and a 3-​inch chunk of wood broke off of the top panel. Nothing worse than ruining a brand new piece of furniture before you even get it into the house! Distraught, we called Fenton MacLaren and told them what had happened. They asked us to bring it back in so they could take a look. Picked it up a few days later and they had replaced the broken panel. It looked absolutely brand new, you couldn’t tell there was any cosmetic damage. And the best part? They didn’t even charge us for it. It’s rare these days to get that kind of customer service. Fenton MacLaren rocks!

Beautiful stuff, really helpful staff

Highly recommend this business. The quality of the furniture is amazing! Mara Lee is so knowledgeable. She knew all the answers to the many questions we had. I’m thrilled with the gorgeous dinning room table, chairs & hutch. They are treasurers & I will admire them forever. If you need handcrafted furniture, go to Fenton MacLaren. You will not be disappointed.

We were extremely happy all around with Fenton MacLaren.
The showroom has a nice selection of pieces but of course everything can be customized and there are millions of options to choose from.
In terms of the quality of the furniture, we purchased a bed, two dressers and two end tables. All are superb quality, excellent construction and exactly what we were looking for. They really worked with us in terms of getting what we wanted. Being in a San Francisco apartment, my wife I each wanted our own table but we needed to be able to work around sometimes narrow rooms. They were very helpful in making suggestions which both fit our space constraints and brought down the cost.
Delivery was easy and great. Everything arrived right on schedule.
As for price, of course this isn’t IKEA. It’s not cheap throw-​away furniture. However, compared to other places we looked at the prices were very reasonable.
If I was going to find a complaint it would be that it was hard to get them to sell us anything. They kept presenting options and giving us ideas rather than taking our order. We actually had to say «good, we are ready to buy now» a couple of times. If your biggest problem is they are too good at avoiding the hard sale, that’s not too bad.

Great furniture and even better customer service. They have been such a pleasure to work with. If you’re in the market for quality, hand-​built, all-​wood furniture that will last a lifetime, we highly recommend visiting Fenton MacLaren!

Fenton MacLaren was spectacular. We wanted a window seat with cabinetry for our living room. The spot is 15′ long, so we knew we needed custom, but didn’t have much budget for the project. FM worked with us to make a fantastic solution using their unfinished bookcases options. We were very picky and they worked with us to find solutions to each of questions. The window seat is now installed and the quality is spectacular, beautiful wood, done within our budget. Plus we get the satisfaction that we know we supported a local person who made these for us. Kudos. We will definitely use them again. Great place, lots of quality options.

Have you ever wondered where family heirlooms come from?
I started coming here shortly after school for unfinished pine book cases and a chest of drawers. Very nice, affordable, does the job, all wood or at least ply. I had a stereo cabinet on wheels made to order. Naturally, I went back when we started thinking about our next purchase of major furniture, and wanted all wood, something that would last.
We worked with FM for months on a bed– what they have on the floor tends to be dark, mission, oak. If you like that, you’ll wish you have a house big enough for two dining tables, and 3 bedroom sets. So we were trying hard to like the lovely pieces there, but they just didn’t fit our space. So for a while we worked with doing something custom with them– sketching it out, or basing it on an existing piece. They’d work diligently with us getting us estimates from their suppliers.
It’s an interesting business, working with the Amish. Things go by mail, phone sometimes, and maybe fax. Apparently the owner fills trucks that arrived in Ohio full of California produce and turns ‘em around full of all wood furniture beautifully hand-​built and –finished that you’ll give your children’s children.
At one point, I saw a neat bed at Scandinavian Designs– with different kinds of woods. I thought we’d found our new bed, search was over. I went to see it in person, and could see why it was priced pretty low! While definitely not made of particle board, you can see how they’ve designed it with jigs and really rapid fabrication in mind– glue, staples, and I’m guessing air-​fired nails. I’m sure it would’ve been a great bed, but an heirloom it would never become.
Finally, and this is something we should’ve done at first, we just plopped down and looked at FM’s catalogues. We found a bed that we liked, and we asked to mix some woods in: cherry for most of it, which will darken with age; and tiger maple for some prominent parts, which will hold its golden color and patterns. The same with the night stands.
The whole time, FM was very, very patient. Never a sales pitch, no pressure to buy. And of course they know you’re buying something that will last a very, very long time.
The other night I was admiring the workmanship of my nightstand as I set my book on it. You want to keep everything tidy now because of the beautiful craftsmanship and the wood. You want everything else in your home to measure up to it. It brings joy.
Here is where family heirlooms come from.

We’ve bought several unfinished items for our home, where the kids and pets are really tough on furniture. It is so nice to find solid wood products at reasonable prices. They are very helpful both on the phone and in the store. Love this place!

Fenton MacLaren has two showrooms in Berkeley with BEAUTIFUL furniture. Everyone here is wonderful, from the salespeople on the floor to the custom furniture crafters to the delivery people. Both times we visited salespeople were available for lengthy consults about all of the different bookcase designs, where their furniture imports were from, where the wood was from, what could be made right here in their shop (great stuff). When our bookcases arrived and we decided we’d made a mistake in both the size and the stain (they’d done exactly what we asked, but it didn’t look right in our house), they were SO nice about taking them back. We ordered new bookcases from them and they didn’t charge us for the return or the second delivery. Love the new bookcases. Fenton MacLaren is GREAT!!!

I purchased 2 beautiful solid wood Amish chairs from this store. Beautiful, comfortable and the service was the best. The guy was super patient, when I tried to find the right table for my tiny kitchen. I would really recommend, if you want beautiful craftsmanship and excellent service. I was excited to eat my dinner off my new chairs last night.

I purchased a dining room table with several leaves from Fenton MacLaren over a year ago. The construction is solid and the table is beautiful. It’s exactly what we wanted! The experience of purchasing it was very easy and painless — no pressure, just really helpful, knowledgeable, nice guys running the store.
A few months ago I took out one of the leaves to add to the table and noticed that the joints were really uneven. I immediately took it to the store and Scott was so incredibly nice and helpful. He sent it back to Ohio (where the table was made) and had them manufacture a new leaf, no questions asked. It is likely that the joint moved because of where the leaf was stored in our home, since by the time both leaves were sent back to me (yes, they gave us the new one and the old one, no charge), the old leaf was back to normal. Oops. But it was no problem, and they didn’t ask me to pay for a thing. They just wanted me to be hapy and wanted the leaf to be perfect.
The customer service here is above and beyond what you would expect from any furniture store. I absolutely would not hesitate to purchase any item here as they clearly stand behind their products 100%.

You pay enough for that house, you should look forward to coming home to it, I think.
FM provides the nester with options that lean towards the warmer. The finished Mission furniture is generally of a darker hue, something that would perhaps like you with a pinot and a fireplace. With a border collie and a crossword. With your O touching feet reading the Sunday Times.
If you’re a South Beach shiny surfaces gal perhaps this isn’t the place for you. Lovely thing, the Bay Area, there’s something for just about everyone.
I enjoyed the convenience of the old store on Avenue C, though it was close enough to all the watering holes that I would occasionally wake up the next morning with a chair in my room that I did not recognize, a chair whose name I did not know. That store is gone, consolidated here, safely many blocks away from the other temptation.
Stopped by this morning to procure a small drop-​leaf table and two chairs. They had precisely what I was looking for, the sales gentleman was efficient and friendly even helping me load the boot with the loot. Price was very right.
Another sunny day.
Without a doubt — if you’re looking for something well-​made and reasonably priced, proffered by folks who know what they’re offering and are happy you’re there, go to FM.
Trust, you will not be disappointed.

My husband and I bought a dining table, a set of chairs and breakfast table from these folks about two years ago, at their Rockridge shop. We had just moved into a bungalow after living in a tiny apartment and collecting furniture from neighbors, family and friends. You might have mistook our living arrangement as a garage sale. Needless to say we did tons of research and hemming and hawing before settling on big furniture.
The salesperson I worked with was informative, patient in walking me through the myriad factors in our decision and not the least bit pushy. I visited several times, took home sample stains and finally made the call on a gorgeous mission style q-​sawn white oak dining table/​chairs and a cheery maple breakfast nook table — both made in Indiana by an Amish maker. I received detailed notes and receipts, everything arrived on time and the delivery guys were great.
Most importantly, we LOVE our furniture: aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and built to last. My only problem: I cringe when I seat my 3 year old at the dinner table, afraid of his toddler power to destroy.
***I marked this place pricy based on our purchase, but know that there are tons of affordable stuff.