Frequently Asked Questions

England has long been known as a source of superior furniture, whether antiques, antique reproductions or finely made contemporary furniture. Our craftsmen, located in small workshops in the English countryside, have been working in furniture making trade for most of their lives. Our Cabinetmakers, French Polishers and Leatherers are all highly skilled craftspeople, many of whom started their careers in the demanding field of antique restoration. We choose our craftsmen based on their lifelong contact with traditional furniture making methods, and for their expertise in making beautiful furniture by hand.

Yes, currently almost 50% of our furniture is customized in some way. Since our furniture is built by hand, we can make just about any modification you can think of on our standard pieces. For example, making our 2101 Farm table in a larger size, adding a leaf to it and changing the top from rectangular to oval is easy for us. Modifying our desks and writing tables so that they can house a computer is as easy as submitting a rough sketch of what you need. Or, we can make a completely custom piece from scratch using your ideas, sketches or photos. Learn more here.

We get the inspiration for our furniture designs from many places. Our founder and head designer, Leslie Holland, has been in the antique furniture and decorative arts field for over 40 years. His father and grandfather were Interior Designers with flourishing businesses, starting at the turn of the century. He has seen and purchased thousands of pieces of furniture over that time. Likewise, his son Harry who is now co-owner of HL Holland Designs was raised in the family business and was exposed to the fine furniture and the interior design industry at an early age. We draw on this background of knowledge to make sure that our designs always have the finest details and authentically correct proportion and scale. We like to think that it is in our blood!

We also count on our craftsmen in England for design advice. For most of them, their life’s work has been recreating the finest furniture available. They have a wealth of knowledge that we tap into every day as we go about the tasks building our furniture.

Our furniture is available for immediate purchase from the Baker stores and Baker Knapp & Tubbs showrooms. Like purchasing from an antique shop, you can buy our furniture and literally take it with you. When you have a project that needs a beautiful, unique piece right away, remember that you can have a piece from the HL Holland Designs line immediately.

Our handmade furniture is different from the usual mass produced furniture. We have different workshops that specialize in different aspects of furniture making. For instance, our Concave Pedestal Desk begins at the workshop that does the wood working. Then, it is transported to our finishing shop, where skilled “polishers”, as they are known in England, do the finishing. The Concave Pedestal Desk has a gold tooled leather top, so the desk top is transported to our leathering shop. There, our leathering people, who have been applying leather tops and gold tooling for years, complete the piece. Finally, the desk is carefully loaded onto a ship and transported to our US warehouse.

The line is constantly expanding, and we keep a changing assortment of pieces on display in the showrooms. As pieces are sold from the floor, we restock them with new pieces. So, like an antique shop, you will probably not see the same pieces every time you visit the showroom. But, unlike an antique shop, you are able to order a piece from our line even if that piece is not shown in the showroom.

This web site is an excellent place to see our full line. We have made it easy for you to search through the line and find the piece you need. And if you can’t find what you are looking for, let us know - we will probably be able to find it for you!

Our average ship time for either custom items or standard items that are not in stock is approximately 22 weeks from the time the order is placed until the piece arrives in our Atlanta warehouse. However, there are ways to shorten this lead time if you are in a hurry:

Our most popular pieces are almost always in production in England, so the lead time may be much shorter than 22 weeks on standard items.

In addition, we keep backup stock in our Atlanta warehouse on the most popular items.

Also, all of our furniture in the Baker Knapp & Tubbs showrooms and Baker stores is available for immediate purchase. Because of this, pieces that are in other Baker Knapp & Tubbs showrooms and Baker stores are also available for you to purchase immediately. Call us if you have any questions about the current inventory of HL Holland Designs furniture.