I have a friend (with very good taste) who bought a desk. It is exquisite. She loves it....and believe me, if it didn't measure up to her expectations, I'd know about it. I've also seen some of the pieces at the Lilian August store in Danbury. Just absolutely beautiful stuff.

I have one piece from French Heritage, it's in their Manosque collection (which is less expensive than their other collections). The store I bought it from carries a lot of French Heritage on the floor so I had a chance to see what else they make... Wow, we're talking high end, expensive, very good quality. When I bought mine I was told their furniture is made in France. Correct me if that is not longer true.
Which piece(s) are you interested in? Have you seen it in person?

Yes, I have a breakfast nook set that I bought about a year ago.

I like the looks of it a lot. I'm slightly disappointed in the quality of the chairs. They are lightweights. Someone accidently hit the bottom of the table with the arms of the chair and they dented/splintered easily on the top of the arms.

I recovered the new chairs as soon as I got them. There were limited choices (4) of material for the seats and I was told that "French Heritage would never pick a material that wouldn't go with their stains." yeah, right. The material and the stain color together were awful.

After I reupholstered the seats, I tried to screw the seats back on in their original holes. The wood is so soft/cheap that it was stripped out. I had to drill new holes. This shouldn't be if it's "quality."

Also, I'm pretty sure that FH is made in Indonesia. When I got the table, there was a huge placard on the bottom of the table with "Indonesia" printed on it.

I don't know what to tell you---I don't think furniture is made as well as it used to be.

No, I haven't seen the furniture in person yet. I saw their website and there are a few high end stores a around that carry the brand. Kind of far from me but within driving distance.

I have been searching online and at many local stores for the right piece of furniture (an occasional table) for my living room. I have a beautiful Century armoire as the focal point in the room. The problem is that many things don't compare with it's quality and other pieces (such as Century) are either too large or are too expensive. Mainly I just haven't found something I liked.

There were some French Heritage pieces that looked like they would "work", but I can't justify spending alot of money for a piece that I'm not absolutely in love with....just to fill the space.

What I really like, I haven't been able to find. I'd like a medium sized table with 2 or 3 drawers on curved legs with a marble top. Thomasville has a piece I like (and can afford), but the marble top is patchwork (not good quality).

To be forever searching....

Try Pierre Deux (www.pierredeux.com). They are very nice quiality in a very swanky area of the north shore of Chicago and their pieces always seem to be in the Chicago Home magazine. I think the prices would compare. The store isn't too far from me and one day I keep saying I'll go and take a look---the day my two little kids desire to browse French antiques probably!

wow, I'm glad I checked back to see what others had to say. I'm surprised to read the problems texashottie had with their furniture. Good to know! Has any company retained the quality they once had or have they all gone downhill? Someone ought to tell FH that if they're going to cheapen the quality and farm it out to Indonesia to be made then they better adjust that $12,000 price tag too! I've seen some outrageous prices on their furniture, especially the armoires & dressers.

I just did a search for 2 drawer commode and came across one I like the look of. I'll link it here.

Has anyone ever heard of or purchased from this website?

Here is a link that might be useful: Provincial Commode

You might want to take a look at Harden furniture..they even grow their own trees!

Or consider getting the Thomasville piece and just replacing the marble. You could probably find a stone supplier who would sell you a remnant super cheap. For a small table, the finishing cost would be minimal. Then you could have almost exactly what you want...

Harden grows their own trees but these trees aren't used for all their lines. Their Tapestry casegoods line is straight from China.

If you can find a table you want in a French antique store, why not go to a stone yard and buy a remnant.

Alabama white marble seems to be the most desirable stone right now for the high end homes and recently I called one of the stone providers here and asked about remnants. They were offering half-price that week on stone remnants and for about $130 I got a piece that they cut and sealed, etc., for my sideboard. That price included everything. The stone was about $60 and they had it half-price, so it was $30 and then the cutting, finishing, sealing, taxes was about $100 and their delivery/installation fee was going to be another $75 extra and would not be done until after Christmas, so I just had them put it in my truck and my husband and a neighbor put it on the sideboard. I gave neighbor who would not let us pay him a gift certificate.

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/nicolemaleineantiques/ilist?id=0

Nicole Maleine has downsized considerably since Nicole's death but the new owner still has good prices and good items, although much, much less than Nicole herself carried. It is still a good buy and the drive is about 15 minutes for me so I like to visit and see if she has anything I might want for myself or a friend or relative.

I was under the assumption that it was all handmade in France. We looked into carrying FH in our shop and the CD containing all the info about their furniture only mentioned the small town in France.

Maison Du Soleil is made in Indonesia. I don't know about the other French Heritage lines of furniture. I ordered the TV console today and the sales person told me it's made in Indonesia, not France as I had hoped. I liked the design in the picture I saw and the dimensions were what I was looking for. Also the wood stain was very attractive. I hope I'll be satisfied with my choice once it's in place.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this so I emailed French Heritage directly and this is the response I received today:

"Thank you for your inquiry regarding French Heritage products. Les collections Maison Provence et Maison du Soleil are manufactured in Indonesia but all the rest is made in France, including Manosque."

I'm relieved to see the piece I bought was made in France. Only two collections, Maison Provence and Maison du Soleil are made in Indonesia.

I bought a dresser from them. It was on their regular site as well as their outlet site - two different prices. The delivery was not handled well, they did not arrive at the time they said they would and ended up calling at 7 at night wanting to deliver, I asked that they come the next day and they eventually agreed. That was about 6 months ago and already one of the 3 large drawers has failed. Much to my surprise they use these plastic guides which simply broke. When I opened the drawer it literally fell out and onto my feet. Blood clean up and band aids! It's pretty enough but the drawers are not dovetailed and for thousands of dollars I would have expected high end construction. While here, I will add that their web site is the most user unfriendly one that is there to create sales that I have ever been on. Made in France? My ass.

I made the mistake of buying two Passy night tables from FH's Maison collection. I had no idea that FH had decided to manufacture any of its collections in Indonesia nor that their quality had fallen to such depths. I have several exceptional French Heritage pieces that I purchased between 2003-2006 back when all of their collections were made in France and when their quality was amazing.

The tables were delivered this afternoon - one day late - by Ward Trucking of High Point, NC. They arrived in boxes that were severely damaged and just piled on top of a wooden pallet in front of my garage. They rang the door bell and then vamoosed without waiting for my signature. It gets better. When I finally freed the tables from their packaging, I found that each table had a sheared off leg. One table didn't even have the broken leg in the box.

Now let's talk quality. The single drawer has no dovetail joinery - just glued together There is also about a 1/4 inch inch gap on each side of the drawer. I had a contractor at the house when I opened the boxes and he looked underneath each table and said that the bottom piece had been stapled on and had plastic tabs holding it in place.

I really can't imagine ordering ANY furniture from FH after this experience, regardless of collection. Who decided that it makes good business sense to debase your brand like that?