Pam and I are both pretty close to the same age, and even though we may not have shared the same birth year, we are only 55 days apart in age. We were both even born at the same hospital in La Crosse, Wi. I like to say, "She was going out of the delivery room, and I was coming in." Pam's aunt and my mother even have the same name, of 'Karn.'
Amazingly, we found out that we once lived very close to one another at the south end of La Crosse in the late 60's, near the intersection of East Ave S, Bennette St. and Losey Blvd S. Pamela lived just a few short blocks away from my family's home when we were both still pretty young kids. I didn't know that my future wife was living so close to me, or I would have walked on over to see her. "ha,ha".
Life moved on, and decades rolled by. Pamela left La Crosse for Menomonie in 1992, and she finally settled permanently in Eau Claire, Wi. I left La Crosse at 23 years old, partnering up with my oldest brother to help run a long-term and successful 82-unit apartment building complex business in beautiful Miami, Florida, from 1990 to 2007.
Looking back, we both graduated high school in the same week, month, and year our own respective high school class of '85. She graduated from Logan High and I graduated from Central High School, both located in La Crosse, Wi. We were separated by nearly 35 years of time before we finally first met each other in the summer of 2019.
We happened to first notice each other by sheer chance, nearly 4 years after both of our previous divorces became finalized in 2015. Our paths didn't cross until that special warm, soft summer day that I built up the courage to call her after we were texting each other on our phones on July 30, 2019. At that same time, we noticed that each other's profiles stood out better and we seemed to match well at the heart and soul level.
At first, Facebook was to be recommending we both become friends, which peaked each other's mutual interests. She said, "We then decided the other was cute." And the next thing you know is, I told Pam barely 3 minutes into our first conversation talking on our phones together was, "Well... I think we can now consider us as officially dating, and we can now consider us going out with each other exclusively."
We may have both been way out of practice for flirting and dating other people in general, but it all came back to us and filled in again nicely once we met each other. Afterall, both of us at only 52 years young, still shared the zest for life, not to mention maintaining the continued love and support we felt for our families, good friends, and our animals we each had waiting for us at home.
It is Sunday, August 18, 2019 and the day we both decided our first date would be to coordinate together at the Holmen Kornfest Auto Show in Holmen, Wi. Like in other years past, I was driving my 1926 Chevy Landua Sedan there in order to enter it in the awards show given at the end. I was pretty much feeling lucky the entire day since I knew she was coming to meet me there, no doubt.
At about 3:15 in the afternoon, all of a sudden, she walked straight up behind me while I was facing ahead, tapped me on my shoulder and said, "I heard them call your name over the loudspeaker and saw you walk up to get your car trophy, so I knew just where to follow you back here where you are standing. By the way, you look a lot taller and muscular than I expected." Our friendship must have grown even stronger since then, and we decided to marry on July 30, 2022.
Our wedding took place at the Concordia Ballroom, in La Crosse, Wi in 2022, exactly three years to the day since we first talked on the phone on July 30, 2019. Naturally, we had to
join our "families" including 1 dog, 3 cats and 2 fish along with lot of extra stuff in tow. I now build our hardwood tables in our shop for our customers while Pam has a separate job of working from home and is Ron's #1 cheerleader and part-time business sense refiner. (the title she came up with that sounded more exciting than office manager).
When we are not working diligently from home, we generally love to go on motorcycle rides to our favorite scenic Driftless Area destinations, go hiking or camping if we can, but most of all, after a hard day's work we enjoy time together and spending it at our home caring for our "mini zoo."
The End
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Customed hardwood tables from the Driftless Area brought to you by Hanson's Hardwood Designs.
Come with us to explore together the exclusive hand brushed mica tables we've made famous in the Midwest. Most of these tables are now currently available and for sale on our website at our place of business. (subject to availability)
Locate the perfect centerpiece for your home right here. Each furniture piece is handcrafted with care, attention and emotion, showcasing the beauty and durability of hardwoods. Let us take you through the experience of buying long-lasting hardwood tables.
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Follow along with Hanson's Hardwood Designs website right here and discover the fascinating history of the Driftless Area, where ancient landscapes and unique geological formations have shaped the growth of hardwood trees selected and used to make our magnificent hardwood tables.
These spectacular hardwood trees help us to create these tables with our own special brand of luxury, from some trees over a century old, provide not only stunning background materials for crafting our furniture, but also tell a story of resilience against environmental challenge trees must face, living out their daily lives standing alone in the seemingly inhospitable wilderness.
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Driftless areas can preserve ancient landscapes, unspoiled countryside, and conserve its geological historic formations of ridges and swales providing valuable insights into the region's ecological past. The unique evolutionary and genetic histories developed older, locally more adaptive gene pools in some hardwood tree species and are tied to long-term persistence in parts of the Driftless Area. After thousands of years on, our Driftless forests eventually cleared the way for the beautiful fine grade individually handcrafted hardwood tables presented to you, exclusively made by Hanson's Hardwood Designs LLC, of La Crosse, Wi.
Did you know that all of our ash trees across the Driftless Area and beyond are rapidly disappearing and dying off due to the invasive emerald ash borer beetle? This situation makes the wood particularly rare and valuable when in good condition, especially since the trees used for these elegant tables are often 100 years or older and are still in perfect form, adding to their historical significance and specific individual character that comes through in the wood table.
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The uniqueness of the Driftless Area supports the region's diverse woodlands and provides the raw, beautiful, and unique hardwood that is at the cornerstone of our own local business for making traditional looking hardwood tables from Ash, Cherry, Hackberry, Walnut, American Elm, or White Oak. Although there are many variations of species of hardwood trees that grow here, only a few of the most valuable and suitable furniture quality trees are then chosen to make our tables from. We search for the veteran or ancient trees that are in the 3rd, or final stage of their lives.
Most of these large diameter trees that make our wide tabletops unique are less abundant now, but they still have peculiar ecological interactions with nature, tying them to the Driftless Area, which are distinctive when compared with other regions due to local topography, microclimates, and soil conditions that stem from the area's unglaciated history. Its landscape is characterized by beautiful steep hills, forested ridges, deeply carved valleys, and karst geology with spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams.
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The long process involved in sourcing and harvesting of high-quality tree specimens significantly impacts their cost for making a complete and flawless table. Premium woods such as ours can sometimes be classified as expensive furniture wood, due to their rarity and exceptional qualities. Live edge tabletops that are crafted from a single slab of wood will require more specialized equipment with delicate and advanced woodworking skills.
My personal background experience was as a career painter and maintenance man spans 35 years, going back to when I was just sixteen years old. I spent many years at honing my professional painting and maintenance skills on my own apartment complex buildings at 23, in Miami. I was a part-time manager for 30 condos in Boca Fl. I worked as a nighttime maintenance man at the 240 room Monona Terrace Hilton Hotel for three years and I was one of the lead painters for a huge 1850 privately owned apartment complex business in Madison, Wi.
I've restored houses, painted and did maintenance for people living in high-end homes and luxury high-rise condominium towers working for time and materials. I was a painter technician in a flood and fire restoration business and worked as a maintenance man at two mobile home parks in southern Florida. I have experience working hotel maintenance as a maintenance man for two major hotel franchisees in Wisconsin. I was a painter for my own small real estate painting business at three commercial downtown establishments and at two elementary schools located in La Crosse, Wi.
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Then about 6 years ago, I turned my attention and focus on one main thing that I really liked to do. I was interested in putting mica powder colors into live edge table topcoats and sell them as art pieces that function together as one woodworking hardwood project. I noticed that normally, people didn't have full access to the genuine handmade hardwood tables easily... More than ever these days, people want to fix up their homes and change how it looks. We want to help make that a reality. Some of our hardwood tables are already 125 years old or more, so they are already made quite well by nature.
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The time needed and the labor-intensive process of finding these quality slabs of hardwood and cutting, drying it properly, then finally working it into an heirloom piece contributes to the overall cost of these expensive tables.
The live edge slab finishing process itself involves many layers and careful application with many years of experience to achieve our flawless results. When compared to other types of expensive wooden furniture, live edge tables stand out for the distinctive features they represent and are able put you in the right mood, if you don't happen to be in one at all.
Often, these fascinating and creative hardwood tables can cost hundreds of dollars because they serve as a main centerpiece in living rooms, making them the primary focal point in it. They never miss the chance to impress. Our thick handcrafted live edge or even straight edge slabs offer both functionality and artistic appeal, making them worth the initial investment and in the long run.
For when it comes to our incredible hardwood tables; they always greatly deliver and excel in quality, longevity, and uniqueness for your home.
All of our hardwood tables are an absolute witness to nature's slow renewability process. Most furniture grade hardwood species used specifically for our tabletops can take decades or centuries to mature, so our immediate supply of tables cannot be rapidly expanded. We keep less than 50 tabletops of your choosing in stock at any one time. These tables are forest to forever quality with usefulness that lasts. We won't make a table we wouldn't put in our own living room at home ourselves.
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Testimonials that build trust:
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"Our friends Steve and Pamela from southeastern Wisconsin write." "We bought 2 live edge tables from Hanson Hardwoods. The tables are inspiring artworks that we use every day for office and home. Ron and Pam were great to work with. They patiently helped us through each step- selecting the right tables, finding and mounting the legs we wanted. Everything was finished perfectly. We highly recommend Hanson Hardwoods!"
Two of our newest esteemed customers quoted above, Steve and Pamela, found our ash hardwood tables to be so beautiful and inspiring they still needed to purchase a 3rd ash table from us to replace their old bar top on their main level, even though it was their new construction house. Our widest ash hardwood coffee table was placed in their main living room and Steve credits his 2nd table purchase from Hanson's to help him inspire to make new inventions and gadgets during his well-deserved retirement years next to his table downstairs in his house.
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La Crosse's own local radio station crew stopped by to say, Hello!
Classic Hits 94.7 radio station was at Hanson's Hardwood Designs LLC on Oct. 25, 2024.
"WOW! Hey there, it's Ken Cooper, what an amazing discovery the other day. At Hanson's Hardwood Designs, every piece of hardwood and live edge furniture is a labor of love from Ron. He's a true artisan making handcrafted tables, bars and benches. I don't know how he does it but Ron's work is elegant and rustic at the same time. You can see that he uses all kinds of hardwoods so, really, whatever you can imagine, Ron can probably bring it to life. Search Hanson's Hardwood Designs with online and get ready to be blown away. Then give Ron a call and talk wood."
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Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
"A brand is a promise. A great brand is a promise well kept.
At Hanson's, consistency is everything."
EXCLUSIVE DEALS ON THE TABLES WE MAKE OURSELVES!
ART GALLERY PICTURES AND TABLE INFORMATION BELOW
Hanson's Hardwood Table Designs of La Crosse, Wi 54601.
The legend that mother nature created reserved until now, for you to enjoy the most modern, bold, and stylish hardwood tables you have seen.
Each handmade heart hub live edge hardwood table designed for your space by Hanson's Hardwood Designs in La Crosse has a unique story behind it because it is sourced from beautiful areas of the Driftless. Our main feature tables are from hardwood trees with rich histories. Heritage brands of rustic tables such as ours have found a growing cachet among young and older customers alike.
The larger diameter logs used for our beautiful core finished hardwood slab tables are generally more valuable due to their potential to produce wider tables instead of tables made wider with multiple boards glued together side by side. Older trees definitely tend to have a more consistent and attractive grain pattern, which can result in a more stable hardwood table and one with fewer defects. As you can tell, we make only tables from one single slab of hardwood. It looks the best. But these prime tree slabs are much harder to find these days without rot, when compared to younger trees that are not used in our business. Older trees typically also have a higher proportion of great quality heartwood, which is more resistant to decay, insect damage and warping and used for fine furniture making such as ours.
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We can knowledgeably guide you and help you along to achieve your best decision for the reason for choosing one of our hardwood tables. It will really represent your climax foundational focal point in your living area. Keeping in mind the perfect height, width, length and thickness that is important for visual effect. We will take carer of the rest and supply you a great looking quality table.
Pam and I will personally walk you through and help you with all the pain points in order to help you to be able to meet all your goals and expectations with a table to get big results. Choosing a table for your personal decor is about putting your needs first, then comes your table piece.
The remarkable look and feel of each and every one of our pieces illustrate all of the wonderful personal artistry contained in the final product. See all of their natural edges, rich grains within its curved geometric angles that nature took considerable time and witness to grow. Each hardwood table has its own individual character.
For a new hardwood table buyer, it's a wood lover's dream to own but isn't just furniture-it delivers psychological, aesthetic, and social satisfaction that goes well beyond its utility use as merely just a simple normal coffee table.
When you get a finely made hardwood table from Hanson's Hardwood Designs, it signals wealth quietly with discernment that confides in you at your level of sophistication and it is not flashy. I think all of our live edge tables communicate taste, discernment, and confidence with an understated boldness. This is the kind of whisper quiet status that I like to convey to all customers of ours alike. As a dedicated woodworker and wood finisher, creating tables from scratch is more satisfying and exciting to me than purchasing the cookie- cutter store bought brands of tables.
Obviously, our hardwood tables say, "I can afford quality, and I know what quality is, without being flashy." The real satisfaction comes from knowing the piece is real and thick solid hardwood, not veneered. Something this good and well-made in tables is something you notice daily, not something that wanes slowly into the background. These tables set your senses to a new pleasurable level. Status and freedom of choice abound and are turned up to a new high frequency in your home.
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The table you purchase from us will enable you express your interior design mode more easily and stretch your imagination by exploring your hidden personal tastes in real wood tables you didn't even know you had. Our hardwood tables invoke feeling, not something you look at in a page from a catalog. A picture is worth a thousand words they say, but in our case, we build them to show them with their most appealing visual design and effect on your eyes that can be produced by one man in his workshop. The tables we produce really packs a lot of bang for your buck for you.
It's something totally unique with our one board table construction policy we adhere to. We are not the ones who are making a table using a multiple of boards glued together. The look and feel of each full slab table cannot be replicated with any large machines. The human hands created the table's warmth, its color, its smoothness and sensory richness by its durable hand rubbed finishes available in extra glossy to matte finishes.
Your new, well-chosen hardwood table will often become a conversation starter that extends validation to your good judgement at the time of your purchase and in the future. It will easily earn the compliments it gets from the people seeing it.
Our tables are finished permanently to last a lifetime. Our combination of multi-coated poly\mica finishes can easily handle everyday use and ensures maximum protection. This professionally applied and sanded hand finished protective topcoat gives our tables a high gloss or matte finish that looks beautiful in anyone's home.
A real hardwood, authentic Hanson's Hardwood Designs table will not need replacing every 5 to 10 years. It's timeless and doesn't actually respond to trends. It can't be cancelled, and it won't go out of style for your space at home. Knowing that you will avoid future hassles of replacing it is part of the luxury niche hand crafted hardwood table market and privilege of owning one of our finely made tables.
Based on my own personal experience of creating these fine hardwood tables from scratch for the last six years in a row is, I feel you too will personally experience the same deep pride, quiet status, sensory pleasure, and the feeling of nature's permanence that our hardwood tables hold when you actually own one. Invest in a hardwood table made by Hanson's Hardwood Designs LLC because of how it helps one build up inner confidence and adds so much value to the space at home.
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At Hanson's Hardwood Designs, we don't always make big tables, but big tables are what speaks fluently to us. Small tables are beautiful in their own way, but big is when just one slab took over 100 years to grow. There lies a responsibility to follow their weight, gravity and a genuine honest feeling for the tree. These tables couldn't possibly exist without the craftsman making it.
There seems to me a seriousness of importance with natural design being involved.
George Nakashima said, "The work is not about me, it's about the tree."
I won't begin to force any slab of wood against its will or change its outcome in any profound ways. You can't. Wood can be exactly what I want it to be within certain limits. Really, the unworked hardwood piece is there to make it even more beautiful than it already is. Memorizing the hypnotic movement in the wood grain begins the process of incorporating and listening to the story that's already in the wood.
Nakashima also said, "Trees yearn to live again to serve man." I think about that line every time I start to build a table. Hanson's Hardwood Designs business wants to greatly design and build a hardwood table worthy of the time that tree took to grow.
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Our unique and functional handcrafted niche hardwood room enrichment tabletops appeal to your happy, emotional, and creative side all in one. They alter how some people have ever seen tables before; with all of their natural live edges still intact in the finished live edge piece. It's a true artisan's crafted hardwood table made in small batches. The table's true function, imagination, and emotion are still evident in the wood grain. We make our tables in step with the customer's needs first. Our tabletops are destined to enter in an entirely new age in elaboratively adorning and tablescaping your home.
Buy it for its looks, quality, and its sturdiness, but nothing should stop you from enjoying one of our life's simple table pleasures enjoyed in your homes. A great table such as ours, will set your living room dynamics free. There is a huge part of America that is drastically underserved by not discovering our new handcrafted hardwood tables. Accept no imitations and buy no imposters or two-piece epoxy river tables sitting in your spaces. Get the real deal, real 100% finished hardwood tables from us.
Tree history can significantly influence the character of each table we make in several ways. The chemical composition of wood changes in nature as it ages so that it eventually produces the kind of beautiful, aged hardwoods chosen to make the superior single seamless one-slab tables you can expect at Hanson's Hardwood Designs LLC.
We hope you take this chance to learn of our tables and to see all of the wonderful designs presented and showcased for you in our photo galleries. These handcrafted tables are made for adding value to any rooms you happen to set them in.
Our handcrafted tables are made from the finest aged hardwoods in our Driftless Area.
Each piece tells a story, reflecting the unique character of the furniture quality hardwood trees and the craftsmanship that brings the table to life.
Thank you for viewing our tabletops coming up on our website today. Take your time to decide, no hurry. We are open almost all of the time for your convenience. Calls and appointments are recommended and appreciated greatly.
Why handmade table brands can become valuable
at Hanson's hardwood Designs LLC
Each piece is unique. Materials are high-quality hardwoods. Craftsman and craftsmanship are visible. Buyers like the story of the maker and the designs they create with hardwood.
We will search the Driftless Area far and wide to bring back our perfectly wide and aged center slabs to create our handcrafted hardwood tables that bring long-lasting beauty.
We provide for you the quality living room tables that will soon become your favorite hardwood tables. The beauty is in its simplicity of design at Hanson's.
Ash hardwood has been a popular choice for creating fine furniture. It's very durable and has an extensive history within furniture making. Ash furniture can be slightly more expensive than furniture made from other types of wood. Because of its durability, one needs to be prepared to spend a bit more to get this quality. Our tabletops
Ash hardwood has been a popular choice for creating fine furniture. It's very durable and has an extensive history within furniture making. Ash furniture can be slightly more expensive than furniture made from other types of wood. Because of its durability, one needs to be prepared to spend a bit more to get this quality. Our tabletops come with our unmatched professional finishes applied with extreme skill that you will find nowhere else in this niche market of formal hardwood tables.
Right now, five species of Ash trees are critically endangered. Unfortunately, North American Ash tree populations are dwindling. Our handcrafted Ash hardwood pieces resist moisture very well and can hold up to heavy use due to their shock resistance. Ash wood furniture pieces are aesthetically pleasing and a great investment for any ho
Right now, five species of Ash trees are critically endangered. Unfortunately, North American Ash tree populations are dwindling. Our handcrafted Ash hardwood pieces resist moisture very well and can hold up to heavy use due to their shock resistance. Ash wood furniture pieces are aesthetically pleasing and a great investment for any home. Explore and browse our full range of high-quality hardwood tabletops and find the perfect piece for your home today!
We have clear and inclusive price structure for our hardwood tabletops, but the price of legs is extra. You must pay for the legs ahead of time, so we have time to install them for you. Stainless steel screws and strong steel inserts are our standard for all legs or base installations. All of our leg installations are completely free wh
We have clear and inclusive price structure for our hardwood tabletops, but the price of legs is extra. You must pay for the legs ahead of time, so we have time to install them for you. Stainless steel screws and strong steel inserts are our standard for all legs or base installations. All of our leg installations are completely free when purchasing a tabletop from us.
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Legs or bases are needed to complete your table to perfection!
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The price of table bases or legs we will install run about $200 to around $500 and on up. Bases or stands are not included in the price of the tabletop, which is a separate purchase entirely. No upcharges for legs. We do not make our own legs or bases. We only can help you to order them for your new tabletop we make. We install only legs purchased that can safely and fully support the weight of our handcrafted tabletops under normal use.
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Our largest handcrafted live edge tabletops start at $1195 to $2195 +tax not including legs. Each tabletop itself is priced separately based on beauty, hardwood type, details, and figurations.
Large Round coffee tables or end tables; 3-4" thick 30" (average
diameter) solid ash. $815 +tax not including legs. (Limited, only 3 in stock) and one @ $875 +tax. All choices of leg styles are sold separately.
Medium to small living room tables for entryway, or lamp tables for bedrooms or wherever; Starting at $195 - $895 +tax not including legs. All bases for tabletops sold are different and ordered separately.
3' to 4' long Real American Chestnut simple plank wood benches
$255+ tax (limited supply, only 6 in stock) $245, not including bench legs.
World famous original rare chestnut wood American Chestnut wall clocks (some with worm holes, not alive) This extremely good quality American made quartz timing movement is positioned with aluminum hands and thick stainless-steel numbers on the front clock face. Very accurate clocks that are within 6 seconds per year. Very limited supplies of genuine American chestnut clocks,
then they are gone forever. $225+tax. (limited 18 currently in stock).
In interior design, worm holes can be appreciated for the sense of history and character they add to wooden items.
Handcrafted finished pinewood front porch Welcome signs, all with interchangeable square block, tongue and groove letters. 7 extra letters included of your choosing to form other words of your choosing -$135 +tax. (6 in stock with letters plus any 7 extra of your choice all for $135 +tax).
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We prefer that all of our customers arrange their own method of pick up for purchases at our point of business at 718 13th St. S. La Crosse, Wi. Please let us help you load your new table directly to your vehicle. We recommend purchases made for your new tables to be picked up although delivery might be able to be arranged.
If you do
We prefer that all of our customers arrange their own method of pick up for purchases at our point of business at 718 13th St. S. La Crosse, Wi. Please let us help you load your new table directly to your vehicle. We recommend purchases made for your new tables to be picked up although delivery might be able to be arranged.
If you do not have access to a pickup for transporting your new table, we have the option for delivery at a nominal fee. Delivery cost and availability is dependent on distance.
If you compare the price to the number of years a Hanson's hardwood table piece is likely to remain in use, the value behind our hardwood furniture wins every time. Buying cheaply made furniture may save you money upfront, but I'm pretty sure it will cost you more in the long run.
Our real hardwood tables are a great value for your home, absolutely worthy of your investment for a table that can be easily maintained by simply periodically wiping it down with a damp micro-fiber cotton cloth. Truly nothing beats the versatility of wooden furniture and one from Hanson's can be very rewarding.
We always try to keep an accurate record of the origin of our Driftless Area tables in mind and keep a record of most details gathered about the hardwood trees used in all of our hardwood tables made in our shop. We would love to answer any and all questions about our business or to assist you in picking out your new hardwood table. We would love for you to choose Hanson's Hardwood Designs LLC hardwood tables of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Interested in one of our tables? Just drop us a line anytime.
Best regards and thanks again, Pam and Ron Hanson.
La Crosse, Wi. (608) 304-5475.
Hi, Welcome to Hanson's Hardwood Designs. What type of table do you need? Coffee, sofa, bench or entry? We have them all. Text, call or message us.
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