Maurice’s Furnishings Repurposes Old World Wood Into Remarkable Pieces
By John Pacenti
Photography by Elizabeth Palace
Family business: Maurice Jonker Jr., from left, his wife Wendy Jonker, Maurice Jonker Sr., and Tony Jonker. Maurice Sr. started the business 44 years ago.
In a nondescript industrial park off Interstate 95, a family-owned business is breathing new life into old-world craftsmanship. Maurice’s Furnishings has spent decades perfecting the art of repurposing antique architectural elements, creating one-of-a-kind furniture and home decor that blends the past and present.
A hands-on, creative approach is at the heart of the success of Maurice’s Furnishings. The company sources wood from around the world and then incorporates it into bespoke furniture.
The showroom and workshop at 950 Jupiter Park Drive is currently brimming with up to 500 doors from Egypt. They are being reborn as headboards, cabinets, closets, and yes, interior doors.
“I actually went to Egypt myself,” Maurice Jonker said. “I go to these salvage yards and there is this one dealer that we buy from who had a whole warehouse full. So we just go in and hand-select the ones we want.”
Run by Maurice and Wendy Jonker, the 44-year-old business was started by Maurice Jonker Sr. with a storefront in Juno Beach after he migrated from the Netherlands. He specialized in importing European pine furniture and antiques. Maurice Sr. and his wife Tony remain active in the business.
Maurice’s Furnishings also makes high-quality antique reproductions, some refined at the warehouse but mostly at a manufacturing facility in Port St. Lucie. These pieces are made to look weathered and give a room character and pop through the color and texture of an original piece of high-end carpentry, Wendy said.
“We used to restore antiques and pull them apart, make them bigger, modify them,” she said. “So after doing that, we decided we can build these ourselves by now.”
Wendy Jonker is also from Holland where her family is in the tulip business. She met Maurice when she was 19 after traveling to see the United Maurice’s Furnishings Repurposes Old World Wood Into Remarkable Pieces Photos by Elizabeth Palace States. Both families played Cupid. She also runs a small clothing boutique at the showroom – and yes the pieces are as eye-catching as the furniture.
Maurice Jonker was born with a hammer in his hand, learning the trade of carpentry from his father. “It was almost something that was natural, to follow my dad’s footsteps,” he reflected. “It’s a trade, it’s something you grow up with, and it’s something you follow.”
He is currently designing, building, and installing a kitchen for a client in Puerto Rico. When it comes to kitchens, new synthetic shiny material may be the rage, but as Maurice says, “That’s not us. We manufacture only in real wood. We don’t do veneers.”
Attention to detail and commitment to quality earned Maurice’s Furnishings a loyal following, including high-end clients across the country and even internationally.
‘We manufacture only in real wood. We don’t do veneers.’
The company has completed projects in destinations like Aspen, Colo., Montauk, N.Y., and even St. Barts, where Maurice personally oversaw the installation of a rotating TV cabinet made from their signature antique doors.
The Jonkers work closely with clients, guiding them through the design process while offering them a unique look that can’t be found elsewhere. For instance, there were live edge slabs cut from the middle of a tree – some wide, some skinny, all with a natural curve.
“They’re great for a bar top,” Wendy adds. A posted Google review captures that a visit to the showroom is an experience: “From the minute you step foot in their store, you feel right at home and want to buy everything! Maurice and Wendy are always around to assist with ideas, and design support.”
Any visit to Maurice Furnishings Some of the many antique doors the Jonkers procure from overseas. They turn them into bespoke furniture, from headboards to cabinets and closets. would be remiss without seeing the custom-made closet that the company designed for a long-time client. When she passed on, the closet made its way back to the showroom.
The closet was 14 feet long by 12 feet wide and included features like an island, hamper, numerous drawers and a rotating shoe rack. It is the closet all other closets envy.
The client, who also lived in New York, would have an assistant bring down the contents of her whole closet to Palm Beach Gardens each season.
Spend some time with the Jonkers and it’s hard to deny they love what they do. Back to those Egyptian doors, there is a video that shows how they were repurposed in different homes – as well as real pieces, like the headboards, made from them right in the showroom.
“It’s really a fun, fun process. Right now the doors are just really hot for us, right?” Wendy says.
