Broyhill Fontana Collection | Timeless Bedroom Furniture
Our Fontana collection represents traditional American bedroom furniture at its finest. Each piece showcases solid oak construction with signature cathedral arch detailing that became a hallmark of quality craftsmanship in the 1980s and 1990s.
Designed for families seeking furniture that would serve them for decades, the Fontana line features dovetail drawer construction, felt-lined top drawers, and hand-applied finishes. The collection’s warm oak tones and classic silhouettes complement both traditional and transitional bedroom spaces, making these pieces as relevant today as when we first introduced them.
Fontana Collection Details
Construction & Materials
The Broyhill Fontana collection exemplifies our commitment to solid wood furniture construction. We built each piece using genuine oak lumber for frames, drawer fronts, and structural elements, complemented by oak veneers on larger panel surfaces to ensure stability while showcasing the wood’s natural grain patterns.
Drawers feature English dovetail joinery at front corners and French dovetail construction at rear corners—traditional techniques that create mechanical bonds stronger than modern fasteners. The multi-step finishing process involves hand-sanding between coats, resulting in a depth and richness you can see in the way light plays across cathedral arch details. This approach to bedroom furniture manufacturing defined an era when investment pieces were built to become family heirlooms rather than temporary solutions.
Design Features & Hardware
The signature cathedral arch motif appears throughout the Fontana collection, most prominently on headboard panels and dresser mirror frames. These graceful curves soften the rectilinear case pieces while adding architectural interest that elevates the collection beyond basic bedroom storage.
We selected antique brass-finished hardware that coordinates across all pieces—raised bail pulls on larger drawers and round knobs on smaller drawers and doors. The warm metal tones complement the oak’s honey coloring without competing for attention. Each pull is anchored with bolts rather than screws, ensuring handles remain secure through decades of daily use.
Available Pieces & Configurations
Complete Bedroom Ensembles
The Fontana collection offered flexibility to furnish entire bedrooms or select individual statement pieces. Core items included triple dressers with landscape mirrors, five-drawer chests, two-drawer nightstands, and panel beds in queen and king sizes.
Storage Solutions
Dressers typically featured six to nine drawers with the top drawers lined in anti-tarnish felt—perfect for storing jewelry, watches, and accessories. Chests provided vertical storage for folded clothing, while nightstands included a single drawer over a cabinet door with an adjustable shelf. Many homeowners combined a dresser and chest to maximize storage while maintaining the collection’s cohesive aesthetic throughout the room.
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Your Questions About the Fontana Collection
The Fontana collection is no longer in active production. We manufactured these pieces primarily during the 1980s and 1990s as part of our traditional bedroom furniture line.
However, Fontana pieces remain available through secondary markets, estate sales, consignment shops, and online marketplaces. Many families have preserved their Fontana furniture in excellent condition, making it possible to find complete sets or individual pieces. The collection’s solid oak construction and timeless design ensure these pieces continue to serve bedrooms beautifully decades after original purchase.
The Broyhill Fontana collection features solid oak construction on frames, drawer boxes, doors, and drawer fronts, with oak veneers applied to larger panel surfaces like dresser tops and case sides. This combination delivers both structural integrity and visual beauty.
Oak veneers on panels aren’t a cost-cutting measure—they actually provide superior dimensional stability compared to solid wood panels, preventing warping and cracking over time. All visible surfaces showcase genuine oak grain patterns, and the hand-rubbed finish penetrates and protects the wood while allowing its natural character to shine through.
Authentic Fontana pieces bear Broyhill labels or stamps, typically found inside drawers or on the back panels of case pieces. Look for our company name along with manufacturing information.
Beyond labels, Fontana furniture exhibits distinctive characteristics: cathedral arch detailing on headboards and mirrors, dovetail drawer construction visible when you remove drawers, antique brass-finished hardware, and solid oak weight and feel. The hand-rubbed finish has depth and warmth that differs from modern polyurethane coatings. If you’re uncertain about a piece’s authenticity, photographs of labels and construction details can help verify its origin.
The Fontana collection’s traditional styling and warm oak tones coordinate beautifully with various furniture styles. While matching Fontana pieces create a cohesive bedroom suite, individual pieces integrate well into eclectic or transitional spaces.
The oak finish complements other wood tones, from cherry to walnut, when you balance proportions and distribute visual weight throughout the room. Many homeowners successfully pair a Fontana dresser or chest with upholstered beds or contemporary nightstands. The cathedral arch details add traditional elegance without overwhelming more modern elements, making Fontana pieces versatile anchors in diverse bedroom designs.
We offered Fontana panel beds in queen and king sizes to accommodate standard mattress dimensions. The headboards feature the collection’s signature cathedral arch detailing, with vertical panel construction and substantial posts that create a focal point in the bedroom.
Both sizes included matching footboards and side rails, though many customers purchased headboards only to use with platform beds or metal frames. The queen headboard measures approximately 64 inches wide, while the king extends to roughly 80 inches. Panel heights vary by specific model, but most Fontana headboards stand between 54 and 60 inches from floor to top of arch.
Minor scratches and wear often respond well to furniture touch-up markers in matching oak tones, available at hardware stores. For deeper scratches, wood filler can be applied, sanded smooth, and stained to blend with surrounding areas.
Professional refinishing can restore severely damaged pieces to like-new condition. The solid oak construction makes Fontana furniture ideal for refinishing—the wood is substantial enough to withstand stripping and sanding without compromising structural integrity. Many furniture restoration specialists work with vintage Broyhill pieces and understand the original finishing techniques. Before refinishing, consider that original finishes with natural patina often have more value and character than new finishes, especially for collectors.
Fontana drawers feature traditional dovetail joinery—interlocking wooden fingers that create mechanical bonds at each corner. We used English dovetails at the front (visible from the side) and French dovetails at the rear, techniques that woodworkers have relied on for centuries because they resist pulling apart under stress.
This construction method means drawers maintain their shape and smooth operation through decades of daily use. The drawer boxes themselves are solid wood—not particle board or thin plywood—and rest on quality glides that distribute weight evenly. Top drawers include felt lining to protect jewelry and delicate items, while all drawers feature solid wood bottoms that won’t sag over time.