Building Relationships & Beautiful Spaces 

Article by Stephanie Hobby | Photos by Nathan Satran

On a stunning stretch of Highway 212 south of Roberts, West Bench Home Furnishings overlooks the expansive Beartooth Mountain Range. Inside, you’ll find a store that embraces natural beauty, with an impressive array of handcrafted wooden furniture and housewares to suit a variety of tastes and styles.  

BUILT ON QUALITY & PERSONAL CONNECTION

Mahlon Mullett and his wife, Katie Marie, established the business five years ago with the goal of providing clients with personalized service and high-quality, heirloom pieces. While well-equipped with ready-to-sell pieces, West Bench Home Furnishings also offers custom options, enabling customers to select premium woods, finishes, and upholstery to meet their decor preferences. Their wood selection includes brown maples, oak, quarter-sawn white oak, walnut, cherry, hickory, elm, and even reclaimed barnwood.  

FURNITURE FOR EVERY ROOM

The showroom exhibits a wide assortment of furniture, from office furniture to beds to dining sets to living room pieces, as well as smaller occasionals like end tables, coffee tables, accent chairs, and consoles, in styles ranging from rustic to sleeker, more modern.  

MADE FOR MONTANA LIVING

If you have been through a few Montana winters, you know that finding furniture to withstand the harshest elements is a challenge. For that reason, Mullett sources many of his outdoor collections from the Treasure State; all exterior furniture comes with a 20-year residential or 5-year commercial warranty and is built with fade-resistant poly lumber that does not crack or splinter. The rows and variety of Adirondack chairs are visible from the highway, with colorful pops of red and blue mixed with more traditional wooden tones.  

CUSTOM OPTIONS WITHOUT THE GUESSWORK

Above all, the Mulletts want their clients to find something they love and can cherish for years. 

 “If we don't have what they need, we can order different options. We have catalogs to go through, we have wood samples that we can choose, with different woods and different stains. And we can customize, to a certain extent…,” Mullett said. With so many options, it would be impossible to display them all, but there is plenty to experience and try out in the store.   

HANDCRAFTED ACROSS THE COUNTRY

All pieces are built by hand, using careful techniques to ensure each is not only beautiful but also consistent, comfortable, and of lasting quality. While not built on-site, the furniture is sourced from other communities across the country, including some from other areas of Montana. “A lot of the indoor furniture comes from back east, Ohio and Indiana, so it's not like a big factory. It's handcrafted by quite a few smaller shops,” he said. While Mullett offers shipping to anywhere in the country and has clients stretching from Florida to New York, California, and Washington, he says much of the focus is on serving people in the surrounding area, including Billings and Red Lodge. 

A FAMILY-RUN BUSINESS

 When the Mulletts launched their business in 2020, their timing could not have been better. People were largely confined to their homes, and demand for new furniture was skyrocketing as newly minted work-from-home employees looked to remodel or refresh their existing spaces. “It kind of kick-started it and gave us a boost. Since then, it has its ups and downs, but it's been really, really good for us. We're really blessed,” he said.  

 West Bench Home Furnishings is a family effort; while he and his wife run the store, their four children, aged 6 to 16, are regular helpers with the business. And while furniture takes up the majority of floor space, one section is dedicated to smaller goods, with shelves of puzzles, wooden toys, games, and smaller kitchenware like spoons and serving pieces. A few of the walls are adorned with metalwork featuring Montana animals, including elk, bear, and moose.  

 “What I enjoy the most is being able to connect with people and find them what they need, providing them with a quality product that'll last for them. I would say that’s a highlight to be able to provide what they need, and connect with people and build relationships with repeat customers,” Mullett said.  

 If you are interested in visiting their showroom to see options for yourself, West Bench Home Furnishings is located at 749 West Bench Road at the southern end of Roberts. They can also be reached by phone at 406-445-2197 or by email at westbench@ibyfax.com.