Skip to main content

HomePod’s furniture stain issue can be avoided with Grovemade’s stylish stands

Some owners of Apple’s recently launched HomePod speaker soon found that it left a white stain on wooden surfaces.

When Apple learned of the complaint, it said that if you moved the speaker, the stain would “improve over several days,” which made it sound more like a pricey bottle of wine than an ugly mark on your furniture.

While it never quite developed into a full-fledged “Ring-gate” calamity for the company, affected owners were nevertheless upset with their new Apple-made gadget, and were left with several choices: Shove the speaker onto a magazine or cloth to eliminate contact; shove the speaker onto a non-wooden surface and hope for the best; or shove the speaker in a closet and forget about the whole sorry affair.

Well, thanks to the folks at Grovemade, there’s another, more reasonable option: Put the speaker onto one of its stands and place it anywhere you darn well like.

The Portland, Oregon-based company has been in the business of handcrafting stylish accessories since 2009, and has now launched the HomePod Stand.

The result of eight solid days of design, prototype, revision, and production, the final product is available in hardwood, cork, and aluminum, with each one custom-machined and hand-sanded at Grovemade’s workshop.

“The HomePod looks great, but our team wanted to take on the challenge to make it even better,” said Grovemade’s founder, Ken Tomita. “We are built to take on quickstrike projects and when you can do everything under one roof, you can move really fast.”

The different options have been designed to pair with the white or space gray versions of Apple’s smart speaker. Taking a closer look, we see that Grovemade’s stand is available in black and silver aluminum finishes ($49), American black walnut and Eastern hardrock maple wooden finishes ($29), or black and natural cork options ($20).

“The design fits with our other products,” the company says on its website. “It showcases the materials simply, without getting in the way of the design of the HomePod. And it protects your table with no wasted materials.”

So whether you’re a current HomePod owner, or are thinking about buying the device and placing it on your antique wooden table, now you know there’s an attractive solution that prevents you from having to worry about whether that ugly white stain will somehow “improve” over time.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
HomePod Mini vs. Echo Dot: which is better?
Apple HomePod mini on table

The Apple HomePod Mini and Echo Dot are two of the best smart speakers of 2023. Both clock in at less than $100, offer eye-catching designs, and give you all the versatility you’d expect from top-of-the-line smart speakers. But which speaker is more deserving of a spot in your home?

Before picking up the HomePod Mini or Echo Dot, you’ll want to do a bit of research. It's hard to go wrong with either product, but one might be a slightly better fit for your household. From pricing and compatibility to sound quality and more, here’s everything you need to know about these two smart speakers.
Design

Read more
Can the M1 Ultra help improve Homekit and Siri?
Black HomePod mini on a side table, in front of an Apple TV

Siri and HomeKit are long overdue for an upgrade. I need more than just alarms and music. The announcements around Apple's new chipset have me thinking about  Apple can incorporate its new M1 Ultra or M1 Pro into a Homepod Mini.

You have to ask yourself how the Homepod, and more importantly Siri, will do in the years ahead. It's not enough to be in the top 3 voice assistants when there are only four or five viable options to choose from. With Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa's ability to integrate with nearly every device under the sun, how can Siri compete?

Read more
Sorry, there’s no new HomePod on the way
Customers inspect the new Apple HomePod at an Apple Store on February 9, 2018 in San Francisco, California.

Today's Apple event had the rumor mills filing for extra overtime pay in hope that a new HomePod or HomePod Mini would be announced, but HomeKit users once again find themselves out in the cold. Although Apple announced quite a bit of information about upcoming products, no mention was made of its smart home presence.

The original HomePod was discontinued last year around this time, with the idea that Apple would focus all of its future efforts on the HomePod Mini. The latest announcement Apple has made regarding the Mini is the launch of new colors -- yellow, orange, and blue -- but even that was in November of last year. Since then, there's been no news.

Read more