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Looks good, like what you did with the books. How is the carpet to keep clean of staples?

Chris

The name Heritage may just be the mill like Irvin Alan or it might be like Spalding. See if you can get a pattern number or something. There are some tear, puncture proof fabrics out there. I will look some up and let you know. I will check my books for this also.

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the heads up, I wish I could come and take a job right now but there is a lot involved with the move so will take longer then most. We both need jobs and we have an Autistic son so we need to find the best place with programs for him. I also have my many customers to take care of here before any move. I also need to talk my wife into how great the state of Florida is. Her sister just moved to Tampa and my younger brother is in Tampa. I have many friends down there. We are coming April 15th this year to check some places out like Tampa, Sarasota, St. Petes and surrounding areas and we also want to see Jacksonville and St. Augustine.mnow we have five days to fit all this in and go to Bush Gardens lol. I look forward to visiting some of the members shops here.

Chris

There is no shortage of custom furniture here. I work with designers all over the states and the furniture they sell to their clients is mostly custom. I think it depends on where you are doing business depends on the exposure. Granted you will pay grandly for it though. There are also quite a few furniture companies still making high end furniture, Stickley, Harden, Lee just to name a few. Check out Holly Hunt for more custom and modern furniture. I work around cabinet makers all the time, these guys and gals are extremely talented. I just worked on two Holly Hunt chairs, the customer paid $5000.00 a chair. I see a problem with dewindling hardwood supplies out there so some companies are using high end 1.5" plywood with hardwood legs but they are also still using sewn horse hair and coil springs. So if you have clients that can not bear the price of new high end that is where we come in, more times then not the older furniture is built much better then new and that is how you sell your trade. So, I see no shortage in these trades

Chris

Welcome to the trade. I started out new on this island and therefore is very seasonal. I do furniture upholstery and opened shop 2.5 years ago. The first year I introduced myself to all the designers, cabinet makers and the shipyard. I advertised in the main newspaper and made a bunch of flyers geared to different profiles such as, realtors, dentists, doctors, and designers and I hit the pavement and introduced myself to everyone. I put my business cards everywhere. I also got the website up. My first season was average, my first winter was tough. This year I was booking July 2015 in January. I do everything but need to figure how I can afford hired help and still make a living. It is very different here. This winter is great, I booked customers who are either remodeling or rebuilding their homes and I am redoing all their furniture over the winter months. This way they save on storage, I keep busy and they have all new furniture when they return in June. So if you get out their and get exposure, you will succeed. Like everyone said, don't miss phone calls and have fun.

Chris

Most of the pieces I do have dress maker skirts. Skirts only use about two yards of fabric so there is not much in the way of saving cost. It is more for looks however where I am located there is a lot of fog rolling in from the sea so I try and talk them into eliminating the skirts for air circulation.  As far as dating the piece, i don't think so, it is more the fabric choice that dates the furniture.

Chris

My last job in NY we used Camie in a pressure pot with a nice spray gun, these are really nice to use and the glue does not gum up if not used in over a week. Very adjustable spray pattern too. Can be expensive but if you spray a lot well worth it

To be honest, I like the old better because you show more photos

I know what you are looking for, I will look in my boxes and see what I have.

Let me know what size hooks, I may have some kicking around you can have

I am not sure about slat wall, I used to have rack that Irvin Allan/Greenhouse Fabrics sells. If you search Fabric Sample Racks you will find them there too but they take up 3 sq ft.. You can also go with peg board. Another idea if you have the room a table with shelves under, sort of like a cutting table, that way you can use the table to look thru the books. Let us know what you decide

Yeh, I guess I got wrong local lol. We are going to look at Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Ruskin, Apollo Beach, and several other places.

Hey Paul we are coming down mid April, if I have time maybe stop by. We have been looking at Tarpon beach. My wife is an Editor so she is looking too, most of those jobs are around Tampa and St. Petes

Hi all,

We might be moving to the Tampa Bay Area in the next couple of years. I am looking to see if there is anyone in the area that might want to hire on someone (me). I have been working in the trade since 1982 and have been trained by a German Master and then by someone who worked under the master for 13 years. I work mostly on Furniture. You can see some of my work at www,onislandupholstery.com I own the business. Click on the Gallery tab on the site. Look forward to hearing from some Floridians. Not Gainesville, not interested in this local.

Is this an office or conferences chair? I used to refurbish offive chairs and this technique is used often on high end furniture like Steelcase