John can you tell me how you started building custom made furniture?

Well Richard I started 44 years ago I think it was in 1972. My wife Penny and I opened a shop in Southern California. I was always an Artisan at heart. Before long I started making hand carved mirrors and folk art. With the encouragement of family and friends I began to enter my work in local art shows and before I knew I was traveling the country with my creations. I was fortunate enough to win many awards at these shows.

I’ve been noticing lately when I wake up I’ve been feeling kind of tired, my back aches and I don’t seem to have the bounce in my step that I used to. The Wife says I often wake her up with my tossing and turning. It occurred to me that perhaps it was my mattress and decided to have a look. What I saw when I removed the sheets and mattress pad was a 20-year-old mattress that looked like the Grand Canyon. At Casco Bay Furniture, we don’t sell bedding, so the Wife and I set out to buy a new bed.

We have all admired a beautiful piece of furniture, a sofa, a dining room table, but have you ever wondered how it goes from concept to reality? Surely it must be a complex process.

Think about it. Take a sofa, for example. Not only does it have to look good, it has to sit good for the vast amount of people—with all of their different sizes, heights and shapes—who are considering purchasing it,

A quality sofa is also expected to last along time, decades even. It has to take the abuse of kids, grandchildren, teenagers, cats, dogs and other assorted creatures. I decided to contact our staff designer, D Ross of  Hickory, North Carolina to learn more about how this is accomplished.

Do you have a favorite leather chair that’s been part of the family for many years that needs some TLC, or a leather sofa that met with an unfortunate accident, or damaged from an exuberant family pet? I talked to Sharon Brown, the owner and sole operator of  The Leather Doctor located in Southern California. At Casco Bay Furniture we  think Sharon is one of the best leather tech’s in the country.

We would all like to hire a decorator to assist us in decorating our home, but sometimes it’s not in the budget. A qualified decorator can cost from $100 to $200 an hour. At Casco Bay Furniture Review I decided to interview Eva, an old acquaintance of mine. Eva is probably one of the most artistically talented individuals I have ever met and certainly one of the best decorators I know.