Why Choose Custom Furniture Over Designer & Retail Furniture?

The availability of new furniture runs the gamut from the cheapest particle board garbage one can imagine, to that of extremely well-respected, high-end commercial manufacturers…and everything in between. Premiere furniture companies provide striking, glossy catalogs, and showrooms in the most expensive enclaves of retailing.

The quality of their products is usually impeccable. Pricing, however, is not for the faint of heart, and makes it all but impossible to “comparison shop.” When one shops on Newbury Street, Madison Avenue, or Rodeo Drive, they will be paying dearly for those posh catalogs and outrageous rents! Some retailers congregate in “design centers,” which are usually not open to the public, unless one is accompanied by an interior designer or retailer registered at that center. Such designers will charge hefty fees for their design services, but sometimes pass their discount on the furniture on to their customers, while others charge full retail for purchases, including their services. One way or the other, the customer will pay through the nose! This is the highest of the “high end.” Being a retailer member of a few design centers, I have purchased some heirloom quality pieces there with supreme satisfaction…after the pain of our “discounted” cost.

But what are your alternatives?

Obviously, furniture stores are everywhere, fighting for your dollar. With some careful shopping, you can find decent manufactured furniture that will not break your bank—and it’s easy to determine which retailers are reputable…and which ones are not. Let’s say you want something really nice, but do not have an open checkbook where cost is no concern (must be nice)!

I highly recommend looking into custom furniture! Smaller, custom woodworkers—like Barney & Carey—can usually reproduce just about anything in those fancy showrooms, at drastically lower prices. Not cheap, mind you; but much lower. You also have the added benefit of ordering precisely what you want, in size and materials.

A few years ago, a customer approached me about building a huge dining room table for his mansion in Newport. He had gotten quotes from a couple of New York City’s most respected retailers. He told me, “I don’t are about the cost; I want perfection. Can you promise that?” We created the table to his utter satisfaction, at approximately 70% of his NYC quotes!

Many people think that custom furniture will come with a crazy price tag; not always.

Give us the opportunity to quote your dream- you will be surprised at what we can do, and for how much!