Quality furniture should last a lifetime

You wouldn't necessarily think interior designers, those with small rooms where standard furniture does not fit, the environmentally conscious, antique lovers and people with unique tastes in furniture would all have something in common.

But they do. They have all found their way through the doors of Shoppe de Lee in Elk Grove Village. The business is a custom shop that reupholsters vintage furniture with "good bones." It builds high-quality, custom upholstered furniture for those who want something that is unique in style or size and will last for generations to come.

"Since 1974 we have been making sofas, chairs, ottomans, beds, pillows and even booths for small kitchen spaces, as well as reupholstering older, well-made furniture," said Tom Lee, general manager.

"My father was a furniture refinisher in Des Plaines and he had people asking him about upholstery, so I joined him and started doing that," Lee said. "After about four years, we moved to Elk Grove and have been there ever since."

Much of Shoppe de Lee's business comes from interior designers who bring drawings and dimensions for what they want, which are given to Lee's staff of talented furniture-makers. The interior designers design the pieces and Shoppe de Lee constructs them.

"With homeowners, however, they often don't know exactly what they want so we talk to them and sketch something out, build the frame and make sure they like it and go from there," he said.

Others come in with a photo of a piece of furniture he or she saw online or in a showroom and ask if it can be made in a different size or fabric. Lee is able to oblige.

"A manufacturer may make a 7-foot sofa but the homeowner only has space for a 6-foot, 8-inch sofa, and I can make it," Lee said.

"Most of my buyers of custom furniture are people in their 30s and 40s who don't want to pay for furniture twice. They want to buy a good piece once and never have to dispose of it and they almost always choose a contemporary style," Lee said. "The reupholstery customers are usually a bit older. They already have nice, quality pieces of furniture and they want to get a new look."

"They can bring in their own fabric or choose from our wide range of offerings online. They can look at fabrics online, choose a couple and I can get them small samples and go from there," he said.

Lee said chenille is particularly popular with all ages right now, as are solid colors or very subtle patterns. The most popular colors currently are greens, grays and beiges, he said.

All Shoppe de Lee furniture frames are made of hardwoods and those frames are guaranteed for life. About half his customers choose exposed furniture legs or wooden bases today, while the other half will choose skirts to cover the legs. Today's skirts, however, are not usually the traditional box skirts. Dressmakers' skirts that start at the arm and go down in an uninterrupted line are the popular choice today, Lee said.

"My furniture generally costs less than furniture you would buy at the Merchandise Mart, but much more than the stuff you would find in a retail furniture showroom. All of that showroom furniture looks great on the outside, but we see how bad it is on the inside. Most of the general merchandise furniture is made of plywood and doesn't last more than five years. It certainly wouldn't be worth reupholstering," he said.

Shoppe de Lee is located at 2625 American Lane, Elk Grove Village, and can be reached at (847) 350-0580. Information is also available at www.shoppedelee.com.