Clasen Home Allows Buyers To Be Creative

Wisconsin State Journal :: BUSINESS :: E1

Thursday, November 15, 2007
By JAMES EDWARD MILLS For the State Journal

Custom furniture takes on a whole new dimension at Clasen Home.

General Manager Alan Shepard said the business aims to give furniture buyers an array of options beyond the recommendations of interior designers.

"We want to help people be comfortable bypassing that interior designer and making their own decisions," Shepard said. "Sometimes the designer has his own ideas and the customer may want something else. And then in a year or two the customer says, 'You know, I wish I had done something differently.' "

Clasen Home is about choice and the freedom to be creative. Shepard said you're not limited to the palette of color and fabric options available at a furniture retailer or the swatch library of an interior designer. You can bring in your own fabric or pick from over 150 different styles. You can design a new piece of furniture or have reupholstered that perfect item that suits your living space.

"We want to make the process easy and direct for someone to have a high quality product at an affordable price with their own input," Shepard said.

Located at 5010 World Dairy Drive, Clasen Home is a working furniture and upholstery shop. The front office is appropriately cluttered with none of the trappings of a showroom or a design center. What the business lacks in aesthetic amenities, it more than makes up for in customer service and quality construction. All of the cutting, sewing assembly is done on the premises by skilled craftspeople.

Once you've picked our your fabric you're ready to go. You can select from dozens of furniture styles from the company's Web site. Or if you have something to be reupholstered, you can send an e-mail to Clasen with a photograph of the item for a free estimate.

"What someone thought was junk can be redone and made to look just like new," Shepard said, "We can tell them how much fabric they're going to need and how much the cost is going to be. That eliminates them having to come in here for an estimate or us having to go to their house for an estimate."

New items are constructed of kiln-dried hardwoods and feature high quality padding. Turnaround time is pretty quick with each piece built domestically at a single location. One of the most unique items at Clasen Home, Shepard said, is the upholstered headboard. Soft and padded, the custom designed pieces are an elegant addition to any bedroom set.

Shepard said applying new fabric to an old but sturdy piece of furniture is a great way to get more satisfaction out of something that will last.

"I think there's a move toward having things in your life that are made from sustainable resources, that's going to have a longer life," he said. "You're not going to put that sofa or recliner on the curb."

Clasen Home
5010 World Dairy Drive
608-224-1625
www.clasenhome.com