Name change designed to broaden appeal

Business
By Bill Walsh
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 2008

By Bill Walsh

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

As it turns out, sometimes when you rename a rose it does smell sweeter. That, at least, is the hope of Pat and Brian Carman, owners of Real Woods and Home Furnishings, formerly Bare Woods and Home Furnishings.

Their Bare Woods shop in Chantilly is doing just fine, with a bevy of new shoppers complementing a number of repeat customers, the shop having been open for more than 20 years.

The Warrenton location which they opened three years ago this month at 165 W. Lee Highway in Warrenton Village Shopping Center, continues to struggle to make a name for itself in the local economy, perhaps, the Carmans concluded, a result of the name.

"We renamed it because a lot of people did not realize that we do finishing," Pat Carman said. "People associated the name Bare Woods strictly with unfinished, and maybe not even furniture, either. I think a lot of people thought of us as a craft store, kind of knicky-knacky.

"We are hoping that by renaming it Real Wood, they will come in and find out that we refinish. That is the major thing we are trying to get across to people: that we will finish the furniture for you, number one, and, number two, we offer a lot of customizing possibilities."

Their niche is the upper end of unfinished furniture, a description many might consider a contradiction in terms.

Unfinished furniture is much more often associated with pressed wood and fiberboard, and designed with first apartments and fleeing the parental nest in mind.

But the Carmans' Chantilly and Warrenton showrooms are filled with quality furniture fashioned by about 20 top suppliers and made out of real wood — maple, oak, pine, cherry, alderwood and para, a popular new import that is farmed in Malaysia and, increasingly, in Viet Nam.

There are advantages to shopping Real Woods and Home Furnishings, Carman said at the Warrenton location last week.

For a start, the furniture is easily customized, not only in terms of colors and stains, but also in terms of sizes and trim patterns.

And what you see on the floor is only about five percent of what you can get, the owner said. "There are at least, literally, 100 other desks that you can get, different styles, sizes. You have a lot of choices, and that is true of almost everything."

The shop is substantially stocked with furniture Carman describes as traditional, including quite a few Amish and Shaker pieces, but the suppliers with whom she works — mostly in Pennsylvania, but also scattered across the country — have a variety of styles in their repertoires. Carman has a substantial collection of catalogs to prove it.

And while most customers these days opt to have the furniture finished at the Carmans' warehouse facility in Chantilly, some — about 40 percent — buy the paint or stain and all the accouterments necessary to its successful application, and take the furniture home to finish themselves.

The savings can be substantial, depending on the piece.

If Real Woods finishes the item, expect to pay about the same as you would pay for a finished piece at a more traditional furniture store.

The advantage, Carman said, is that you can customize the piece in terms of color, in terms of trim, in terms of size.

"I think where people save the most money is if they come in and they are doing custom things, custom wall units, custom bookcases," Carman said. "Our bookcases and desks and wall units that look built-in probably are 50 percent off what you will find in a regular furniture store. Tables and chairs," she said, "you're probably not going to save a whole lot.

Take it home to finish yourself, however, and the savings can be substantial.

"Depending on the size of the piece, you could save about 60 percent if you do it yourself," Carman said. "A chair, for instance, is a lot of work. If we finish a chair, it will cost about $60. But you could buy all the products for probably $20 or $25 to finish that chair yourself.

"If you have a big piece, a bookcase, for example, you could use that same can of stain because stain goes a long way. Whereas we might charge you $110 or $120 for a big bookcase, you could finish it yourself for that same $20 or $25. For you, the bigger the piece, the less expensive to finish. For us, the bigger the piece, the more expensive, just because of the labor," she said.

All pieces are finished by hand.

The good news is that it has gotten much easier to do the money-saving work yourself.

The products, Carman said, are much more user-friendly than they once were, less noxious and easier to use.

"About 98 percent of the colors and stains don't have an odor," she noted, "and you can finish them in your house. And our instructions really help with that, too, helping you get through the process."

Real Wood provides clear, succinct instructions, and, more important, moral support.

"People call and say, 'well, I'm down to this part, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. What am I supposed to do?' And we walk them through it," she said.

"We finish the furniture for you, and we have a lot of customizing. I think that's what people don't realize. Especially when it comes to cabinets and bookcases, which can literally come in hundreds of different sizes," she said.

The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Call (540) 341-3005 or visit the Web site, which has not undergone a name change, at www.barewoodsfurniture.com.

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