Hand Made Furniture

There comes a time when

“Old World Faux Techniques”

are simply the only way to go when it comes to

Hand-Made Furniture in Naples Fl.

To me, there is nothing like a true craftsman that can design, build, and finish a custom hand made furniture piece such as this! I had the honor of meeting Frank and Danny who has been in the finishing business for over 40 years and just from the direction from

Interior Designer Anne Cooper of

Anne Cooper Interiors

did Frank custom finished these two pieces of furniture that were designed and built by master craftsman

Danny of Perfection Woodwork

located in Naples Fl  239 641 0003

for this

“Lady’s Desk”

Now I am taking a chance here by posting this because it is a “one of a kind” hand made furniture design but I am willing to take that chance because of Frank’s and Danny’s extraordinary talent of being able to match any color and create a design simply by sight as you can see from Interior Designer Anne Cooper’s “storyboard” as I call it.

I have worked with several Interior Designers in the past and when you find that jewel of a designer who totally trusts a craftsman’s artistic ability, it is a wonderful experience not only for the artist but for the designer and all who are involved in creating handmade furniture.

Yes, there was a matching coffee table that went along with this set.

You see Frank and I met some time ago through all the networking that I do with “genuine” like-minded individuals who believe that the more you give the more you get back and he was actually involved in the custom mirror design that I posted about some time ago which

the frame turned out absolutely fabulous.

As many of you know I have been in the business of finishing for over 30 years myself and have completed 100’s if not 1000’s of cabinets, hand made furniture, and everything in between, but after so many years of dealing with the lacquers, oils, urethanes, varnishes, faux finishing, there comes a time when your body tells you “Enough already!” and I had to finally pull myself away from the spray booth. This is something that is very hard for me to do but according to a doctor’s advice and the fact that the VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) was making my “liver quiver” that I had to resort to hand finish all my cabinet refinishing jobs. This in itself tripled my labor and tied my schedule up to where I couldn’t keep up with the demand from my client base. In order to do these kinds of projects, my pricing was so high that it wasn’t much less, or even higher than if the client were to just replace the cabinets with new ones. Most clients thought I was actually trying to price myself out of work, which was absurd of course, in fact, I was just being honest with them when I would suggest they entertain the thought of replacing a piece for at least a day or two before making their decision of hiring me to hand finish everything.

My clients are very important to me and I have been raised to believe that a person’s integrity is worth far more than any dollar amount. Some call me a fool because I don’t charge clients more, just because I can get it, but I just didn’t feel comfortable with the prices that I had to charge and knew I had to come up with a solution, so for quite a few years, I have been looking for a craftsman who had the same standards and ability as I to take over my hand made furniture and cabinetwork and was blessed when I met Danny and Frank.

Like I said the “old world faux techniques” are second to none as well as the experience of a master finisher.

I have even gone the route of training the right person but this is something that takes years to accomplish and most of today’s young adults will rarely stick with a trade such as this, so again I am back to believing that what we do as artisans truly is a dying art. You must remember that the many years that it takes to become a master of the trade, the art, the craft, whatever the art critics call us these days, it is, in reality, an art form and should be recognized as such.

The knowledge of a master craftsman can not be taught with books because the “secrets” that usually dies with the master craftsman are things that can only be taught as they happen, and it is at that moment of observation that the student learns from the master at that instance. Being able to recognize the cause of a reaction that has happened 100’s if not 1000’s of years ago was not written but only observed so the passing of experience from generation to generation has become known as the “secrets” of the masters.

Art critics of today do not classify decorative artists as artists at all, in fact, they categorize us as “crafters” or “tradesmen” and we are basically classified at a lower level of the arts. Does this mean that artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were mere high level “crafters?”, I think not and I for one am trying to change that by informing others about these jewels that are still working their magic such as Danny and Frank.

In closing of this post, I would like to say that I have finally found two masters of hand made furniture who I can now refer my future cabinet and furniture work to with the confidence of knowing that my clients and referrals will be in good hands with the quality and ability to take on any size project.

With a huge shop and all the right equipment, custom-designed hand made furniture can be built to whatever your heart desires. From a drawing, a design idea, or even a phone call to discuss a project I think you would be totally amazed at what can be accomplished by contacting

Danny at

Perfection Woodwork

239 641 0003