Home made furniture: crafty work!

Published in MapleLine Magazine: Nov.4, 2009

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Story and photos by Mary P. Brooke

In a quaint, rustic retail store at the corner of one of Sooke's busiest intersections, is Country Craft Furniture -- a haven of handmade wooden furniture. At the helm is Martha Fisher who manages the store, and furniture-maker Paul Fisher. Daughter Alison helps with sales in the store in her spare time around college studies.

Whether glass-front cabinets, robust bookshelves or full kitchen production (cabinet, drawers, countertop frame and woodworking around the fridge), Country Craft furniture provides the intimacy of one-of-a-kind furniture creations with a European flair. Paul Fisher exudes the creative character of an old-world cabinet maker – no surprise, as he apprenticed in London, England as a teenager. In Sooke he has welcomed country-style seekers at his store for over 14 years (since 1999 at the current 6596 Sooke Road location, at the corner of Church Road).

“There’s an English style to these pieces,” says Paul. “Some people do their entire home décor in this style but that rarely happens all at once. Usually they come in over a period of two to five years to buy more pieces that transform their home,” he says. However, Paul is quick to add that many buyers craftily merge modern pieces with country-style treasures, for a pleasing ambience in living room, dining room, entry-way, bedroom or kitchen.

Full kitchen installations by Country Craft include Paul’s general contracting services to organize the countertop orders, electrical and plumbing. From start to finish the project takes about two months. The customer selects their wood preference – primarily pine or Douglas fir, much of it from BC’s Okanagan region. “Some people come in with a hand-drawing or sketch and a few dimensions and we’ll build what they’re looking for,” says Fisher. Otherwise, Paul can visit the customer’s home and measure for a whole kitchen renovation.

On the countrycraft.ca website the styles of various furniture pieces – including rustic pine, Devonshire and Hampshire -– denote furniture styles of both basic and elegant appeal.

When people have older pieces of furniture in need of repair, Country Craft Furniture is often where they come with wood items, usually smaller pieces – tables and chairs. If people cannot bring items to the store (the wood-working studio is nearby), a delivery service is available with an old-style vehicle painted bright blue and featuring the floral Country Craft logo.

“We make healthy furniture out of real wood. There is no off-gassing as occurs with chipboard-pressed and other manufactured pieces,” Fisher explained. Most pieces are custom-ordered.

The landscape of this spacious store changes almost daily, filled as it is with a cluttered array of items including mirrors, hinged-lid boxes and shoe shelves in addition to the main household furniture, items repaired for customers, and the kitchen display in one corner. The feel is old-world but one gets the impression that modern shoppers like the “no two pieces are identical” phenomenon as well as the personal service which is right up to date with the times. MM

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This article was first published on page 10 in MapleLine Magazine (Holiday 2009 issue / No.09-Jan.10).