Custom Furniture

As in many Asian countries it is customary to remove your shoes when entering a house - to be both clean and polite. Lesa and I realized we needed a nice bench to help keep all the shoes out of the way and to have a place to sit when you change from your outdoor shoes to your indoor ones (think Fred Rogers).

Lesa found a simple design for a foyer-bench on the "Storehouse" website, so she printed out a photo of it. We adjusted the measurements to fit the space we have and off I went to the the local market with our new driver, Chauhan.

Furniture makers are everywhere here - usually several in each local market area. I had spotted what looked like a prosperous shop on nearby Dadri Road so that's where we headed. The carpenters were young but had a busy shop (see photo - that's Chauhan on the far right). We showed them the sample picture along with our desired measurements. We chose the wood and finish and then negotiated a reasonable price (with Chauhan's help)

This hardwood bench and cushion took about 3 days to make (give an extra day for the cushion) and cost about $65 delivered. I think it's Lesa's favorite piece of furniture now!