Web site: www.kellysfurnitureservice.com
At a glance: Kelly’s Furniture Service repairs, strips and refinishes furniture. The business also restores and touches up

the exterior of pianos. Kelly’s Furniture Service refinishes doors and trim for houses and offices. The company customizes and builds cabinets. Kelly’s Furniture can divide oversized furniture, such as entertainment centers, into sections so it can be moved.

Employees: Three full-time, including company President Kelly Kohne, and three part-time workers.

Annual revenue: $250,000.

How old is the company? Kelly’s Furniture Service was founded in 1983.

Notable job: Kelly’s Furniture Service refinished the mayor’s conference table as it sat inside at the City-County Building a few years ago, Kohne said.

“That was kind of unique because the top was so big that you couldn’t get it out” of the room, he said. “Evidently, they put that conference table in there when they were building the building through the window.”

Biggest accomplishment in the past 12 months: The company handled more piano restorations and door finishing jobs than in the past, Kohne said. He attended an Allied Piano training course in Philadelphia to learn more about restoring the polyester finish on pianos last year. “We just refinished the Steinway for the new (Allen County) library,” he said.

Kohne received training in piano restoration from Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. several years ago, he said. Steinway offers the class to only about 12 people each year.

What are the key challenges facing your business or industry? Inexpensive furniture is being manufactured overseas using particle board and lower-quality materials, and consumers replace it instead of repairing the furniture, Kohne said. “We don’t see as much being stripped and refinished because people will say, ‘I’ll just buy new,’” he said, “whereas years ago you had so many antiques and solid wood and stuff it was worth it to strip and refinish it and hand it down to your kids.”

To minimize the harm caused by that trend, Kelly’s Furniture Service is diversifying its business by refinishing pianos and doors, Kohne said.

What are your growth projections for the next five years? “I hope to increase (sales) by about 30 percent,” Kohne said.

What’s one thing about your business that people may not be aware of? “All of the different things we do,” Kohne said. “Some people look at us as just stripping and refinishing furniture. They don’t know we do the doors or the pianos or customize the cabinets.”

Source: Kelly Kohne, president. Compiled by Jenni Glenn of The Journal Gazette.
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