1994
Dian Furniture started a boutique wholesale furniture company selling to small furniture stores in our local area in Toronto, Canada. We specialized in American, English, and French antique reproduction furniture made from solid mahogany and featuring elegant cross-veneers, burl, flame mahogany, crotch mahogany, and intricate hand-carvings.
We sourced famous period styles and designers such as Chippendale, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Adam, Victorian, Georgian, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Queen Anne, Empire, and Regency. Our selection of furniture included living room chairs such as bergere chairs, occasional chairs, and dining room chairs. We also carried end tables, console tables, dining tables, dining sets, sideboards, china cabinets, curios, and other furniture to furnish your home.
For specialized needs, we used to stock doll sized furniture, unfinished furniture, and specialty pieces such as tudor chairs, Art Nouveau, and custom pieces.
Our clients praised our quality with respect to the wood used, design, and finish, and find our combination of product quality and pricing as exceptional value.
2000
My parents decided to retire and wanted to close down the shop. I decided to continue the business after helping out with the business occasionally during the last 6 years and much more so in the last year. I had different things in mind and changed it into online furniture retail business. Since then, we have sold to 28 states across the USA and became an eBay Powerseller. Our site consistently reached the top 3 listings for “antique reproduction furniture” in Google and Yahoo! That exposure probably led to us being found by Paramount Pictures and some of our pieces was used in the movie, Team America.
2007
Due to certain operational issues, I decided to close down the shop for good. I became interested in web businesses after doing this business, but, I had different things in mind. I went back to my IT consulting specializing in business intelligence software and my goal was to build up more capital to start a new online business. I wasn’t sure what it would be at the time, but, I figured I’d have time to think and study more about online businesses while I saved and invested my business savings.
Although the business closed, I still maintained ownership of the website.
2017
It’s been a long time since leaving my furniture business. After dabbling in various web technologies and different websites, I’ve decided to restart and revamp the Dian Furniture website from scratch. We will not carry our own stock anymore. This site will now operate as a furniture blog. I started my first article with a history of furniture styles.