Familia Upholstery Family run, service centered
W
By Gary S. Hatrick
When a chair is like part of the family or replacing it
would be a major part of the budget, you should call Familia
Upholstery of Wesley Chapel.
As the name suggests, Familia Upholstery is a local, family
business run by Yailis Feliciano and her parents, master
upholsterer Miguel Feliciano and Reina Arce.
“We do it all,” Feliciano said. “We do commercial and
residential furniture and we do marine and vehicles.”
“It’s a family thing with my parents,” Feliciano explained.
“They are the craft people, they actually do the work and I
run the business. My parents have been doing it for many
years. They used to have a business in Puerto Rico when we
lived there when I was growing up.”
Just to prove that it is a family affair, the name of the business
means family. They all started together in business seven
months ago when Miguel and Reina, bored with retirement,
were thinking about returning to Puerto Rico.
“I said, ‘If I start the business, will you do the work?’ ”
Feliciano recalled. “ ‘I’ll bring the customers and do the administrative
part of business.’ We’ve been consistently busy
ever since. Now I’m trying to grow it into something more.”
Currently they do more residential upholstery due to
the contacts Feliciano makes at networking groups and other
places, but she knows they could excel in corporate upholstery
such as restaurants, hospi-
-
-
ture is very expensive, so it is
better to reupholster,” Feliciano
observed.
Expense is one of the considerations
when deciding to
upholster, Feliciano said. In a
throw-away world there has
to be a good reason. “When
you have a piece of furniture
that is over 10 years old and is
something you know has good
Yailis Feliciano
bones and is good quality or if
it has some sort of sentimental value – that’s when you upholster,”
she advised. “If it is going to cost more to upholster
than to buy new and you don’t have sentimental value, you
might as well get a new piece.”
Marine furniture, that is furniture on a boat, is kind of a
-
pression. “They can get a custom job. They get the colors they
want, the materials they want, so people prefer to reupholster
to buying new,” she said.
In all cases, the material oftentimes drives the cost even
more than the labor, Feliciano explained. “There’s the range
there’s a little bit more affordable material so it really de-
6 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 813.682.9364 FLORIDA WOMEN MAGAZINE