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KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Paul Witherspoon, president of WallBeds and Cabinets Hawaii, has adapted the design to include local touches. What looks like a cabinet or armoire folds down to a finished bed.
Updating a classic
for cramped quartersBetween building customized Murphy-style wallbeds, Paul Witherspoon works at remodeling his small Kakaako showroom.
But there isn't much time for that as word about his custom designs is getting around; he and his two full-time craftsmen are busy and looking to train and hire some part-timers. A white wallbed in the Waimanu Street showroom, the only one that will fit, demonstrates the size of a unit as well as the counterbalanced steel frame designed by Witherspoon's predecessor, Robert Bright.
The counterbalancing prevents the bed from being too heavy to operate or from falling on an unsuspecting victim.
The company also makes horizontally mounted wallbeds, popular in children's rooms or where the floorplan won't accommodate a typical vertical mounting.
Witherspoon's company makes wallbeds of various natural wood and fiber finishes with attached shelving and cabinets, attached fold-out desks or separate but matching desks, entertainment centers and hutches.
Using a U.S. Small Business Administration loan, Witherspoon bought 18-year-old Wallbeds & Cabinet Manufacturing Inc. from Bright last summer, changing its name to Wallbeds & Cabinets Hawaii and putting it under Witherspoon's PTW Enterprises Inc. The parent company also operates Central Sharpening Service.
What does it sharpen?
"Guillotines," Witherspoon said.
Paper-cutter blades, he explained, used by printing companies, as well as saw blades and other things.
Oh.
Full-time machinist Gary Timcho is the metal guy, doing the sharpening and making the wallbed frames.
The workshop is split in two sections, the steel side and the wood side, joined at the back by a larger space stacked with wallbed frames of various sizes.
On the wood side, Witherspoon showed off a cabinet with carefully matched maple wood grain being crafted by woodworker Kevin Jones. The team also works in other woods, such as cherry, teak and koa.
Natural fibers are also gaining popularity with designers, and Witherspoon has seen high demand for pieces finished in grasscloth and rattan.
The rattan half-rounds, or splits, come from The Bamboo Barn Ltd., which is good news for company President Bob Short.
"The Bamboo Barn is a mere shadow of its former self," Short said, but it still carries lines of bamboo, carpeting and rattan materials. Customers on that side of the business are mostly businessfolk like Witherspoon, interior designers, contractors or store owners doing their own interior work.
Due to a declining demand for bamboo and rattan furnishing, Short added the business three years ago. Now with Teak and Asian Treasures LLC, the store is a partnership with Gerry Corwin and carries mostly teak furniture, as well as lamps, carvings and other accessories.
Witherspoon sees area furniture stores not as competition but as complimentary businesses. His customers who purchase a teak bed might need matching chairs and tables, which he doesn't make. A furniture store customer may need a space-saving solution to turn a second bedroom into an office, without losing bunkspace for houseguests, he said.
"We all look out for each other," said Witherspoon.
Custom wallbeds start at $1,500 to $1,800 but can go up to $6,000 to $8,000, depending on the design.
"It's all hand done," he said. "It's just us and our tape measures."
The most popular sizes are double- and queen-sizes although many customers order twin-size beds for children.
Adding a chunk of business to the business is distribution of just the wallbed frames. Hotels and time-share operators are big customers. Two different types are offered, one with a built-in headboard and one without.
"We sell them by the container-load," said Witherspoon, whose clients are global.
The company does mail-order business via www.wallbeds online.com. Its some-assembly-required "Bed-In-A-Box," is shipped at $377.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
