UPHOLSTERY BY CAROLINE was established as a full-time furniture reupholstery service in 1988. Our shop was located in South Minneapolis, Minnesota. At that time, we recognized the need for a reupholstery service that would offer quality workmanship and service at an affordable price. We dedicated ourselves to that objective and have since enjoyed watching our business and customer base grow beyond our expectations.

We owe a great deal of THANKS to our clients for this success and our ability to maintain a competitive edge. Many of our satisfied clients have referred their friends and business colleagues to us and have returned to us with additional reupholstery needs. These "word-of-mouth" referrals and repeat business indicate, to us, that our clients trust us. We are very pleased to have earned their trust and remain dedicated to maintaining our quality workmanship and service standards to maintain their confidence. Our clients referrals and repeat business have helped us avoid the high cost of very expensive advertising and we will continue to pass this savings on to our clients in return for their trust and kindness.

In 1994, Upholstery by Caroline left the luster of the big city in favor of the appeal of small town life. At that time, we moved our family and relocated our business to Hastings, MN. Hastings is located about 35 miles Southeast of Minneapolis. Our shop and home are actually located 3 miles south of the Hastings City limits in Marshan Township. After nearly two years of searching for our new place, we located a twenty acre hobby farm that included a house, barn and a 1200 square foot building which we converted to our shop.

Many of our friends thought we were crazy to leave an established business in the cities (our business is our only source of income) and try to start over in a different location. I quess I have to admit, it was a bit of a scary proposition. However, with the help of a publicity article and a few ads in the Hastings newspaper, we soon made lots of new friends and our business prospered. We are still close enough to the cities that we are still able to service all of our commercial and residential clients from the cities when they call for our services but our efforts are concentrated on building our new client base closer to home.

Part of the appeal to our new location is the hobby farm setting. Caroline enjoys time spent with her horse and Joe keeps busy raising a couple of beef steers, a few pigs, and about 50 chickens each year. We grow all of our own meat and feel that we eat healthier foods which are free of hormones and antibiotics. We also grow our own hay and bale it 3 times each summer and cut firewood from the 10 acre woodlot behind our house. Our house is heated entirely with wood with an outdoor wood burning furnace, while we heat the shop with propane gas to be certain that our fabrics don't pick up a "smoked" flavor.