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MINDING YOUR
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| COVER
UP, YOUNG MAN By Mike Ashley |
Robert McRae took
some good-natured ribbing from his college
buddies in 1985 when he dropped out of East
Carolina University to join an interior-design
business. Back then, the Richmond-based
business was known as Hillside Craftsmen and was
run by McRae's grandmother, Mary Dyer. She and
some other women worked out of their homes sewing
slipcovers, draperies and pillows. Today, Robert
McRae Custom Interiors has grown to a staff of
nine, including five Cuban seamstresses. |
| "I
love this work," says 35-year-old McRae.
"You work with clients who are very excited
about what they've picked out and what we"re
doing. They pick the fabric, and they actually
get to see us begin to make the product in their
home." McRae measures the furniture to be
covered and cuts and pins the material in the
customer's home. The fabric then goes back to his
workshop on Lakeside Avenue on Richmond's north
side, where the seamstresses take over. And, when
she's not pursuing her passion for belly dancing,
McRae's 77-year-old grandmother also lends a
helping hand. |
 artwork by Michael Goodman |
| When McRae first joined the
business, it only produced about 300 slipcovers a
year. By the time he took over in 1989, the
business had grown out of granny's garage into
its own offices. McRae estimates his staff will make nearly 2,000 slipcovers this year. At about $350 a pop for labor, that means revenue of $700,000 for slipcovers alone, not to mention upholstery jobs, which run about $600 per piece, and window treatments. Robert McRae Custom Interiors doesn't advertise; McRae says he gets enough business by word of mouth and through Richmond fabric companies that regularly contract with McRae or send him referrals. "Financially, I love this work, too," admits McRae. The key is the personal touch his granny taught him. "My grandmother would go to a customer"s house and start talking, and we'd be there two hours," he says. "I would be saying, 'Come on, let"s go. Let's do this and get out." She would always remind me, 'That"s not what we're here for.'" McRae's staff is just as serious about the business. "They are unbelievable. ... If they make a mistake, they won't let anyone else correct it. They don't want anyone else sewing their items," says McRae of his Cuban seamstresses. Clearly McRae's old college buddies aren't laughing anymore, but if he follows his grandmother all the way to belly-dancing classes, they may just start chuckling again.
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