Furniture store with artsy twist

[attach]5366[/attach]Peaks and Rafters has literally been putting their customers to sleep.

“A man will fall asleep in our furniture while his partner or wife is walking around the store and we have to wake them up,” says Katelyn Jarrett. “So it’s always funny when we’re like ‘Oh, we’ve got a snoozer at three o’clock.’ ”

Although the furniture and design store is new to the city, the company was started 20 years ago by Jarrett’s mom Margot Bell in Muskoka.

After working in advertising for several years, Jarrett decided to join the family business, but made a compromise to open up on Dupont Street near Bathurst Street since she calls the city home.

“It’s really neat because the store while it has a little bit of a country cottage and city feeling, it is a true kind of collaboration between my mom and I and kind of our different generations and it kind of celebrates our distinctive styles,” she says.

In addition to the retail component, which includes bedding and décor, Peaks and Rafters is also a residential interior design firm and has an art gallery at both locations with Canadian artists like Mark Berens, Nina Cherney, April Gates, Andrew Peycha and Tammy Ratcliff.

When the artwork sells, she says, it’s great to be able to call up the artist to let them know the good news.

“When somebody appreciates something that you put your heart and soul into, it’s a wonderful feeling,” she says.

With all the design shops in the area, she thought they would be in good company at this location and says she had been eyeing the property since she first started grocery shopping nearby.

“There was no lease sign on the building, there was nothing,” she says, adding they searched for a storefront for two years. “It was merely us just kind of knocking on the door and seeing what we could do.”

She says the store is very family-oriented and she wants her customers to feel welcomed, at home and comfortable. She says they are passionate about quality furniture and their pieces reflect good design, as well as some whimsy and items that make you smile.

“I know it sounds cheesy, but we really do care about the people that come in this store and we really want them to make the right decisions when it comes to their home,” she says. “That doesn’t necessarily mean buying a whole house of new house of furniture, that means working with what you have, making the right choices, doing one room at a time and we help them through that process.”