Over the past few years, more and more focus has been given to outdoor living spaces and creating oases where people can spend just as much time outside as they do inside. It’s given rise to all manner of products for outdoor use—the most important of which, of course, is outdoor furniture that’s just as stylish and comfortable as the pieces you’d find in your living room.
Offering pieces made from high-quality materials, Beespoke Home is a premier source for outdoor furniture that will last a lifetime, designed with an aesthetic that puts one in mind of mid-century modern design. Since its launch in March 2019, Beespoke Home has established itself as a customer favorite—with little wonder, as owners Ashlea and Kirk Stares have been in the design and manufacturing industry for 20 years. Along with running their three home furnishing lines, the couple has a full house with seven children—it’s a busy beehive of activity. “Our kids were part of our inspiration and desire to create Beespoke Home and capture the ultimate outdoor living experience,” says Kirk Stares.
Residents of the DFW area for 17 years, the couple recently purchased a home in Westlake, a small town close to the DFW airport, that allowed them to double their outdoor space and really enjoy the use of their outdoor line at their own home. Clearly, they believe in their own product—and its ability to stand up to frequent wear and tear. It’s also one of the things that makes their company unique. “Beespoke Home was designed out of a personal desire and need for our family,” explains Stares. “When we were shopping in this category for our own home, it was challenging to find high-quality outdoor pieces at a reasonable value. Because of that, every one of our pieces is crafted with the intention of delivering a quality standard to last a lifetime, at prices families can afford. As Beespoke Home’s product line was being designed and developed, we made it a priority to use Grade A teak sourced from sustainable forestry in Indonesia, and all items are handcrafted by local master-skilled artisans.”
Naturally, that quality of design is a pillar of their success, especially as a company that operates so greatly online. And while their Dallas showroom may give designers and local customers the opportunity to see the products firsthand and consult with the team, Beespoke has created a nationwide reputation for itself that has translated into high customer ratings and online sales numbers. “Our interior designers and customers love working with us because we are unmatched in the marketplace in terms of look and feel,” Stares says. “In addition to the Grade A teak we use, our pieces offer high-quality materials, such as Sunbrella fabrics, natural handwoven textures, stainless steel hardware, and low-maintenance aluminum and/or steel frames.”
With styles ranging from traditional to contemporary and modern, Beespoke’s pieces fit with any aesthetic. Still, its top-selling style is the classic and timeless Pavilion Collection, which features a teak base paired with olefin cushions in three color options. “Our customers can curate their own space by choosing how they want to piece the collection together to best fit their needs,” Stares explains.
Certainly, as an online company, Beespoke relies heavily on the customer service experience, and that is another area in which it shines. The company website is all about simplicity: It’s easy to shop and features photography of the pieces captured in lifestyle settings, and it’s informative. Still, it is the direct connection that Beespoke wants to cultivate. “Being a small, family-owned business, we love working closely with our interior designers and customers,” says Stares. “We welcome custom projects, and we will walk our customers through their space and provide easy access to our team. We offer custom designs and fabrications, design advice, space planning and a large in-stock quantity, with reliable shipping available direct to home, typically within two weeks. Our team takes pride in their work with attention to detail, and they always have a sense of urgency and the commitment to exceed our customers’ expectations. We treat everyone like family, and we pride ourselves on the fact that we are a welcoming, family-owned, luxury outdoor line with smart prices for the modern customer and a team committed to providing the best experience possible.”
As successful as it has been, Beespoke has naturally faced challenges over the past year. “We’ve had to make a critical response to the delayed shipping from our manufacturer due to COVID,” Stares explains. “We decided to plan our inventory more aggressively to ensure our in-stock availability for our customers, and this has allowed us to truly serve our customers from the initial meeting and still provides us the opportunity to work together on custom design projects.”
That said, the pandemic has also been a boon to the trend of outdoor living, and Beespoke Home has kept in step with the shift. “When our customers put a hold on traveling to their vacation spots, their focus pivoted to investing in their homes’ outdoor spaces,” says Stares. And much like bees in the hive, the company has stayed busily working, creating beautiful things to make home life even more beautiful. *
Liesel Schmidt lives in Navarre, Florida, and works as a freelance writer for local and regional magazines. She is also a web content writer and book editor. Follow her on Twitter at @laswrites or download her novels, Coming Home to You, The Secret of Us and Life Without You, at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
