Don Willis Furniture

I love real wood furniture and I am very happy Don Willis is in our community. I do think the prices are reasonable for real wood and I will likely shop there again. All that said, I wanted to tell people about the problem I had with my custom-​made bookshelves.
I was excited to custom order two beautiful big bookshelves to fit exactly in the space I had on either side of the window. I was able to order them in exactly the dimensions I wanted with choice on the detail and cut out for the mop board so they would fit all the way against the wall. All solid wood with a number of stains to choose from. Lovely. I didn’t want them stained because I wanted to paint them the same color as my trim.
They were finished even earlier than promised and delivered as planned (extra charge, but worth it especially given the size). It took a LONG time to paint them – primer, 3 coats, sanding between coats but they looked great! I got the shelves put in and as soon as I put books on them, they sagged in the middle!
I will commend Don Willis for addressing the issue in a straight forward way and not pretending it was other than what it was – that they had failed to add the piece of reinforcing wood required for the shelves not to sag at that width. But I think the salesman should have known that (and told me so I could decide if that was the look I wanted). More importantly, the people making the shelves should have known.
So I had to take all the shelves in. I loaded them into the store by myself with a broken toe while a salesperson chatted with someone about vitamins. Got them back (that time, the salesperson helped me load them into the car). Still beautiful, but I had to now do the same work again for the new wood on every shelf.
So I asked for a discount. They wouldn’t offer something so I suggested about a 12% discount. It’s been at least a month and I’ve never heard back.

We had a great customer experience at this store. We went looking for a dining table, but I wanted to stay and check out all the rest. Great-​looking couches and chairs, ranging from classic to on-​trend. A lot of cute little side pieces. The prices are very reasonable. Their showroom also has a couple of arcade games to entertain the kids while you’re shopping. The customer service was great. My husband and I had a hard time deciding over a dining table, and the salesman gave us our space, but also checked in on us regularly to answer additional questions. We had a great experience would definitely recommend this as a place to shop for furniture.

We have bought a Captains bed, 3 night stands and 2 desks here. When it comes down to it, the furniture is quality wood for just a little more than what you would pay for junk elsewhere. Most of the pieces were made by small shops in the Northwest. Zero pieces have broken. My wife and I use ours daily. Our oldest pieces are 7 years (desks). Our newest piece is 2 years old (bed). We just ordered a Mission style oak dinning set; this is the first item we have found there made in China (wood sourced from Oregon).
There are a lot of places to buy furniture. I once worked at a furniture store that sold junk. I’m not an expert, far from it. I once bought from the place I worked and found out a year later it was cheap veneer junk. I’m not saying it’s safe to trust any sales person but I am saying it’s alot safer to shop at a places that only sells good quality. Don Willis focus is on selling locally made wood furniture. It only costs a little more for good quality.

Don Willis is well-​known for having quality, locally-​based furniture. I do not find their furniture prices to be particularly reasonable, after shopping at 35 furniture stores in Lynnwood, Kenwood, Bothell, Northgate, Lake City, Western Ave, Denny Way, Westlake Ave, Capital Hill, Southcenter, Federal Way, and Kent — I think I know *prices* by now… I have been to their Federal Way and Ballard (do NOT go to Ballard — USELESS) locations — Lake City has by far the best selection simply due to space — but the customer service is *horrible* — these people say «hello» — but other than that barely give you the time of day — not worth spending $ 2000 for a bureau on — no — thank — you. Better off going to a «name» place r.e. Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel for that kind of $$$ — for the pure «cache» of it all… LOL — but mainly for resale value — seriously.

Was just at Lake City Don Willis Furniture Store looking for patio furniture. Because I was just looking I was referred to as a «waste» (overheard as I was leaving). I can assure you no money of mine will ever be spent at this Company. The female cigarette smoking sales associate has «wasted» any potential of that. She spent all of two minutes of her precious time on me.

****UPDATE****
Don Willis Furniture reached out to me and expressed a sincere apology for our trouble and offered a generous discount as compensation, which was very appreciated. I feel that our customer experience was the exception and not the rule, and I will say that our new couch has been absolutely wonderful. Mistakes happen and I am happy to say that Don Willis did come through in the end.
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It was sure easy to buy a couch and the sales staff were helpful. But after waiting 6 weeks for our couch, when it was delivered we found that the couch had been made incorrectly. After waiting 3 days to be contacted, I had to initiate the conversation about how we were going to get the rest of our couch. I was told that it would take 3 weeks for the piece to be corrected and delivered (that we were to be put on priority). 6 weeks later the piece finally made it to our home.
All this time I was the one who had to follow-​up with sales to see what was going on. I wasn’t given any explanation as to why it took so long. And it was only at the very end when sales offered to refund our delivery fee which felt like a consolation prize now that we have waited 3 months for a couch and had already hosted friends and family with no couch to sit on (which was incredibly embarrassing)…

There were lots of mix-​ups with our order, and the items came sorta banged up and very very late. The shop that makes the stuff stained it all the wrong color. Frustrating as I ordered over $ 4k with them. There was alot of back and forth with the store over the order and how to fix it. Since it was shipped several times between the store and their shop, I think was the cause for the extra dings and dents. In the end, they knocked off 10% percent from the price, which was helpful, but then I even had to call back a few times over a couple of weeks for them to actually refund me the money. They way the main sales person handled it was good (thus 2 stars instead of 1), it just seemed like everything else was a mess with the company.

My wife and I have purchased furniture for three rooms from Don Willis over the past year. Each time we worked with Truman and had a very positive buying experience. We never experienced any of the high pressure sales tactics mentioned by other reviewers. Truman gave us the time we wanted to browse the store and was there when we had questions.
We have found the selection at Don Willis to be quite good. Don Willis has furniture from several different vendors and we have purchased from three of them (northwest, Canada, and midwest). Each purchase went smoothly and we got just want we ordered.
The only reason I’ve taken off one star is that after the sale there is a bit of an information vacuum. I wish Don Willis would update their ordering system to allow customers to check their status on line. Something simple like the phases at the top of a FedEx or UPS tracking page would be fine (Purchase, Order Placed With Vendor, Vendor Forecast Date, Updated Vendor Forecast Date, Vendor Shipped, Order Received, Delivery Date Set, Delivered).

Had a great buying & delivery experience with Don Willis Furniture on Lake City Way. I’ve just moved to Seattle, bought a house, so I need a number of furniture items. I stumbled upon DWF and rolled in there barely 30 minutes before closing on a Saturday. «Joelle» at the desk advised that they would be closing soon, but I didn’t feel rushed – she patiently answered all of my questions about the merchandise and was very efficient in writing up my purchase order… and was even at the phone a little past closing time when I called back after I left with additional questions. I bought a couch and a chair; love the quality and the fact that they’re Pacific Northwest made. Delivery was scheduled for the next weekend and the crew was right on time. They had to take the legs off the couch to get it up my staircase, but they were fast and efficient and careful of my walls. I’m definitely going back to Don Willis to finish furnishing my home!

On the plus side, this place does nice work and seems reasonably priced. We liked supporting a small local business, too. We visited on a friends recommendation, with vague ideas for custom office furniture, and left with momentum to place an order. How long? Four to six weeks, we were told, but that could change by the time your place your order. Ok, we’ll be back next week. Placed the order, and were told maybe six, but could be eight. Ok. Called after eight weeks — «gee, we don’t have a signed off drawing from you (but we took your 50 percent deposit).» Can we fax it again? Fax, really? It was obvious they hadn’t started. Eleven weeks later, we got our pieces – but felt like we had to do a lot of badgering – lack of returned phone calls, etc. Delivery guys were great, we love the finished products, but was a bit painful to get there.

We have purchased items twice at a Don Willis Furniture store. Both times, my husband has wanted to go there because the items are advertised as «solid wood, not veneer» and they also have items made in America.
The first item we purchased, a dresser, was indeed solid wood sides, etc, but the bottom of the drawers were a cheap particle board that was stapled in. The bottoms fell out of several drawers and had to be repaired.
We went back the second time, against my better judgement, because we heard they had some better quality «Made in America» brands. After much upsell, we purchased two mahogany bedside tables. The sales person said they were made in Oregon, thus worth the almost double price compared to ones at a similar store. They were so expensive that we accepted a slight discount from the guy, and were told «no returns».
When we went to pick them up we set them on their sides in the car, and clearly printed on the bottom were «Made in Vietnam». We were pretty upset, but they wouldn’t budge from their «no return» policy. The guy said hey, they were assembled in Oregon, so he thought he was being truthful. You decide whether to shop here. We aren’t stupid enough to get taken a third time.

After months of searching for a dresser that was a dark wood stain, around 3′ tall, only one stack of drawers wide, and sturdy enough to last more than a few years without being horribly expensive, I was coming up with nothing. I found an unfinished piece at another store that would work, but I had never stained anything and was nervous about ending up with a homemade-​looking piece, and if I paid the guy at the store to do it the piece went outside my budget and I still nervous it wouldn’t end up with the finish I wanted. Still, it was my top contender. I called DWF because I saw that they sold the same unfinished piece and was curious what their pricing would be. I also asked about pricing on a few other unfinished pieces that could work. Their salesman got back to me promptly with prices, and also suggested another dresser that they carried which was similar to the ones I was looking at but less money already finished in my choice of one of twelve stains. I checked it out online, and then went to look in-​person. I had no pushy salesperson despite me spending about an hour in the store measuring and contemplating options, just friendly, available service if I wanted it. This piece he suggested ended up being exactly what I was looking for! It is absolutely perfect, and for less than we had anticipated spending. I love that it is solid pine instead of particle board like most of the other similar or more-​expensive dressers I was looking at are. When I went to pick it up they had the finish I wanted in stock, the salesman opened the box for me to make sure I was OK with the look of the finish on that specific piece, and they loaded it into my car quickly and efficiently. I am so, so happy I called here!
The only downside: I am not sure if the salesman who helped me the day I checked out is the same one I spoke to on the phone. I kind of half-​asked but since the salesman checking me out didn’t make a big deal about it I assumed they weren’t on commission and it wasn’t a big deal. If they are on commission I feel very guilty, because I am SO grateful to the guy on the phone who looked at my questions and suggested the perfect piece for me, and I feel bad if his commission went to someone else!

Awesome.
Our experience with Don Willis Furniture has actually inspired me to create a Unilocal account and write a review instead of just lurking and reading others.
We wanted a king-​size platform bed with no headboard or footboard, with storage drawers underneath. We searched high and low and couldn’t find one anywhere.
We took a couple pictures of beds that had elements of what we wanted to the Lake City store and Joelle helped us merge them into the perfect bed. She even drew a mock-​up of what it would look like, down to the exact shade of stain.
She contacted the carpenter, who quoted us 4 – 6 weeks, but we were okay with that. Anticipation.. .
Two weeks later, she emailed us to let us know that our bed would be ready the next week.
The delivery guys came 15 minutes into the scheduled window and professionally and quickly assembled the most gorgeous piece of furniture. It exceeded our expectations. They even showed my husband how to take it apart when we move. So friendly and professional!
Thank you Don Willis furniture for everything! You guys rule.

I’ve always liked that DWF provided a location where you can find a lot of wood furniture that is designed and often built to order by local /​Pacific Northwest individuals /​small companies. It is also sometime nice to have all wood «kit» furniture (you assemble, you stain) for when you want something personalized, and if all else fails, pre-​made stuff by larger «they are located somewhere» factories. The DWF Lake City Way store has three floors of just such furniture on display (well, the basement and attic are more warehouse than display rooms, but you get to explore them just the same).
Know before you go that the sales people are all commission based, and you are subject to all the sales pressure and territorial behavior you would expect under such conditions. The plus side is that you can easily build up an «understanding» and stretch your decision time out over a couple of visits without any hassle or attitude.
So why the two star review? Because apparently, once you’ve completed your upfront payment for the order — you’re on your own. Four weeks pass since you placed that order and still no furniture? You’ll be told it can take up to six weeks. Six weeks pass since you placed that order and still no furniture? Hmmm — looks like the order was «misplaced» by the manufacturer, but they promise to rush it. Give it a few more weeks. Nine weeks pass since you placed your order and still no furniture? I got a call from said manufacturer saying it was his fault, give him 5 more days. Nine weeks + five days and still no furniture? Oh yeah, it was delivered a day or so ago. Should we schedule delivery now?
If you take my money, actively manage my order. Don’t wait for a manufacturer to deliver it to you before you remember it exists, don’t wait for a customer to call you repeatedly before you remember it exists, and don’t have some guy call me directly to make up some sob story — just professionally handle your business. Maybe even offer to knock off your delivery charge (or some other conciliatory gesture) after months of goof ups. At least I get the impression that a refund would have been somewhat hassle free had I insisted on one.
(A quick note here — the delivery people were professional, neat, and on-​time. I wanted to mention that because my issue was not at all with them, and my dealings with that department went smooth as silk.)