Total Studio — Local services in South El Monte

Custom 90” Woodrail Sofa - Fabric is by Sunbrella, it’s called Sailcloth in the color Sailor.

-Ordered 11/29/19 (Black Friday Sale), quoted 6-8 weeks for completion. -Completed 1/31/20 (exactly 9 weeks), quoted 3-10 business days for delivery. -Received 2/20/20, (14 business days).

About the quality:

As someone who works in the custom furniture industry myself, I am actually blown away by the price, turn around time, and quality of this piece. All the seams are beautiful, finishes are perfect, and down alternative fill feels “heavy” in a good way, that feels like real furniture that will last. The two seat cushions and two back cushions are not attached to the frame, so they can be flipped to the opposite side for more even wear. I fully expect this sofa to serve me well for the next 10 or so years, at which point I hope Total Design will still be around to reupholster it for me!

About the ordering process:

I reached out to Marc via email to ask questions and get a quote on the piece that I wanted with the customizations I wanted. He was very responsive and was able to get my quote in the system so that it was ready to go when I was ready to purchase. Even though I’m not local, Marc still honored their promotion on Yelp, which was two* free (20”) throw pillows if you checked in.

*I received both inserts, but only one case. I assume this is because they didn’t have enough of my fabric to make both. This is on me, and I am extremely appreciative that I was sent both inserts anyway!

About the delivery process:

For Bay Area delivery, Total Design uses a company called American West to deliver their furniture. It is white glove delivery, which means they will bring the piece all the way in and place it where you would like it to go. Total Design did not immediately receive tracking information when the piece shipped. What this means for you: You might need to reach out to them if you don’t hear from the delivery company within the time they told you you should. You also have to be flexible enough to be able to be home during the day with 24 hrs notice. They called me Wednesday, for a Thursday delivery and assigned me a delivery window. The actual delivery was very quick, it look them about 30 minutes.

Tips: -If you choose to supply your own fabric, order at least one extra yard (for plain fabric, or two for patterned) as contingency. Consider this the cheapest insurance policy you’ve ever purchased. -If the free throw pillows are very important to you, consider ordering two additional yards (on top of your contingency yard mentioned above!) to ensure they will have enough yardage. -Get your quote ahead of time so you can get your fabric ordered, so that once you place your order, there is no delay on your end while the workroom waits for your fabric to arrive. -Black Friday seems to be the best (and only) major discount they offer at 25% off. -Expect delays, especially if you order at a busy time like Black Friday! Between fabric shipping, influx of orders, and third party delivery services, a lot of the lead time is out of their control. I had my fabric shipped and it arrived before I even placed my order. I mentally allocated 12-14 weeks to receive the finished product, regardless of what I was quoted. It took 11.

All in all, I really can’t recommend this company enough! This experience has been fantastic! Many many thanks to Marc and his team, and Rose for answering all my questions and always following up with me...

Same exact experience as Melanie below. The only different is I won one of their Instagram giveaways. $2500 custom furniture of my choice - super generous right? I won it Christmas Day 2018. Ended up finalizing what we wanted mid January. They said 6-8 weeks for build time and 2-3 weeks for shipping time. Almost all communication through Instagram - not quite sure who manages that page or who I was talking to. Message them on April 25 to check in and they said that it’s coming along great and it should be done in 2 weeks and that they were behind on woodworking at the time. June 21st comes along, no communication from them so I reach out again to check in on status. They responded and said it’s almost completed and that the shippers scheduled shipping for mid July due to our geographic location (we are in MN). I asked for a delivery date so I could ensure I’d be home from work and they said they’d get it for me. July 7th rolls around - no shipping date, so I reach out again as we were going out of town and didn’t want them showing up when we weren’t there and they said it was a week and a half out for shipping so we were good to go. I asked for an exact date again and they said the shippers let them know 3 days in advance. Not what I was told before when I asked the first time, but ok I’ll go with it. August 4 rolls around - no communication from them at all. So I reach out yet again explaining that they were supposed to deliver it mid July and still nothing. They responded and said they’d reach out to the shippers. Then on August 12 after not hearing from them, ONCE AGAIN, I message them and asked if they called the shippers and they said to give Marc a call because they ran into an issue (first and only time I ever got a name). Call him right away and he said the furniture got damaged with the shippers and that they were going to ship it back to total design and they were going to fix it for us. They said they’d assess the damage and get back to me in a couple of days. Ok fine - we will wait. August 17 I messaged them on Instagram asking if they’d have time to assess the damage and when it will be fixed and shipped. Someone replied saying “we should Be finishing up this coming week.” August 29 I messaged for an update, no answer. September 1 I messaged for an update, no answer. September 6 I try called Marc’s cell phone, no answer and no way to leave a voicemail because the mailbox was full. So I resorted to Instagram messenger and explained that I realiZe it’s a free giveaway but I still have to claim this on my taxes and two this is terrible customer service and a terrible way to promote your small business. Still no answer... it is now November 7 and we still have yet to receive a message back, have yet to reach Marc and have yet to receive our furniture! If you’re going to have a giveaway to promote your business at least do it the right way. This was a complete scam. You should be ashamed...

BUYER BEWARE!!! Total Design Furniture is a terribly incompetent and unreliable company. There is a reason why their prices are so cheap, their quality is horrendous. I would've rated them a zero if I could. The full timeline and review with pictures can be found on Yelp.

I had a 36" wide White Oak round slab and a log stump that I was saving to turn into a coffee table. The round slab was about 9" thick so I wanted to mill it down and turn it into two pieces to make 2 coffee tables. I had been following TDF on Instagram for about 2 years and decided that I wanted to support a small local business.

Early Nov. 2017, I emailed Marc, the owner, to get estimates and finalize the design of my coffee table. Basically, I just needed TDF to build 1 metal base, mill my round slab into two pieces and make sure it was flat and level and attach the tops to the metal base and the log stump base.

They were running a promotion on Black Friday, so I dropped off the wood at the warehouse and paid a 50% deposit on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. I should have realized how inefficient their company was that day; Marc was the only person that took orders and he had about 5 customers there, so it took a while for him to get to each person. I was given an estimate of roughly 2 1/2 weeks for the coffee tables to be done and was told that they would contact me for delivery.

Dec. 22, 2017 - I emailed Marc about the status of my coffee tables and he said that he was waiting for the metal base to arrive and it should get to their El Monte warehouse after the winter break. Their other warehouse is in Rialto, I don't understand why it would take so long for the base to get to one warehouse to another. I know that I was given an estimate of 2 1/2 weeks for the coffee tables to be finished, but they were already 1 1/2 weeks late.

Between Jan. 2018 to final delivery in April 2018 was a ton of terrible communication and lies from Marc.

The whole process took 20 WEEKS, instead of the 2-3 weeks originally promised. I can't even use the table, they ruined the White Oak slab and I'm going to have to replace the wood top with another material. This has been the WORST experience of my life. I'm an interior designer so when I first found out about this place I was excited, but now I make sure that NO ONE I know shops here. The quality of work is HORRENDOUS, the business is run TERRIBLY, and there is NO...