Much like the city it calls home, Dallas’ J. Douglas Furniture & Interior Design has done nothing but grow since 1989. Sure, the showroom has always been tucked away in Turtle Creek, but even such an elusive address couldn’t save J. Douglas from the sprawl often associated with the Metroplex. Once a simple storefront, the Oak Lawn showroom now stretches almost across an entire city block. It’s true: Big things happen here.
Inside the expansive store, you’re bound to encounter its founder and namesake, Douglas Bradford. Bradford has spent the better part of the last quarter century scouring the nooks and crannies of the design world to source a showroom that offers striking and unique pieces of furniture from designers like Marge Carson, Maitland-Smith, John Richard and Taylor King.
“Even though we run a furniture store, I consider it more a gallery of pieces,” Bradford says. “I always tell people that I don’t buy for the masses. My pieces are really one of a kind. If you had them in your home, it’d be hard to find them anywhere else.”
Perhaps the most intriguing facet of J. Douglas Furniture & Interior Design is Bradford’s relationship with storied California designer Marge Carson. Carson’s collection is a perfect microcosm for the J. Douglas showroom, as the designer marries classic designs with contemporary finishing and fabrics. For almost 15 years, J. Douglas has served as Dallas’ exclusive retailer for the luxury brand. If it’s “California Cool” you’re after, look no further.
“Marge’s collection is so vast. The pieces are opulent, with beautiful patterns from all different corners of the world,” Bradford says. “We’ve always had a great working relationship, and I think that Marge Carson’s designs work really well in the Texas home.”
Of course, if you’re in the market for something totally unique, make sure to take advantage of J. Douglas’ custom furniture design options. Bradford estimates that 75 percent of his business comes through his custom work. With a close working relationship with a handful of the country’s best furniture design resources, Bradford makes the impossible possible, transforming a pile of swatches and scratch paper into your home’s next focal point.
“I really like the creative side of things,” Bradford says. “When you create a custom piece of furniture, it’s like creating a piece of beautiful jewelry.”
When Bradford isn’t enjoying a morning cup of coffee in his showroom, the designer is darting around the city for his various interior design projects. From custom builds to a simple refresh for an existing client’s home office, Bradford’s design dossier includes eight to 10 projects at any time. Clients come from all over the state— sometimes, across the country— to assert the J. Douglas aesthetic in their own homes.
“I’ve got a longtime client in Plano who started his career just as I was starting mine,” Bradford says. “Today, I think we’re on our third or fourth house together. I say that taste changes every seven years, and it’s fun to see my clients’, as well as my own, taste evolve over time.”
As if his plate wasn’t full enough, Bradford has just been given the keys to a $3 million show home in The Hills of Kingswood in Frisco, Texas. In conjunction with Ron Davis Custom Homes, Bradford plans to decorate the property with some of his personal favorite items from the showroom.
Curious as to what it’ll look like? The project will be featured on TV’s Designing Texas in the coming months.
Dallas shows no signs of slowing down and neither do Bradford and his team. And why should they? After all, at J. Douglas Furniture & Interior Design, bigger is certainly better.
Chase Wade is a Texas-based freelance writer. Read more of his work at chasewadewrites.com.
