Steve Hall did not set out to build cat trees and a cat tree business.
He sort of stumbled into it.
But like the cats who so love his trees, he certainly landed feet first!
Steve was just another white collar workforce associate in Atlanta in 2000. But then a friend of his bought a cat tree at a cat show. That's when everything changed.
"A friend of mine went to a cat show and bought a tall cat tree for her feline friends. She was so enthusiastic when she mentioned the purchase to me that I was excited to see it. But the next time I visited her house, there was no tree to be seen. Upon inquiring about it, I learned that she thought the tree very unattractive and had it hidden in a spare bedroom for the cats to play on. I couldn't understand the logic behind it, because surely the fun of owning a cat tree should be watching the frolicking felines having a good time climbing it," exclaims Steve.
The next day, Steve set out on a mission. He went to an area where he knew there had just been some hardwood trees bulldozed for building purposes. He took his chainsaw and cut some of the nicest wood he was able to find. He then went to Dalton and found some beautifully colored, thick carpet. Next, he took his supplies down to his basement where, always having been rather handy, Steve had a full workshop laid out. He hammered, sawed, nailed, sanded, bunched, gathered and stapled until he had a rough prototype of what promised to be a beautiful cat tree - one anyone would be proud to display in the living room!
After a few more attempts, Steve had a beautiful product to offer. His friend loved the gift so much, not only did she display it in her living room, but she told others about Steve's beautiful, custom-designed cat tree. After seeing what all of her fuss was about, her friends asked Steve to build trees for them too.
It was not long before Steve had left his full-time, white collar job for a basement workshop converted to store a wood yard's supply of cut timbers and rolls of the finest carpets. He now spends all of his time building custom-designed trees for sale.
"The demand has been incredible. Never would I have imagined building cat trees for a living!"
And Steve and all of the felines who were lucky enough to own one of his cat trees lived happily ever after.