Well, I live in North Carolina, so we're spoiled for choice. And I'll be honest, before we moved here, I had heard about quality furniture from NC, blah, blah, blah--never took it very seriously. Then, once we moved down, we needed a new bed for the master bedroom. We went to a custom furniture place, literally around the corner from our house. Wow. It truly was custom, and made to order, even though it was all wood, versus picking the fabric on a sofa. Let me tell you, that bed is gorgeous. And solid! It's a massive piece--king sized, platform bed with a tower on either side, pull-out drawers and shelves, mirrored back with lighting. Very fancy!
I've heard of people making pilgrimages to NC just to get furniture, and I've also heard of people ordering it to be delivered. I don't know that I'd be comfortable with the latter, depending on the size of the purchase involved.
Besides the bed, most of our furniture was picked up at standard furniture stores--serviceable, but nothing special. However, we do have a few other, special pieces. DH's mother's father was an upholsterer, and we have several chairs that he made. We acquired them when MIL went into assisted living. Our couch was designed specifically for my FIL. This furniture will be around, long after I'm gone. We have a chair for each of our children, then DS23 has claimed the couch--he's the same height his grandfather was, while DS14 is 2" taller and still growing. Someone will inherit the matching ottoman from hell--seriously, if you stub a bare toe on that thing, you'll be in tears. I don't know what the carved legs are made out of--titanium, maybe? Ouch!
So, OP, I don't know how much that helps.
I'd need you to post pictures of your stuff before I could agree with your second statement.
