About the Shop
A furniture company that started with doll-sized furniture.
Doll Furniture Company was founded in 1944 when A.E. Shutt and his wife Berzie Shutt began making children's furniture — doll-sized pieces that gave the company its name. A.E. was a tireless inventor — credited among the early designers of the automobile turn signal and, later, the creator of our own Strip-o-lator, Sand-o-lator, and Dewarp-o-lator machines. The original shop was on Oak Street in Normal, out behind the family residence. As the years passed, the work grew up with the business, moving from miniatures into adult furniture refinishing and full antique restoration.
For years the company ran out of two Normal shops — one on Linden Street where the Strip-o-lator machines were built, and one on Oak Street where refinishing and woodwork happened. In 1983 the family purchased the building at 400 North Beech Street and consolidated both sides of the business under one roof, where we've been ever since.
After more than seventy years in business and three generations of the same family at the bench, the name has stayed. The second generation — David and Nancy Shutt — carried the shop forward for decades. A gifted custom furniture builder in his own right, David personally built the Strip-o-lator machines the company sold nationwide, crafted countless custom tables, desks, chairs, and one-of-a-kind pieces for customers who couldn't find what they needed anywhere else, ran sales of our new solid oak furniture line in the 1990s, and handled every furniture repair that came through the door. David retired in 2025. Today James and Brooke Shutt continue the work — serving customers throughout Central Illinois and, thanks to loyal clients, coast to coast across the United States. James has worked in furniture refinishing full-time since 1988, personally handles every piece that comes through the shop today, and has managed all of the company's bookkeeping and accounting the whole time. Carrying a bit of his grandfather's inventor streak into the modern era, he also builds websites and custom software on the side, helping local and out-of-state businesses with their marketing.
A note for our customers: James is the last of the Shutt family to run Doll Furniture Company. After more than eighty years and three generations, the shop doesn't have a fourth generation waiting in the wings — which makes every piece that comes through the door these days a little more meaningful. We're still here, still doing the work, and still grateful for every customer who trusts us with a family heirloom or a favorite piece.
Stripping, sanding, staining, custom color matching, chair caning, in-shop touch-ups, minor repairs, insurance and moving damage inspections — plus upholstery and custom woodworking through our trusted partners. If it's made of wood and it needs saving, we'd like to take a look at it.
