When Kevin Cronkhite finished his high school class requirements in Bakersfield, Calif., one year sooner than most kids, his father, Fred, decided to enroll the 16-year-old in some vocational classes rather than send him off to college early.


It wasnt long before Kevin was addicted to woodworking, but attending class didnt satisfy the fix he craved. Fred Cronkhite recalls his son saying, Dad, if Im going to have to do this manual stuff, I want a shop of my own.


I remember really enjoying working with my hands, Kevin Cronkhite says, and wood was what was around.


So, at age 17, Kevin Cronkhite opened his first business in a 300-square-foot space next to a movie theater in Bakersfield. Today, at age 43, he owns Innerpace Furniture Inc., a Spokane company that builds custom high-end furniture, mostly for office use, and last year had revenues of about $1 million.


Located in a 14,000-square-foot leased space at 4030 E. Main, Innerpace makes solid-wood chairs, tables, desks, nightstands, couches, and other pieces, all to customer specification. Strictly a wholesaler, it sells the furniture through retail outlets as far away as Alaska, Illinois, and Florida. Most of its pieces are used in business and medical offices, hotels, libraries, and college dormitories. Chairs are easily the companys biggest-selling product, and it has produced all types of them, Kevin Cronkhite says.


If someone can show us an idea that they like, we can come up with a similar chair, he says.


Innerpace opened in Spokane 21 years ago as Pacific Wood Furnishings. Kevin Cronkhite sold his small shop in Bakersfield in 1979 when his family, originally from the Spokane Valley, moved back here after an 18-year absence. He went to work first for a glass company here and then for Pacific Wood soon after.


In the early 1990s, business at the furniture company fell off, and Pacific Wood, which had changed its name to Innerpace, nearly closed, Cronkhite says. Not wanting to see the employees miss a paycheck, he started buying the business in 1992 and took over sole ownership in 1995. His father, a 74-year-old retired teacher, handles orders and communications for the company.


Cronkhite spends most of his time in the shop, donning a workmans apron and making sawdust. He pops in and out of the office, where his father works on the sales end of the business. Fred Cronkhite started spending more time at Innerpace two years ago, after careers in education and real estate, in which he fostered a knack for friendly bantering, Kevin says.


He still acts like a dad, even at work, Kevin Cronkhite says of his father.


Innerpace makes furniture from woods such as oak, maple, walnut, apple, and cherry, and offers a five-year guarantee on its products. The fabric it uses is of a quality that can withstand several thousand double rubs, Fred Cronkhite says. Double rub refers to the motion someone makes when sitting on the fabric, pushing back against it to be comfortable, and then pushing forward again to stand up. While most residential upholstery can withstand about 9,000 double rubs, Innerpace has used fabric that can last for 750,000 double rubs, Cronkhite claims while demonstrating the motion. Kevin Cronkhite complains, though, that the tough fabric and the furnitures durability sometimes can be a curse.


We see our chairs all over the place. Some of them are 18 years old, he says. Unfortunately, theyre in some of the colors that were popular then, like pumpkin.


Innerpace had 32 employees and was grossing more than $5 million a year when its business peaked a few years ago. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year and the recent economic downturn, sales have dropped, and the company now employs nine people.


In a recession, businesses take care of employees, taxes, supplies; replacing furniture is generally seventh on the food chain, Fred Cronkhite.


Kevin Cronkhite expects 2003 to be a good year for Innerpace, though, because of several bids the company has placed. The company has shifted its focus to attracting more business in the Pacific Northwest, he says, rather than reaching out across the country for customers.


Weve tried to bring our footprint in a little smaller, where we can deliver furniture for less cost and with less chance it will be damaged, Cronkhite says. It doesnt matter how good the product is if some gorilla handles it poorly during the delivery.


Most of Innerpaces customers already are from the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area. One example is the Spokane County Sheriffs Office, for which it built a 14-foot long conference table made of maple with a mahogany trim last yearnot a combination Cronkhite and his staff would have chosen, but admittedly stylish in the end, they say.


Although clients can select from upscale furniture styles with names like Sorrento and Bellini, theres nothing fancy about the giant yellow industrial building two blocks North of East Sprague where Innerpace is housed. Creaky stairs lead to a mezzanine showroom, where couches, nightstands, tables, and chairs are displayed.


Under Kevin Cronkhites direction, employees build the furniture together, each handling a different step in the process. First the rough wood is run through a ripsaw bought in Germany. When larger items are needed, such as for chair seats, the pieces are glued together and placed in a large Ferris-wheel-like rack that allows 90 seats to be pressed at once.


Once pieces have been cut into the necessary shapes and sizes, theyre sanded both by hand with pieces of sandpaper and with a sanding belt, then drilled as necessary to accommodate screws, bolts, washers, and nuts.


One piece of equipment the company uses is two dual-headed drills that Kevin Cronkhite soldered together, so they can drill four holes simultaneously to insure precision among furniture pieces. Cronkhite also built some of the other machinery in the shop to meet the needs of his designs.


The furniture is assembled in the companys 6,000-square-foot shop, then brought to a finishing room of the same size for staining and upholstering. Clients choose from 10 foam densities when ordering seat cushions for chairs and couches. They also choose fabric styles that match their needs and tastes, but that sometimes leave the manufacturers scratching their heads.


Sometimes, weve sent chairs out of here that look like a mistake because the back doesnt match the seat, Kevin Cronkhite says, shaking his head, but I dont pretend to have any taste other than whats in my mouth.


Innerpace furniture has evolved over the years, not just in style but in structural design. The Cronkhites say their clients have begun demanding sturdier, wider furniture to accommodate Americans ever-expanding girths. For example, Innerpace sells a basic lunch-break table with a pedestal base supported on four feet, but its model with a pedestal supported on five feet is proving to be more popular because it doesnt tip over when heavier people lean on it to stand up.


Fred Cronkhite recalls a delivery of sturdy chairs he made once to a Spokane medical imaging office. He set one chair in a waiting room, and a patient quickly sat in it. When he explained that he had to move the chair somewhere else, the patient replied, But this is the only chair in here that looks like itll hold my 350 pounds, Cronkhite recalls.


Innerpaces products are available through 110 retail businesses throughout the U.S., including at Design Works Inc., in the Spokane Valley, and The Ink Well Inc., in Coeur dAlene, Fred Cronkhite says.