Bespoke upholstery, antique restoration, and custom furniture for the families and designers of Reno, Lake Tahoe, and the Sierra Nevada.
Extra Touch Upholstery is what an atelier is supposed to be — a small, disciplined shop with master craftsmen who measure their work in decades, not deliveries.
Forty-five years ago, Bruce Steele and Peter Trefcer opened a single-room workshop on East Taylor Street in downtown Reno with a simple promise — to do upholstery the way it was meant to be done, even if it took twice as long. The promise has not changed. The shop has, of course, grown. Today our work appears in lakefront estates at Glenbrook, mountain-modern builds at Martis Camp, historic restorations in Reno's Old Southwest, and boutique hospitality projects across the Tahoe Basin.
What hasn't changed is the standard. Every commission still moves through the same disciplined sequence — site visit, written scope, frame inspection, foundation rebuild, fabric layout, hand-stitching, white-glove delivery. No shortcuts. No compromises. No exceptions.
Extra Touch was founded by two master upholsterers who had worked together for years before opening their own shop. Forty-five years later, they are still on the floor.
Bruce brings the structural discipline to the atelier. Trained in eight-way hand-tied spring construction and frame inspection, he leads our restoration work — particularly heritage American and English pieces. He is the craftsman clients meet on the in-home consultation; he is also the craftsman who signs off every restoration before it leaves the shop. After forty-five years, he is still the most exacting eye in the building.
Peter leads the atelier's fabric and finish work — pattern matching, welt detail, channel stitching, button tufting, and the kind of long-form hand-stitching that distinguishes our pieces from factory work. He has built and maintained our trade relationships with Schumacher, Holland & Sherry, Romo, and Pindler for four decades. His fabric library is, in itself, an education.
From a one-room workshop on East Taylor Street to a regional reputation across the Sierra Nevada — built slowly, on referrals, by hand.
Bruce Steele and Peter Trefcer open Extra Touch Upholstery on East Taylor Street in downtown Reno. The first commissions are local — dining sets, family heirlooms, antique parlor pieces from Old Southwest residences.
After seven years of building a referral base and a reputation for quality, Extra Touch receives BBB A+ accreditation — a designation we have held continuously for thirty-eight years and counting.
Word of the atelier reaches Glenbrook and Incline Village. Lakefront estate commissions begin to define a significant portion of the practice — performance fabrics for full-time lake-house environments, marine vinyl for Tahoe boat seating, weather-grade specifications for cabana and terrace pieces.
Interior designers from Reno, San Francisco, and the Bay Area begin specifying Extra Touch through trade accounts. ASID membership formalizes the working relationship. Our trade roster grows to include some of the region's most established design firms.
Boutique hotels and restaurants across the Tahoe Basin begin commissioning Extra Touch for lobby seating, banquette runs, and full F&B interiors. Crypton and Sunbrella performance specification becomes routine; commercial-grade construction joins the residential discipline.
More than 1,500 commissions completed. A 5.0 rating across Google, Yelp, and BBB. A waiting list for antique restoration. And two master craftsmen still working the same atelier floor they opened in 1981.
Every commission moves through one building, one team, one set of standards.
Most upholstery in America today is done in factories — efficient, fast, and produced to a price point. We have nothing against factories; we simply do not work like one. Extra Touch is structured as a small atelier on purpose. Every piece that enters our shop is photographed at intake, strip-down, foundation rebuild, and finished assembly. Every cushion core is cut from foam ordered by lot, not by skid. Every welt is cut on the bias by hand. Every nailhead is set with a craftsman's template, not a pneumatic gun.
The result is, of necessity, slower. A factory can reupholster a sofa in three days. We typically need four to six weeks. The reward is a piece that wears for another twenty-five years — and frequently outlives its owners' patience for the fabric.
Six methods that define every commission — applied to every piece, regardless of size or scope.
Each coil tied with eight separate twine knots — front-to-back, side-to-side, both diagonals. The hallmark of luxury upholstery and the foundation of every restoration that leaves our shop.
Where we build new, we use kiln-dried American hardwood with mortise-and-tenon joinery. Where we restore, we preserve original kiln-dried frames and replace only what is structurally compromised.
Antique work receives horsehair, jute webbing, and hide-glue joinery — the methods the original maker used. We do not substitute polyurethane on heritage pieces.
Welt cord is cut on the bias for clean curves. Seams are single-needle stitched. Channel-tufting, button-tufting, and nailhead trim are set by hand to templates pulled from the original piece.
We carry sample libraries from Schumacher, Holland & Sherry, Romo, Pindler, Crypton, and Sunbrella — and readily work with COM. Patterns are matched, repeats aligned, and welt orientation calibrated before fabric is cut.
Every commission is delivered by our crew, installed in place, scribed where required, and signed off in person. We do not subcontract delivery.
The quiet measure of disciplined work — held continuously, never claimed.
Our roster is private by intent — but the categories speak to the work.
Lake Tahoe estate owners — Glenbrook lakefront, Incline Village primary residences, Martis Camp mountain-modern builds. Whole-house refreshes and one-piece commissions alike.
Interior designers and design-build firms — across Reno and the Bay Area, working with us through our Trade Program for COM handling, project coordination, and trade pricing.
Boutique hotels and hospitality groups — Tahoe Basin boutique hotels, restaurants, and casino-floor commissions in commercial-grade construction.
Historic preservation clients — owners of pre-1920 American and European seating who need period-correct restoration done by craftsmen who still know the methods.
The values are simple. The discipline of holding to them, every commission, for forty-five years — that is the work.
Premium materials only — Holland & Sherry mohair, Spinneybeck leather, Schumacher silk, Crypton performance. No shortcuts on any commission, regardless of price point.
Every touchpoint — from the first in-home visit to the final installation — handled by our own team. No subcontractors, no third-party delivery, no anonymous handoffs.
Written scopes before work begins. Photographs at each stage. Transparent pricing. A five-year warranty against defects in workmanship. Forty-five years of reputation, defended one commission at a time.
Great upholstery requires a real conversation with the client — about use, about room context, about fabric direction, about what the finished piece needs to be. We design that conversation into every commission.
Schedule a complimentary in-home consultation anywhere in Reno, Lake Tahoe, or the Sierra Nevada. A craftsman will visit, review the pieces, discuss fabric direction, and prepare a written scope before any work begins.