Growing up, Joe Grande's father, Tony, never believed a garage was a good place for a car.

A garage was a workshop filled with tools, where the elder Grande would build cabinets and furniture when he came home from work each day.

It would take a while for Joe to pick up on his father's penchant for working magic with wood. A recession not unlike the current one lured him to the craft his father so loved. And for years, Joe and his brother, John, stayed true to the craft Tony enjoyed, building and designing cabinets, furniture and entire rooms for a growing Nevada County.

It's certain to be a “grand” opening for Grande Wood Designs when Joe and his wife, Edwina, open their showroom on Saturday, when the couple rolls out their retail side of the business for everyday home improvement residents who want to remodel a bathroom, build a living room, organize a closet, or just replace the countertops in a kitchen.

The store — located in the Home Center at 348 Idaho-Maryland Rd. — is a far cry from working in his dad's 1,500-square-foot barn, building cabinets for a few customers. And it's even further from Joe's days as an equipment manufacturer's representative selling and building plastic cabinets for semiconductors in Silicon Valley, or a brief stint as an insurance salesman.

Joe Grande has been on his own since 1998, when he bought out his brother. His manufacturing facility is in the Loma Rica industrial area just east of Grass Valley.

“We're giving the community a service they can't find anywhere else,” Grande said. “We're a problem-solving service. We want to give people choices in how they can resolve their needs.”

While he's loathe to compare himself to the big-box stores that promise full-line services, Grande insists he can do what they do, and more. He'll gladly give advice as to how to put the proper hinge on a door, or show how different finishes look on cabinets or armoires, even locate an ornate piece of hardware for your mother's curio cabinet.

You can pick out the version of your American Dream and ask them to install it, too.

“We offer a product that is needed in this community,” Grande said. “If people don't have choices, they'll live with what they have.”

Now, he's got a place where the public can see for themselves the work that goes into such a place.

“This is something we've wanted to do for a long time,” Joe Grande said recently from the new showroom and shop.

Visitors to Grande's new store will see ideas for kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms. They'll also see Edwina's creative touch in the whimsical dinnerware, imported from Italy, and accessories the store sells.

Hard-to-find items can be ordered, so there's no need to drive to Auburn or burn rubber down Interstate 80.

Besides, Grande said, there are a lot of things a custom cabinet maker can do that the guys in the orange vests can't.

“We're just here as a store that can help the community get the job done,” he said.

To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.