Custom ready to go

Deepa Bharath

Teri Carano jumped on a boat to Cabo 18 years ago.

Her father, who worked on boat engines all his life, had just

died.

For this Costa Mesa resident now in her 50s, working as first mate

on that boat was like staying in touch with her dad.

It also helped her figure out what she wanted to do for a living.

Today, this Costa Mesa resident runs her own company, Seams

Newport, out of her home. Carano custom designs bedding and

upholstery specifically for boats.

“The beds in boats are weird sizes,” she said. “So I go in, take

measurements and then customize depending on what my customer wants.”

The boats or yachts are built in countries such as Taiwan. When

they arrive in Southern California, they’re pretty plain and bare

bones.

“I make them comfortable,” Carano said.

She puts in mattresses, sheets, sofas and will design anything

else her customer wants to make the boat livable and enjoyable.

Designing for a boat is different from decorating a home, she

said.

“With a home you take a lot longer,” Carano said. “But with a

boat, you have to finish everything in three weeks or less because

many of my customers want to take their boats to Mexico or some other

place right away.”

A boat is also no place for knickknacks, she said.

“Space and storage are very valuable on boats,” Carano said.

For example, she designs sofas and ottomans so they have storage

space in them. Her customers also like her “taco bag,” which is like

a sleeping bag that looks like a bed cover and can be thrown over the

sheets. You can crawl in and sleep and not have to make the bed.

The four years Carano spent as part of the crew on the boat to

Cabo gave her a thorough knowledge about boat interiors, she said.

Most of the time, her customers know what they want.

“The look that’s in now is the Tommy Bahama look,” she said.

Her job is challenging, which is what makes it fun for her, Carano

said.

“The biggest challenge is keeping up with the work,” she says.

“There are not enough people doing this, which is what keeps me

extremely busy. But it’s great and the people I meet are always

wonderful.”