Niki Weegens and her husband, Jesse Weegens, own AMERICAN ESTATES, the downtown Rogers-based furniture design business with a brand-new, must-see storefront. Niki and Jesse are the design minds behind some of the most beloved furniture pieces in our local Northwest Arkansas businesses, from ONYX COFFEE LAB to BAR CLEETA. We followed along with Niki and Jesse through their YouTube channel, where they share stories from their lives as local designers and the journey of falling in love and starting a business and store front together. We’d love for you to get to know them better, too! Read more in our interview with Niki below and follow American Estates on YOUTUBE and TIKTOK plus tune in to their new podcast: IN THE WORKS to keep up with their story. 

The Scout Guide Northwest Arkansas: Tell us about your business in just a few sentences.

Niki Weegens: We design and build extremely high quality furniture for residential and commercial spaces. Using local hardwoods and steel, we specialize in customizable furniture that is made to order based on our clients’ desired materials and finishes. Our work can be seen throughout Northwest Arkansas in coffee shops, restaurants, and various businesses, as well as in many local homes!

TSG: What do you love most about being a local business? 

NW: We are passionate about helping our clients and community love where they live! We’ve been part of so many amazing local projects and have gotten to build for some of the most loved spaces here in Northwest Arkansas. It’s really special to us to get to build for our local community, whether it be a commercial project or a residential project. At the end of the day, we are just passionate about getting to help people love their homes and their community, and we get to enjoy those same spaces ourselves in our day to day lives!

TSG: What is on the horizon for your business that you’re most excited about?

NW: We are excited to reopen our showroom in Downtown Rogers after operating by appointment only for the last seven months. We opened back up to the public the week of November 2nd, and will be unveiling a new line of customizable furniture and tons of incredible home decor and gifts perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

TSG: What has been your biggest challenge as a business owner during COVID-19?

NW: During this crazy season, we had to limit our recently opened showroom to private appointments only, which was a huge change of plans for us as we had just opened our retail space in Downtown Rogers. Luckily, we’ve kept plenty busy with custom projects, and we’ve also been able to spend this season developing the next big step in our business – launching our customizable furniture line!

TSG: What is your favorite local place to grab lunch with a client?

NW: One of our absolute favorite spots for lunch or dinner is KOMODO in Rogers! After doing the buildout for their space when they first opened, we quickly became huge fans of the people and the food, and it has remained an absolute favorite of ours to this day.

TSG: Spread the love! What’s a local business that you just can’t live without?!

NW: Our answer has to be ONYX COFFEE LAB! They are one of our biggest clients and dear friends of ours, and their coffee is truly some of the best in the world. With their HQ just two doors down from our showroom in Downtown Rogers, it’s hard to imagine a world in which we didn’t visit them every day!

TSG: What else do we need to know about you/your business?

NW: We have a lot of really cool things happening on our various social media platforms these days! From TIKTOK to YOUTUBE and INSTAGRAM, we are focusing a lot of energy in creating content for anyone who may be interested in keeping up with what we have going on. We are so excited about the work we are doing right now, and we are having a blast sharing it online as we go!

Visit Niki and Jesse in their downtown Rogers showroom to see some samples of their work and talk about customizing any piece, or starting from scratch, to furnish your home or business.