Walking into The Corbel’s 12,000-square-foot showroom on St. Francisville’s Commerce Street, a visitor is ushered into a bright, welcoming space brimming with home design delights—from European antiques and hand-made tables, to modern lighting and home décor. Creative combinations and eclectic blendings of traditional and contemporary spark the imagination, offering a tasteful palette to implement at home. Anchoring the new North Commerce retail, dining, and entertainment district, The Corbel has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a furniture warehouse fronting Highway 61.
The Corbel's showroom offers a treasure-trove of antique and contemporary furnishings to explore.
“It began with my dad and uncle purchasing an 18-wheeler load of antique beams from the delta region of Louisiana,” said Cage Charlet, son of The Corbel’s owners Don and Susan Charlet. Don and his brother opened the business in 2001, selling reclaimed lumber to craftsmen and home builders and constructing furniture out of Louisiana cypress. Responding to demand, they soon added high-quality architectural salvage products to their offerings—especially antique doors and corbels—and maintained a small storefront to supplement the larger finishing workshop and warehouse.
At any given time The Corbel stocks between 300 and 500 antique doors sourced from France, Belgium, and Egypt
“Our antique doors have grown tremendously, and they are still our bread and butter,” said Cage. “But more recently, we’ve been pivoting, homing in on nice European furniture. We’ve also become more selective with our products. We’ve transitioned from random antiques to a more curated collection of goods. Everything we buy is top-of-the-line and what we want in our personal homes.”
From Architectural Elements to Quality Furnishings
When The Corbel’s new showroom opened in May of 2023, it presented an entirely new opportunity. “We now had a clean space with temperature control, so we could expand to offer more interior furnishings and upholstered furniture, light fixtures, tableware, and bedding,” Cage explained. “This is a turnkey place for people to come and shop for their home, where you’ll find unique things that you won’t find anywhere else.”
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In addition to antique and contemporary furniture The Corbel also offers art, decorative accessories, floor coverings, stone planters; and architectural elements including antique corbels, for which the store is named.
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Contemporary, rustic table built using reclaimed wood
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Outside The Corbel’s showroom doors, a newly-opened outdoor garden center stocking fine garden and patio items is the latest addition to North Commerce, the Charlets’ three-acre, $10 million development at the entrance to St. Francisville’s Historic District. Also contained within North Commerce are an event space, The Mallory, and two clothing stores—Deyo Supply for men, and Barlow Fashion, a women’s boutique. Also recently opened is Hotel Toussaint, an eight-room luxury inn that functions almost as an additional showroom for The Corbel. Guests can either purchase the antique furnishings they find in their rooms, or order similar pieces to be hand-made at The Corbel’s original warehouse, where the Charlets’ line of custom furniture built using antique woods is made.
Asked whether the Charlet family had still more plans for the future, Cage laughed and admitted that they probably did. But for now, he added, “It’s time to take off the construction hats, put our heads down, and run the business.”
