Leasing the good life - Antique & Contemporary Leasing, furniture rental company

Nation's Business, Jan, 1990 by David Ward

Leasing The Good Life

From the outside, Antique & Contemporary Leasing's brick warehouse on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., offers few clues to the nature of the business. Its only distinguishing features are its bright-red double doors and the finely carved and finished sign directly above them.

But inside are two floors filled with fine furniture, ranging from 17th-century pieces to a modern wicker set designed by Ralph Lauren. A tour winds among Oriental rugs, antique armoires, camelback sofas, sprawling canopy beds, grand old oak desks with genuine leather chairs, Chinese wall hangings, and even several old oil portraits of distinguished-looking men and women.

This is, in short, not your typical rental-furniture outlet. Antique & Contemporary Leasing is, rather, what Leezee Porter, its founder and owner, calls the first upscale rental-furniture company in the country. Its targeted customers are diplomats, corporate executives, government officials, and developers building and showing expensive houses. Many of those people expect to spend only a brief time in Washington before their career take them elsewhere, and, Porter says, her company tries to "create a comfortable environment" for "someone who wants to live a transient life that doesn't seem so transient."

Porter started her business in 1974, after friends in the diplomatic community complained to her about the limited availability of high-quality rental furniture in the Washington area. After getting a $10,000 loan, Porter rented 300 square feet of warehouse space and began buying furniture. The business grew slowly; most of her potential customers "did not think they would ever lease furniture," she says, "and some of them did not welcome the suggestion when it was given to them."

Antique & Contemporary Leasing now grosses about $1 million a year. Up to two-thirds of Porter's furniture is rented out at any one time, she says, and some pieces never seem to stay in the warehouse. "We have a Duncan Phyfe three-pedestal table," she says, "and in the 15 years that I have been in business, that table has not been in the warehouse for more than 20 or 30 days. I never get to see it."

The costs to customers vary almost as much as Porter's selection, but a client can spend from $350 to $2,000 a month to furnish a three-bedroom residence. Such extras as carpets and wall hangings can push the price up.

PHOTO : Leezee Porter's Washington, D.C., firm specializes in renting upscale furnishings that

PHOTO : help visiting diplomats and executives feel at home.