Tri-State Interiors LLC

10/17/2026

Today is the day!

Come by 421 N. Watkins Street in Midtown Memphis and check out our new showroom! We’re open today until 4 PM.

All week, we’ve been sharing the story behind our business philosophy: quality craftsmanship, fair pricing, and treating people right. Those lessons started five generations ago outside Milwaukee. Today, the sixth generation is carrying those lessons forward with the opening of the Tri-State Interiors showroom.

My name is Michael Sarafolean, and I was born right here in Memphis in 1989. I spent a lot of time with my grandpa, Dennis, growing up. He introduced me to engineering, problem-solving, and even taught me to draw blueprints.

One day, my teacher called my mom because I wasn’t paying attention and was doodling in class. When I got home, Mom asked what I had been drawing. I pulled out a house blueprint I had drawn. She wasn’t quite sure whether to reprimand me or be impressed!

When I was 13, I started spending summers in northern Wisconsin with my great-grandpa Larry, where I got my first job. I worked in several family-owned small businesses over the next decade. One summer, my grandparents built a home next door to Larry, and much of the work was done by Larry, Dennis, and me. Let’s be honest—I was the grunt learning from them! LOL.

I graduated from Cordova High School in 2007 and became a middle/high school teacher. Eventually, I recognized a disconnect between the way many contractors did business and the values I had learned growing up in family businesses.

I kept asking myself: Why can’t those small-town values work in a big city?

That question led me to start Tri-State Interiors nine years ago.

Today, we celebrate the next chapter of that story.

The showroom is new. Our values aren’t.

Can’t make it today? Call or text 901-409-1333 to schedule an appointment, or follow us for our weekly showroom hours.

Thank you for being part of our journey. We hope to see you soon!

10/16/2026

Tomorrow is the day! Come see our new showroom at 421 N. Watkins Street in Midtown Memphis. We’ll be open from 10 AM-4PM.

Have you ever been disappointed by a company’s customer service? When expectations and what was delivered didn’t match?

Great customer service is one of Tri-State Interiors’ founding principles. To us, that means small town values in a big city: trust, honest communication, keeping your word, and treating clients like family.

Who would know something about trust and honest conversations? Let me introduce you to my great uncle, Terry Nerby.

Terry was Larry and Jane’s youngest child, born in January 1949. Like his older brother Dennis, he had a magnetic personality. He especially looked up to Dennis.

One time, Dennis and Sur were going out on a date. Terry wanted to go, but was told no. So he hid in the backseat. A couple blocks from home, he popped up and said, “So where are we going?”

Terry graduated from high school in 1967, attended UW-Stevens Point, and later joined the Navy. After his service, he worked for Treasure Island department store, where he met his future wife, Joan. They married in 1970 and raised four sons.

After treasure island closed in 1981, Terry entered the stone industry, working in sales for Waukesha Lime and Stone. Ironically, Larry and Terry became business competitors.

Terry built his business the same way he built relationships: with his personality, honesty, and down to earth nature. His customers trusted him. To them, his handshake actually meant something.

Terry also served his community as q Village Trustee and later Village President of Dousman, WI.

After retiring from the stone industry, Terry and Joan moved to their home in Wisconsin Dells. Like Larry and Dennis, Terry loved golf and loved to work. He became a groundskeeper at a local golf course where he continued working until his death in December 2006.

Perhaps the greatest testament to Terry came in his final days, when 60-70 former customer and coworkers traveled more than 100 miles from Milwaukee to Wisconsin Dells to see him one last time.

That is the kind of impact we hope to make.

10/16/2026

It’s almost here! Two days until our grand opening, this Saturday! 421 N Watkins Street from 10AM-4PM.

Yesterday we mentioned that Larry had two children that followed him into the construction industry.

Over the next two days we will highlight Larry’s sons, Dennis and Terry and what led to their success

Dennis was Larry and Jane’s first born, in 1939. In high school he was a two sport star athlete. His senior year (1958) he finished as state runner up in pole vaulting. He would earn a football and track scholarship to Michigan Tech. While in Houghton he studied Engineering and Geology. .

In 1960, he married the little red headed girl that sat next to him in seventh grade, Suellen. Their teacher used alphabetical seating. Dennis and Suellen would have three children.

In 1962, he started working for Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, as an entry level draftsmen. Over the next two decades he would work his way up to in the company. After completing his engineering coursework, brewmaster school, and multiple transfers to oversee construction of new plants, he was promoted to Plant Engineer. With this promotion he was transferred to Memphis
In 1977. He would continue with Schlitz through the Stroh’s merger.

In the 1980’s he left Stroh’s and went to work for Process Systems Incorporated (PSI) a Memphis based industrial general contracting firm. He would stay with PSI until his retirement in 2003.

After retirement Sue and him built a house next to Larry in Wisconsin. Where father and son worked on multiple carpentry and masonry projects together.

He loved sharing his construction knowledge and ability with people. Especially one grandson in particular. His hard work, attention to detail and personality weee keys to his success.

We strive to bring these same qualities to your job.

10/14/2026

Three days until the showroom doors open! Join us Saturday, October 17th, 10 AM-4 PM at 421 N Watkins Street.

Big job or small job, it doesn’t matter. We want to help turn your ideas into reality with quality craftsmanship at a fair price.

Speaking of craftsmen, let me introduce you to someone who always has inspired our family, Lawrence “Larry” Nerby.

Larry was born to George and Pearl Nerby in rural southwest Wisconsin in November 1915. As a child, his family moved to Milwaukee, where his father, George worked as a mason for Beck and Pheifer, a local home builder.

After leaving high school, Larry went to work in Milwaukee’s stone quarries as a dynamite blaster. While working at the Hartung Quarry, he met the owner’s daughter, Jane Hartung. They started dating, got married in 1937 and raised four children. Two of them, Dennis and Terry, followed in their dad’s footsteps, pursuing careers in engineering and the stone industry respectively.

As Larry got older, he transitioned from quarry laborer to stone salesman, working for Vulcan Materials.

In 1959, Larry bought a small cabin in northern Wisconsin. After retiring in 1980, it became his full time home but, retirement did not keep Larry from building.

He made many improvements to the property, adding onto the cabin, buildings multiple outbuildings, installing masonry exteriors to the main and guest houses, and building a beautiful three tiered masonry garden overlooking the river. That wall became known in the community as “Larry’s Cancer Wall”.

Not even cancer could keep Larry from building. While undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for Lymphoma and Prostate Cancer. Larry would say, “I can’t die until that wall is finished”. He would forage the woods and lakes for stones, mix mortar by hand, and set the stones. By the time Larry completed the wall, he was cancer free.

He went on to live to 96, passing away in 2012.

When I think of craftsmanship, I think about Larry. He understood that good work wasn’t just about what you built, it was about building something that would last.

That’s the kind of craftsmanship that we want to bring to every project, big or small.

10/13/2026

Four days to go! This Saturday, October 17th, from 10am-4pm, we are opening the doors to our new Midtown Memphis showroom. We’d love for you to come celebrate with us.

But before we get there, we want to go back to where this story began.

1910 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Frederick Hartung has owned a 148 acre farm for 30 years. Then he and his son, Walter began quarrying stone from their land. That stone helped build the growing Milwaukee area. It was used for roads, houses, businesses, and most notably the Notre Dame Hall bell tower on the campus of Mount Mary University.

Frederick wasn’t just a quarryman. He was a developer and served in various elected offices. As Milwaukee grew, he began selling land and playing portions of his for land for residential development.

His son, Walter eventually took over the quarry. After World War II the business grew dramatically. At its peak the quarry was shipping as many as 150 truckloads of stone a day.

However, there was a problem. The city had grown up around them. The quarry that had once been surrounded by farmland was now surrounded by homes. Blasting, dust, and heavy truck traffic became increasingly difficult for the surrounding neighborhoods.

In the 1950’s, restrictions on heavy truck traffic led to a legal battle that eventually reached the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Hartung family won that battle but by 1961 quarrying operations had come to an end.

However that wasn’t quite the end of the story. Tomorrow we will introduce you to Lawrence “Larry” Nerby - one of the men who worked in that quarry as a dynamite blaster. And that is where the history gets personal. #

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10/12/2026

Nine years ago, Tri-State Interiors started with a handful of tools, enough money to buy a set of cabinets, and a belief that there had to be a better way to do remodeling. This Saturday October 17th we mark a milestone with opening our new showroom in Midtown Memphis at 421 N. Watkins Street. We will be open from 10am-4pm. Come see what we have built, get inspired, and let’s talk about how we can make your dreams become a reality!

While Tri-State Interiors was started nine years ago. The way we do business did not start nine years ago. It actually started 116 years ago on the outskirts of Milwaukee. Long before I started Tri-State Interiors, I was watching my family and family friends, I watched them work hard, treat people fairly, keep their word, and take care of their customers. The philosophy behind Tri-State Interiors today is quality workmanship, fair pricing, take care of clients and treat clients like family. The showroom is new, our values aren’t.

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07/04/2026