Fred Golightly started carving a wooden four-poster bed in his Ladera Ranch garage in 2005 to please his daughter.

Just a hobby, he'd tell inquisitive neighbors who came to inspect the intriguing castles with windows illumined with night lights and brick-like designs in the headboard and footboard.

After all, he had a full-time job as partner in See You In Print, a Santa Ana high-tech public-relations firm.

But somewhere in the sawdust and lacquer, "It dawned on me, 'Why couldn't this be a busi-ness?' " Golightly said.

As entrepreneurs tend to do, Golightly, 42, saw more opportunity than obstacles. He started dreaming about bedroom sets for both girls and boys around themes of King Arthur, mermaids, wizards and sports. He incorporated the business as Olivia & Will's Fine Children's Furniture — named for his children — rented manufacturing space in a Santa Ana industrial park, made up brochures and registered for a trade show in Florida in May.

But even as the challenges of starting a furniture manufacturer in California have appeared, so have encouragements that spur Golightly to tackle each obstacle and remain optimistic.

While still working full time in his PR business, Golightly built an Olivia's Princess bed and a Will's King Arthur bed in two weeks in May. He worked from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

His parents flew out to help, and then drove 52 hours straight to take the beds to the Florida trade show.

The early response has whet Golightly's entrepreneurial appetite. Two stores ordered beds at the show. In a separate deal, he set up his display at Bed & Brass Kids Stuff in Laguna Niguel on a Thursday. By Saturday, an Arizona couple placed the first order.

A store in New York asked Golightly to make an armoire to go with the bed. A customer ordered a full-size bed instead of the original twin size.

No problem, Golightly enthuses. That's more products in the furniture line.

Despite the encouragement, the manufacturer faces challenges to building a viable, lasting company.

"It's tough. I can see why a lot of people don't get into this," Golightly said.

One basic challenge is staying ahead of the copycats. If Golightly patented or trademarked his designs, a competitor would only need to tweak them a little to circumvent those protections, he said.

So he plans to keep one step ahead in new creative lines. "By the time people knock off my idea, I'll be on to the next one," he said.

Cutting costs will be the key to large-scale production, important to eventual profitability, Golightly says. The wholesale price is around $1,450, and he figures it needs to drop to at least $950 to attract retailers.

He spent 33 hours building the first bed because of all the detailed woodwork. Some time can be trimmed with computerized equipment and well-defined manufacturing processes. Golightly will travel to Vietnam later this month in search of a factory.

"Here, I would have more control, but I would have to pay $48,000 for a computer-run lathe, and have higher labor costs ... and workers' compensation insurance," he said.

In Vietnam, the beds could be constructed at much lower labor costs, and Vietnamese are renowned for their quality woodworking skills, Golightly said. However, he needs to weigh import issues, higher shipping costs and whether a Vietnamese factory could obtain the poplar wood that he wants to use.

Still, Golightly doesn't consider design and cost containment his greatest challenges.

"My biggest obstacle is finding the stores. Not every store can afford (to carry) this product," he said.

At $2,500 to $3,000 per bed, this furniture isn't a candidate for Wal-Mart. Golightly is targeting specialty furniture stores with affluent customers. Those types of stores "don't advertise in the phone book," he said.