When designer Denise Sansing and partner Scott Beard founded Sweet Dreams 15 years ago, they set up shop in an apartment borrowed from friends.

Today, with nationwide representation, worldwide sales and new design and production facilities in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the company is considered by many to set the standard for fine decorative accessories for the home.

"Sweet Dreams is absolutely at the top of the business, really the industry leader," said Doug McKoon, owner of the Doug McKoon showrooms in Atlanta and High Point. "Everyone else tries to emulate what Sweet Dreams has done....The quality and style and the way Scott and Denise treat the customers - all have an effect."

What's the secret to their success? "Working literally 18 hours a day, seven days a week," laughed Beard, who as vice president is responsible for the business end of Sweet Dreams while Sansing provides the creative genius.

When they first started producing their elegant line of pillows, bedding sets and other home accessories a decade ago, "the only real business philosophy we had was to always pay our bills on time," Beard recalled. And that was quite a feat considering they never borrowed any money during those startup years.

"Without any outside capital, we could only grow as much as the buiness allowed us to grow," he said. "Every person hired and every sewing machine purchased during the first three years felt like a life and death decision. Money was that tight, and literally every penny went back into the business."

A good relationship with their banker, who called them her "diamond in the rough," finally earned Sweet Dreams a small line of credit that allowed them to accelerate their growth by building inventory in the slower summer months preceding the Christmas rush.

"Fortunately, years of frugality kept us from getting too carried away," noted Beard.

But hard work and cautious business management are hardly all of the story of Sweet Dreams' incredible rise to the top.

McKoon, who has watched the company grow some 30 to 40 percent a year and become an industry leader, explains it this way: Sweet Dreams is so successful because it has something different to offer all of its customers.

"The buyers just love them because they fill the orders and get the merchandise on the floor. Furniture stores love the line simply because it helps them sell sofas, chairs and other people's furniture. They put one pillow on a sofa and the sofa sells."

Ruth Moorhouse, former owner of Moor Sales in the L.S. Mart in Los Angeles and Sue Wyll, co-owner of Doris Sanders Ltd. at the Dallas World Trade Center, echo McKoon's views.

"Interior designers are almost unanimous in their praise for Sweet Dreams' quality," Moorhouse said. "They invariably admit that the fine level of workmanship relative to the cost is superior to anything comparable in the market."

Wyles added, "Sweet Dreams has the most versatile selection, best service and finest quality of textiles and pillows in the world.

Sansing and Beard, who "decided long ago not to design to make something less expensive, only to make it more beautiful," have nevertheless worked hard to keep their prices reasonable.

"I've never ever had anybody say our prices were too high," Beard said. "In fact, hundreds of times, people have said 'I just can't believe you people can make these pillows for these prices.'"

Maybe Wyles summed it up when she said, "Sweet Dreams' products are dollar for dollar the best decorating investment for the ultimate customer, and therefore will continue to be in demand."