I have posted about Trevor being bored since taking redundancy last year.
“What” I asked him “do you want to do with yourself now, apart from driving me to distraction?”
“Something completely different from what I was doing before; with wood” he said
I have refinished odd pieces over the years, for my personal satisfaction. But my artistic skills do not extend to repairing, restoring, stripping or painting wood with perfect invisible brush strokes (very strange, because I can paint anything else!) Trevor is brilliant at ALL the above so we have jumped in and started a new business.
We source brown, over-varnished, battered, vintage pieces and repair, restore, restyle and refinish them. We have finished 14 pieces in nine weeks and sold over half of them.
The prettily shaped console above now looks like this-
He does all the hard work, paints the base colours, clear waxes & polishes.
I do the pretty bits, detail painting , stencilling, antiquing, gilding etc. I also mix up the custom colours, like the example above
I thought I would show you two contrasting pieces today- the reproduction Queen Anne style cabriole legged console, and the wonderful hand crafted oak rustic side table below, which Trevor rescued from a condition very close to firewood…..
In case the Antique Police are watching- we are NOT flipping valuable antiques…..
See our new Etsy shop -top right*
Beautiful work!
Q: Antique police???
LikeLiked by 1 person
Supercilious antique “experts” who have suggested that it is sacriligious to paint, relook or refinish anything old. Anyone who’s seen the genuinely old and timeworn stuff on my blog which I HAVE left in it’s naked state will know I don’t do that anyway, hence the Arts & Crafts table just got cleaned, repaired and beeswaxed and the 1950’s badly finished console got the full treatment
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah. I don’t care how old it is, if the finish is cr@p and looks like it belongs in the dump, then I am going to fix it. Bob’s G-G-Grandfather made a chest for his daughter on the occasion of her wedding. Over the years it was moved a lot, used as a sawhorse by Bob, and had a huge motor oil ring on the top of it. (bad boy!) When we inherited it I wasted no time in getting that solid cherry wood baby refinished! I did not plasticize it with Varathane, just a bit of stain and lots of waxing. ❤
LikeLike
Ooh. This is a real business. Obviously, you are proving that by selling so much. I know a few other people who are doing this, too. One sells on Etsy and can’t keep his stuff in stock. You have the formula and certainly have the skills. Seriously, if you have accounting problems, can’t you just bring in a finished table? Aren’t your mountains of receipts enough? Anyway, bravo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, we have an excellent French accountant, we just need one of us to be deemed an “artisan” by the French system. UK isn’t a problem; except we want to do this over the channel now.
LikeLike
I like your French village house! Renovation its not only a great hobby but it also saves money. There are a lot of online resources to start with https://www.drillselect.com/ for example.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
Thanks for that. We love the idea that each piece will be unique. But if someone loves a piece and misses out we will offer a service whereby we source something with a similar flavour and paint to suit the customer
LikeLike
Great idea and it makes the piece really special and unique:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love that restored console table in black! When are you opening your online shop? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pieces available now on etsy. Just message me, I am currently sorting out etsy button!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mel
That’s a custom colour I mixed . A stormy dark grey like a thunderous sky! Trev currently painting a beautiful French” table pour deux” in the same finish
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just lovely! What talent you both have. xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very stylish. Well done you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, there’s more in the gallery over on the right under “follow” button
LikeLiked by 1 person
Before and and after photos would be nice… (hint, hint)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well you have the before photo of the console table at the top of the post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooops. Didn’t spot that. Thanks.
LikeLike
No prob, but you are absolutely right, we need to start taking “before” photos
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is absolutely stunning work and I am not surprised that you have sold so many. I can’t wait to be at the point in Marcolès where I can raid your shop myself 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, your opinion is HIGHLY valued!
Lets hope we can xfer this new venture to La Belle France ASAP
LikeLiked by 1 person
ASAP sounds seductive to me! With skill like this you will have no trouble at all getting lift off for the business in France. I’m quite giddy with the thought of all the discarded treasures you will give new beauty to 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apparently our issue with registering as Artisans in France is that Trevor has no qualifications in this field ( woodwork “O” level?)and I mislaid my diploma in Art & Design years ago ( no degrees in the seventies in the Art field, suprisingly) in one of my many house moves.
I wrote to my old Art College, but as it was pre 1982, they can only confirm that I attended for three years and completed the course! no marks, no details of my achievements , NOTHING.AAARRRGGGHHH
Lord knows if my French Accountant can make anything of this…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some years ago I had to prove my entire working history and school and college records. At that point 18 years had elapsed since I left college, 19 since I left school and 21 since I took O’levels. It was an impossible task. I ended up almost having a nervous breakdown in the trying. Certainly it IS possible to get a hold of some evidence but other things are not. It may be easier for you to bite the bullet (when possible) and do a course at a local college. For instance, we want to keep sheep and goats and make cheese and if we attend a course in Aurillac for a term we get what the French deem necessary for us to sell the stuff. That is purely hypothetical but has been mooted in a drunken moment of madness with some French friends. I wonder if the same applies to this registry?
LikeLike
Tough one. When my poor Accountant has recovered from the current French tax year end returns workload I will ask her. Interestingly although courses in furniture painting exist in both UK and France, no course in either country results in an accredited qualification!! To be frank, after a couple of months doing this we could run a course ourselves. We will see. Thanks for your thoughts on this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm – this sounds horribly familiar. If I
get any useful knowledge along the way I will let you know. I have several friends who are artists and makers who may have ideas. Not all are French nationals 🙂
LikeLike
Great work! Bravo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
Your positive comment is appreciated!
LikeLike