Men at Work

This is Mark, working diligently at his bench in the heart of Liverpool city centre. Mark is a furniture restorer and is married to one of  SWMBO's girl friends. He invited me to the workshop to look round, and I must say it was a bit of an Aladdin's Cave.

The workshop is on the ground floor of an old cotton warehouse. Chris, an upholsterer, works on the first floor beside the stripping and varnishing sections. There is work in progress all over the place.

Next door is the showroom where all the restored items, and some originals are displayed for potential buyers. Mark pointed out the restoration work on some items, which to the untrained eye would be impossible to spot. Some areas of the showroom were fitted out as period rooms, such as an Art Nouveau lounge and a country kitchen from the 1950's. I was interested to see one of the artefact's was a vintage  Totopoly set, but only had paper horses so was not in the same league as my cast iron version.

While the market in brown goods has hit the floor over the last few years, good pieces like chaise longue, desks and dining chairs still continue to command premium prices. Wardrobes and tables though don't.

We have some dining chairs which need repair so Mark and Chris will be on the case for those soon, and Mark very kindly offered me some bench space and the use of the industrial saws, for when I start to do my own work. I have enrolled at the local technical college to do a basic carpentry and joinery course so will welcome access to some of his tools.

The basement area is suffering from damp, so is not used for the furniture, but they have set up a 20 metre shooting range to pass the time in their lunch breaks!!

My shed is progressing well,  to the point where there is lighting and  bike storage available so just a few shelves to put up and I can finish the sides. Just need a good downpour to test out the internal drainage system now.