Furniture restoration and French polishing in East of England
The piece you have been meaning to sort out for years, put right by somebody who does this for a living. 40 furniture restorers and French polishers across East of England.
40 furniture restorers across East of England. Pick your county: each row opens with five from that county, the ones you can reach and that say most about their own work, and the link beside it shows everybody there. Nobody can pay to be in a row.
Furniture restoration in Essex
See all 12 in EssexFurniture restoration in Hertfordshire
See all 8 in HertfordshireFurniture restoration in Norfolk
See all 8 in NorfolkFurniture restoration in Suffolk
See all 6 in SuffolkFurniture restoration in Bedfordshire
See all 3 in BedfordshireFurniture restoration in Cambridgeshire
See all 3 in CambridgeshireQuestions people ask about East of England
How many furniture restorers are there in East of England?
40, of which 33 have their own website. Every one names the work it does rather than just calling itself a restorer, which is the bar for appearing here at all.
Who does French polishing in East of England?
37 of the 40 restorers we list in East of England name French polishing as part of what they do. It is the traditional shellac finish used on Georgian and Victorian furniture, and it is repair work as much as finishing: reviving a tired surface rather than stripping it back. The same firms often name french polishing and period specialism too. We take no fee and no commission from any of them.
Can I learn restoration in East of England?
There are 23 woodworking courses in East of England on this site. Finishing and repair come up on a good number of them.
Restoration in East of England, in numbers
40 restorers across 30 towns. 37 of them name French polishing, which makes it the common thread here as it is almost everywhere. After that it is antiques (17), spray finishing (5) and marquetry (5). Wax finishing, wood turning, cane or rush seating and colour matching are scarce here, each offered by three businesses or fewer, so for those jobs expect to send a piece further than you would for a repolish.
32 have their own website, 1 runs a Facebook page instead, and for 7 we hold no site of their own so the link goes to their Google listing. 31 describe their own work in their own words; for the other 9 we are going on the trading name alone, and the listing says so. One works from more than one address, listed once rather than once per town.
The towns with the most are Norwich (4), Chelmsford (3), Ipswich (3), Bedford (2) and Sudbury (2). A further 25 towns have a single restorer each, which is worth knowing if you would rather not put a piece in a van for an hour.
The broadest range of skills we hold in East of England is at Geoffrey Warwick Antique Restoration in St Albans, which names French polishing, marquetry or inlay, period specialism, veneer repair and wood turning: a sensible first call if your piece needs more than one thing doing to it.
Geoffrey Warwick Antique Restoration in St Albans, Richard J McPhee Cabinet Maker in Norwich and Lomas And Pigeon in Chelmsford each describe their work in their own words. 6 businesses here name four or more separate techniques, which usually means a workshop rather than one person with a polishing kit.
East of England holds 12% of the restorers we list nationally.
What it costs, whether it is worth restoring, and the mistakes that cannot be undone.