Furniture restoration and French polishing in Scotland
The piece you have been meaning to sort out for years, put right by somebody who does this for a living. 24 furniture restorers and French polishers across Scotland.
24 furniture restorers across Scotland. 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 Edinburgh
See all 8 in EdinburghFurniture restoration in Glasgow
See all 5 in GlasgowFurniture restoration in Highland
See all 3 in HighlandElsewhere in Scotland
Questions people ask about Scotland
How many furniture restorers are there in Scotland?
24, of which 18 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 Scotland?
22 of the 24 restorers we list in Scotland 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 Scotland?
There are 48 woodworking courses in Scotland on this site. Finishing and repair come up on a good number of them.
Restoration in Scotland, in numbers
24 restorers across 13 towns. 22 of them name French polishing, which makes it the common thread here as it is almost everywhere. After that it is antiques (8), colour matching (2) and spray finishing (2). Wax finishing, gilding, veneer repair and woodworm treatment 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.
17 have their own website, 1 runs a Facebook page instead, and for 6 we hold no site of their own so the link goes to their Google listing. 21 describe their own work in their own words; for the other 3 we are going on the trading name alone, and the listing says so. 2 work from more than one address, listed once rather than once per town.
The towns with the most are Edinburgh (7), Glasgow (5) and Ayr (2). A further 10 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 Scotland is at David Meek Furniture Repair in Bathgate, which names colour matching, French polishing, spray finishing, veneer repair, wax finishing and woodworm treatment: a sensible first call if your piece needs more than one thing doing to it.
David Meek Furniture Repair in Bathgate, Beven's Furniture Restoration Ltd in Musselburgh and Allangrange Furniture Restoration in Munlochy each describe their work in their own words. 1 business here names four or more separate techniques, which usually means a workshop rather than one person with a polishing kit.
Scotland holds 7% of the restorers we list nationally.
What it costs, whether it is worth restoring, and the mistakes that cannot be undone.