Furniture restoration and French polishing in South West England
The piece you have been meaning to sort out for years, put right by somebody who does this for a living. 35 furniture restorers and French polishers across South West England.
35 furniture restorers across South West 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 Somerset
See all 10 in SomersetFurniture restoration in Dorset
See all 7 in DorsetFurniture restoration in Devon
See all 6 in DevonFurniture restoration in Gloucestershire
See all 5 in GloucestershireFurniture restoration in Wiltshire
See all 4 in WiltshireFurniture restoration in Cornwall
See all 3 in CornwallQuestions people ask about South West England
How many furniture restorers are there in South West England?
35, of which 28 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 South West England?
33 of the 35 restorers we list in South West 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 South West England?
There are 76 woodworking courses in South West England on this site. Finishing and repair come up on a good number of them.
Restoration in South West England, in numbers
35 restorers across 28 towns. 33 of them name French polishing, which makes it the common thread here as it is almost everywhere. After that it is antiques (26), veneer repair (14) and marquetry (6). Spray finishing, colour matching and cane or rush seating 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.
28 have their own website, and for 7 we hold no site of their own so the link goes to their Google listing. 30 describe their own work in their own words; for the other 5 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 Bournemouth (2), Poole (2), Bristol (2), Chippenham (2) and Exeter (2). A further 21 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 South West England is at Robert Pywell Restorations in Wadebridge, which names colour matching, French polishing, gilding, period specialism, veneer repair, wax finishing and wood turning: a sensible first call if your piece needs more than one thing doing to it.
Robert Pywell Restorations in Wadebridge, SP Restorations in Ebbesborne Wake and GRH Furniture in St Columb each describe their work in their own words. 9 businesses here name four or more separate techniques, which usually means a workshop rather than one person with a polishing kit.
South West England holds 11% of the restorers we list nationally.
What it costs, whether it is worth restoring, and the mistakes that cannot be undone.