fraus FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Here we hope to answer some questions you might have about our services and let you know what we can do for you.
If you have any questions which are not answered on this FAQs page then please feel free to contact us.
Q : Which areas do you serve?
A : Edinburgh and Lothian, Stirlingshire, Perthshire, Fife, and all across Scotland.
Q : What services do you provide?
A : We are able to undertake a wide range of furniture related jobs, from simple repairs to more
complex restoration or conservation work. Whether you have modern, vintage or antique furniture, no job is too small.
Listed below are just some of the services we can provide:
Furniture restoration, furniture repairs, upholstery, re-upholstery, chair repair, chair caning, rushing, cane and rush repairs, French polishing, wood staining, colour matching, removing marks from finishes, lifting dents from surfaces, veneer, marquetry and parquetry repairs, woodworm treatments, repairing tears and rips, fixing or remaking broken parts, fixing sagging or broken springs, cleaning, reviving, stripping and refinishing, designing and making bespoke pieces.
We have access to a large number of samples for you to choose from: fabrics, leathers, wood veneers and finishes. You can of course supply your own materials if you wish, as long as they meet the requirements. Some of our suppliers are listed on our links page but we are able to order materials from almost anywhere.
Whether you have a simple repair job or a much larger project we can either help you or point you in the right direction, please don't hesitate to ask us.
Q : What are your opening hours?
A : We are open from 8am until 8pm, Mondays to Fridays and 10am until 6pm on Saturdays, closed on Sundays. There's not always someone in the workshop though, so it's best to check with us if you are planning on coming to see us (we can then send you a map and some directions to the workshop). We can work outside these hours if required and so can almost certainly find a time which suits you.
Q : Do I have to bring my furniture to you or can you come to my home or business address to give estimates?
A : No, you don't need to bring your furniture to us, we can come to you to provide an estimate, and (should you chose to go ahead with the work) collect and deliver your furniture to your home of business address.
Q : Can the work be carried out in my home or business address?
A : Yes, in some cases although most work must be carried out in our workshop, please docontact us to discuss your particular situation.
Q : Will my furniture will be safe when it is in your care?
A : Yes, we carefully wrap and protect delicate items whilst in transit and store them in a safe place, the environment in our workshop is monitored to ensure that it does not adversely affect the timber/materials. While your furniture is in our care we are very careful to handle and treat it so that no harm comes to it.
Q : I have some broken furniture, what should I do while I wait for a professional to repair or restore it?
A : Please, whatever you do, do not put nails or screws into furniture to hold it together. This does more damage than good and hidden nails and screws are the bane of a restorer's life! Place the furniture somewhere out of the way (but not anywhere likely to suffer from dampness or dryness or excessive changes in humidity), make sure to keep hold of any small parts which may have broken off (do not use tape to attach these parts or anything else to the piece as this could damage the surface finish) and contact us for advice and to arrange for an estimate. Don't forget to keep hold of any parts which have broken or become detatched, you may well be surprised by how seemingly irreparable parts can be made good again.
Q : How are you able to offer such reasonable estimates?
A : We try to keep our prices as low as possible without ever lowering our standards. We do this by tailoring each job to the specific needs of each customer, the cost implications of each individual part of the job can be discussed so you only pay for what work you want to be done.
We are a small company and so do not charge any VAT on our labour, additionally no profits are made from the cost of materials, we charge by the half hour and have fairly low overheads. We also save money by being green - by avoiding waste, ordering larger deliveries of materials, by using reclaimed timber and reusing materials. We walk, cycle and use public transport where possible which further reduces our environmental impact and also saves us money.
Substantial savings can be made in these ways and in other ways too, please contact us for more information.
Q : Do you work on other things or do you just work on furniture?
A :We have been known to work on and repair shoes, doors, websites, mirrors and windows-all sorts of things. Most of our work is on furniture though if you have something else which you need repaired or restored...
Q : What materials make up your logos?
A : The square logo at the top left of each page is comprised of the following materials (clockwise from the top left) :
Leather, jute webbing, walnut, purpleheart, best English webbing, cherry, ash, mahogany and in the centre, oak.
The long logo along the top of each page is comprised of the following materials :
Leather, jute webbing, walnut, ash, cherry, mahogany, oak and purpleheart.
Q : Why should I choose to restore or reupholster an old piece of furniture when new furniture is so cheap?
A : There are many reasons why someone might want to keep using old furniture instead of renewing it. Sentimental reasons, reasons of style, for comfort, environmental and or cost reasons.
Whilst it may seem like that £999 sofa or chair is a good deal, the same money spent on an vintage or antique piece and the cost of restoration or reupholstery is likely to give you a much higher quality item, outlasting the modern furniture by many years and having a greater residual value if you ever chose to sell it.
Furniture can be picked up very cheaply from auctions, you can then pick what sort of stuffing and covering materials you would like - have a custom sofa, made to suit you and your home. Some of the modern furniture we see now is nothing more than a softwoodframe with cardboard and foam over it, hardwood frames with proper jointing methods are always going to last longer than that.
We believe that good furniture should be comfortable, useful, beautiful and that it should last longer than the materials it was made from took to grow.
❝When you buy a new piece of furniture, as soon as it leaves the shop floor, its value immediately drops to almost half. Whereas an antique, with its history and quality of craftsmanship, will hold or increase its value as the years go by. Antique furniture was hand made from properly seasoned timber, so the need to replace due to damage is minimal… compared to the average 15 year cycle of modern pieces. So where landfills are full of modern furniture from a well-known Scandinavian furniture giant, antiques are cherished in the home, kept in the family or re-sold.❞
...
Although many modern furniture makers are paving the way for a greener future, there are still many who mass produce pieces in large factories, often overseas, with large CO2 outputs. In 2010, LAPADA and other trade bodies commissioned Carbon Clear to produce a study that tested the difference in level of emissions between modern and antique furniture. It was a thorough study, which took into account a range of factors including raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and disposal. The findings were alarming; a new chest of drawers will have a carbon impact up to sixteen times higher than an antique chest of drawers!❞
https://lapada.org/guides/5-reasons-antiques-are-good-for-the-planet-and-you/
❝Choose good quality furniture which can last you a lifetime or longer! It will save you money in the long term.❞
https://recycling.co.uk/recycling-furniture/
❝Reuse and renovate furniture and flooring. Producing floor coverings and furniture uses energy and resources and may do environmental harm ... You can help by: buying to last rather than replacing often if you have the choice ... buying second-hand, sourcing vintage furniture or exchanging items ... instead of throwing away your old furniture, try donating it to a charity shop, selling it on an online auction website or recycling it.❞
If you have any questions which were not answered above please don't hesitate to contact us.