To restore or not to restore? That is the question.

Do we fully restore every single piece? Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, sometimes we do a partial restoration.

At Original Homewares, we assess each newly acquired vintage piece on its own merits. We decide whether to restore, partially refurbish or to simply service and clean on an individual basis. Here’s the process we follow:

• When a secondhand item comes off the van, it’s given an initial early assessment by Karl and then thoroughly cleaned, inside and out
• Getting up close & personal during the cleaning process often reveals things that you didn’t, at a first glance, notice
• Joints are checked, hinges, handles & fittings checked, any historical repairs are appraised
• Once the item has dried off after cleaning, we decide on our next steps

Often a service and deep clean is enough. We frequently have rough diamonds arrive that after careful cleaning and polishing, shine again without the need for anything more invasive. They just needed some TLC and elbow grease.

Sometimes, a piece is in overall great order but there are isolated problem areas to address. Resting surfaces, table tops, drawer fronts, corners or arm ends… these bear the brunt of wear and tear across the years so we complete a partial restoration. Perhaps a water-marked sideboard top or heavily scuffed door front, we would restore this but leave the rest, clean, polished and all original.

And finally, some pieces undergo a full, in depth restoration. Every surface is stripped back and refinished to ensure consistency and longevity.

Even when an item has the full restoration treatment, we are always careful and considered with what we do as we don’t want to remove all the history and character in the process. Afterall, a considerable part of the appeal of buying vintage is the patina, the narrative and light aging from its former lives.

Likewise, our aim isn’t to modernise or tamper with the original aesthetic and integrity of a piece. For example, we don’t add legs when there weren’t legs there in the first place. A seemingly small modern addition like this can completely throw the balance of the overall design off in our view. But we do want to ensure Original Homewares pieces are stable, reliable and ready to be put to good service.