Diversions

Friday 12th February 2021 at 15:34

Despite the ravages and restrictions of the dreaded virus we have managed to keep up a steady flow of business, particularly repair and restoration, but this has not been without some re-organisation, particularly increasing our reliance on the web for purchases and sales. We miss face to face contact with others and opportunities to view prospective items for purchase or restoration in person other than via internet images and condition reports. We have become more conscious of the dangers of relying totally on photographs where sometimes serious defects, which may not have been so obvious to the photographer, become concealed. We particularly miss regular drive-abouts to visit sale rooms and other dealers and friends. It is amazing that over a year has now passed since the appearance of the Coronavirus. At least it has given us time to streamline our business, make greater use of electronics and re-organse our premises whilst, once again, waitimg  for the starting gun to fire.

With time to spare we have turned our energies to completing various outstanding jobs which never seem to get done in busier times. One of these has been to renovate what was previously a very boring 1950's staircase of the type where wide planks of wood running parallel to the stairs, halfway between the handrail and base rail, had been substituted for spindles. These were removed and replaced with new turned spindles. The original oak handrail was cleaned up and repolished and turned oak caps, stained to match the handrail,  fitted to the newel posts.The remainder was painted white. This was a fun and comparatively inexpensive way of turning a previously utilitarian object into a significant feature. We are very pleased with the result!