Having been keen furniture up-cyclers for many years, we decided to paint

up some furniture for one of our shops to use for displaying our products.

We were delighted when customers started to ask if they could buy this

furniture and we then started to paint up furniture to sell. To compliment this

new business opportunity we decided to sell a range of chalk paint and

furniture accessories. Part of the condition to become a stockist was to attend

the supplier’s training program, after which we felt even more confident

in being able to complete work to a professional standard. So we had our

paint nicely displayed with up-cycled furniture for sale and we started doing

paint demonstrations. What we did not anticipate was the amount of people

who would ask us to paint their own furniture, which quickly became the

most rewarding part of the business. At this stage we also realised that most

people just wanted their dark pine furniture painted a different colour (not

necessarily shabby chic). As the chalk paint is great for shabby chic, but not

so good for a producing a modern smooth waterproof finish, I searched

for an additional paint range that would enable us to offer a finish suitable

for all types of furniture including kitchens. We also discovered that once you

did a piece of furniture for a customer they would want more doing. For example,

I painted 2 kitchen stools for a customer, who then asked me to paint their

kitchen, dining & utility room. The other advantages are, a very high profit

margin with the materials just costing 5-10%, working for ourselves and

choosing the hours that suit us.

Richard Cass – Managing Director.