Maybe you have an old piece of furniture sitting in storage or in the garage. It might be a hand-me- down from a special relative, or something you paid too much for in college so now you can’t part with it. If you don’t like its look anymore, or it’s not functional, but you want to keep it, help is on the way.
Boldcow is a Flagstaff furniture refurbishing company run by two local business-women, Leslie Jackson and Maureen Adras. They began collecting furniture for the small business last summer, and they are having an opening reception in December.
Adras explains that they put an artistic touch into recreating furniture. “We are artisans. It’s not just a simple process of taking a table and refinishing it. We take a lot of steps in doing things correctly. We mix our own paints, and bring new life to furnishings,” she said.
And after they’re done with it, they want it to be a type of usable art, not just a piece that serves only one purpose. “We encour- age our clients to reuse what they already own. We want people to consider us to repurpose the furniture they have, especially when they have pieces they love. How- ever, we’ll work with furniture they may not particularly like or don’t have a use for anymore,” Adras said.
Particularly in these tough economic times, many people are looking for ways to restore and keep functional pieces they already have. According to the website www. morebusiness.com, buying new pieces of furniture is very costly, so operating a part-time furniture restoration business from home is a great way to make extra money and offer customers an important service.
Adras says that she and Jackson didn’t start the business to make money. “We wanted to do something together we love and we’re compatible. We both needed to do something that we can do and stay at home when we need to,” she added. “We’re both very creative people and wanted an outlet.” They’re both married with children.
Boldcow is not just about sanding and putting a new coat of finish on a piece. That’s something they do, but they also examine each piece and consult with the client to decide what the final masterpiece should look like. The women may also remove stains, fix cracks in wood, paint and re-glue wood.
“We use uncommon fabrics and textiles that are unique to our personal designs, so you’ll never find an identical piece in someone else’s home or workspace,” Adras said.
Jackson said, “Our hands are on every square inch of a piece. It’s special to us. It’s also gratifying to see a piece someone wasn’t giving a second look at and after we’re finished with it, having people say, ‘How did you do that?’ Every piece we start to work on becomes a part of us.”
Adras says her favorite types of furniture are vintage because they are usually a product of good workmanship to begin with, not something off a factory assembly line. Refurbishing costs depend upon the amount of work a project demands.
As mentioned on www.mysmallbiz.com, “restoration can be carried out on a number of furniture items like sofas, chairs, tables, cabinets, upholstery, etc.” There is a difference between restoring furniture and refinishing it. “Restoration involves returning the furniture item to its original condition. Refinishing, on the other hand, need not always be restoring the furniture to its precise original form. It can mean giving the furniture a new look.”
Boldcow will work with clients to make sure they end up with a piece of furniture that looks beautiful and fills the perfect space. FBN
For more information on Boldcow, please go to the website www.boldcow.com or email furniture@boldcow.com.
