Welcome to The Repair Shop,
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life.
This is the workshop of dreams.
Home to furniture restorer, Jay Blades.
Nowadays everybody spends a fortune on stuff that,
once it's broken, they just bin it.
But everybody has something that means too much to be thrown away.
And that's where we come in.
Working alongside Jay will be some of the country's leading craftspeople.
Every piece has its own story.
It's amazing to think that some of my work
becomes part of that story.
I've always played with things,
I've always repaired things and I just love it.
There is a real pleasure in bringing people's pieces back to life again.
Each with their own unique set of skills.
Right tool for the right job.
They will resurrect, revive...
Come on, man! ..and rejuvenate...
..treasured possessions
and irreplaceable pieces of family history.
Wow! She's fantastic!
Bringing both the objects...
This is what I remember.
..and the memories that they hold... Wow!
..back to life. Oh, my God!
In The Repair Shop today, a piece of pottery history
tests Kirsten's skills to the limit.
This is a really lovely piece of Studio pottery.
Simple shape, simple design.
Unfortunately, it's going to be quite tricky to repair.
And Jay lends a hand with the heritage craft of caning.
So it's underneath here, yeah? That's right, yeah.
And it's got to come up there...
That's it. ..or is it coming up there? It's coming up there.
So you're sort of going underneath that little bar.
You make this look so easy.
Hold on, now, that's wrong! JAY CHUCKLES
But first, on a covert operation, it's Georgina Garrett.
Hello. Could anybody give me a hand, please?
It's a bit heavy.
Georgina is hoping The Repair Shop team will help her surprise her husband Martin
by restoring a family heirloom
with a fascinating past.
One large, heavy chest that was really difficult to get in here.
OK, chaps! THEY LAUGH
Fantastic. I'll get the door, shall I?
Furniture restorer Will Kirk is the man for this job.
It's lovely to meet you. Lovely to meet you.
This is the Garrett family military campaign chest.
Right. It's a serious bit of...
It's a very serious piece of equipment, yes.
So, do you know much about the past and the history behind this piece of furniture? A little bit.
We know it's been in the family for four generations.
In the First World War, Martin's grandfather Sidney, he was a
Major in the Royal Engineers. OK.
And we believe that it may have travelled with him to France
and possibly to Russia as part of his military campaign
in the First World War.
And then latterly there are some labels on the front there
which mention Martin and his sister's education.
He remembers his school reports being taken out of there.
That's hilarious. And him being scolded about his poor results
sitting with his father at the desk, so...
So, quite a bit of history there.
Yes, it's been an important piece in the family for a long time.
And the fact that it's actually been used. All the way through.
It's not a piece of furniture that's sat in a room. No, always been used.
The fact it's been around the world. Yeah, absolutely.
And that's why I'm so keen to see it used again.
I think this needs a bit of TLC.
Overall. There is some water damage, which you can probably see.
There's just a possibility that that occurred when we think it moved
with Martin's great grandfather in the First World War.
Would have gone by sea, so that's just a possibility.
If I open up this part...
You can see quite clearly there's a major wobble.
If I drop this front section down,
obviously the chains aren't original.
And at some point, somebody in the family has taken the hinges off.
Yeah. So it would be absolutely fantastic if we could restore it as a surprise. OK.
My husband's had a couple of strokes.
He's made a really, really good recovery. OK.
He's written a day journal for the last 35 plus years.
He lost the ability to write for a while,
but he's just got it back to a degree. Yeah.
And, to me, I think to be able to give him this back in working order
and actually see him able to write his journal again
would be absolutely magical.
I will do my very best to get it back into shipshape condition
and good enough to use for another 100 years.
That would be fantastic. Thank you very much indeed.
Thanks very much. Good luck with it. Cheers. Bye-bye.
It would mean an enormous amount,
not just to me but particularly to my husband, to see this restored.
It's the one piece of furniture that remains from the family.
And to see him able to sit and write his diary at it
in the manner that it's intended
with the secretaire part would just be so exciting.
I know it's in capable hands and I'm really, really looking forward
to seeing what they manage to do to it.
Bend the knees. Bend the knees. Flex the arms. Cor, blimey.
Cool, man. It's a heavy piece of kit
to be carrying around the world, isn't it? Yeah.
Campaign furniture was designed to break down
into smaller components,
making them more portable as they travelled with British Army officers
to their various international postings.
So, what are you going to do?
This top drawer is quite stiff to take out and put back in.
OK, and this is the writing bit, isn't it?
Yeah. So if you push the button there... That's nice.
So you can see that wobbles like that. Right. Yeah, yeah.
And maybe clean up the brass work a bit.
I think I'm going to try to even them all out.
So you've got like a consistent...
..brassy look. Cool, nice. Well done.
BELL RINGS
The Repair Shop experts use forgotten crafts to restore beloved heirlooms.
And the next visitor is hoping furniture restorers
Sonnaz Nooranvary and Rachael South can do just that.
Hi. Hi. Pleased to see you. Nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Rachael.
Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. What have you got in the back of your car?
Cecille Taylor has brought a couple of well-loved pieces that need expert attention.
This one goes at the back. These are stunning.
Just amazing craftsmanship.
So it's really special to have two chairs together.
Sometimes you only see one on its own.
What's the story behind them?
So they belonged to my great aunt.
She lived in south Holland and then they came to me a few years ago.
Can you remember these from your childhood? Yes.
The chair's always been the same. Yep.
It was a like brown cord, very '70s. Yeah.
They've been in my family all my life so it's been part of me for the last 40-odd years.
You've got a nice sort of rounded shape at the back there.
It's almost a sort of Chinese-y look or something,
cos most of this furniture is from the sort of 1910-1920s... Really?
They began making them all over Europe and it's sort of to give
quite an exotic look to everyday furniture,
which I think the cane work does as well.
So this might have been intact for the last 80, 90, 100 years, even.
But here you can see that the cane has gone on the inside arm.
It's going to go on that area of the chair cos that's where hands are,
whereas the outside arms look pretty good.
They haven't been... Yeah. ..damaged hardly at all.
They're showing they've been well loved and well used but, yeah,
really in need of a bit of repair now.
So have you tried to have them fixed before? Yes, I did.
Apparently because they're double caned armchairs,
it's very specialised
and, you know, I couldn't find anyone who could do it.
But I can see even on the base here that you can see the old fabric.
Yes, I don't know what's underneath here.
Well, it certainly feels like it's sprung.
But that's something that we can unpick and find out as we go.
And you use them in your home? Yes, they're in the living room.
Both of them are used all the time and it will be nice to get them
restored and then pass them onto my children so they've got some family
history that goes with these chairs as well.
Leave it with us and then we'll be in touch with you when they're finished.
See them back in their former glory. OK. Lovely to meet you.
Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming. Thanks very much.
Thank you. Pleasure. See you soon. Bye.
It would be lovely to pass those chairs on to my sons.
They're born in the UK, they don't speak any Dutch
but this will be part of their Dutch heritage
that they can take with them for, you know, and that they can pass on to their children.
A little bit nervous but, you know, I know they're in good hands.
And to get that double caning restored is really, erm, yeah,
that's going to be very special.
Can't wait to see the skill that's involved and to see them back to their former glory.
Rachael will tackle the cane work
while Sonnaz refurbishes the upholstery.
Beautiful chairs, aren't they? Stunning. Really lovely.
They do become like part of your family when you live with the furniture.
From when you're young and seeing it at your grandparents' house.
Yeah. It always amazes me how much emotion's attached to pieces like this.
Yeah. I know. It's just a chair but it's a lot more, isn't it, really?
So... Well, we've got quite a big job on our hands here, I think.
Quite a big job, yeah. The double caning is...
We've got this panel on the outside here.
You're going to take off and replace, or...
Well, looking at it, it looks like it's in pretty good condition.
So I'd rather not sort of touch that one.
I'm going to concentrate on removing this panel.
And the same on this arm here.
I mean, it feels quite firm.
A little bit softer on the front
but I don't think it will be a problem to remake the foam back.
In terms of fabrics, certainly if they're going to be used everyday
we want to get that longevity out of them - fabric that's pretty
hard-wearing and maybe easier to keep clean and stand the test of time. Yes.
So, shall we crack on? Yep.
Little bit nervous about what I'm going to discover under here.
I can feel all sorts of stuff going on.
One of things I'm really looking forward to, actually,
is making these cushions have a bit more plumptiousness to them.
Plumptiousness is... SHE LAUGHS
Plumptiousness is a word that I use when I want to describe to other
people how comfortable I want their cushions to look.
Plump is almost not enough.
I'm really glad I'm not Rachael because she really does
have her work cut out for her over there.
I wouldn't know where to start with that caning.
Rachael learnt the art of chair caning from her father,
who in turn learnt from his.
She'll need that wealth of experience for this particular project.
It's a little bit brutal, it seems.
Cutting this whole sort of large panel away
but I've got to clear away all of this broken cane.
I've got this remaining panel on the outside arm
and I really don't want to slip, put my scissors through it
or anything like that so I'm really being as careful as I can,
and I can see there's actually a little treasure
between these two panels.
This is probably 90 years' worth of human skin, I think,
and definitely some pet hairs, maybe.
That's gross! THEY GIGGLE
On the next workbench, Will is working on the military campaign chest that's seen two world wars.
However, its exotic adventures have taken their toll
and Will must tread carefully.
So what I'm doing here is I'm cleaning the surface,
and you can actually see all the dirt that's coming off there.
One good thing to do is to keep on checking the rags
because that black is surface dirt
but once it starts to go slightly brown,
then there's more of a chance you're actually removing the varnish
or the polish that's on the surface
and you really want to stop there before it goes too far.
So once I've cleaned the whole surface,
I will then see if there are any patches where the polish
has gone back to the bare wood
and I'll probably use some new polish and blend in those areas.
As well as the wood, there's also the hardware to contend with.
You haven't got a minute have you, Brenton?
To have a quick look at something? Yep. No worries.
So Will's drafting in silversmith Brenton West to help.
So, the top of this chest flaps down like that. OK.
I've got these two chains here.
Yes. I'm missing some brass quadrant stays for the side.
OK, what's wrong with those ones? Well. Ah, I can see. All right.
A little bit too small. OK, I can make you some of those.
I mean I could hack out a new inset there, but it's not really what...
Easier to make some brass, isn't it? Yeah, I'll make you some of those.
Would you be able to measure that up? I'll make some templates
and cut you some of those out.
Top man. No problem. I knew you could do that. OK. Leave it with me.
Thanks a lot. OK.
Looks like you've done a lot of work here.
You've taken the drawers out. THEY CHUCKLE
Well done.
I've just found something out. That's why I'm coughing. Oh, is it?
I thought that this was made of camphor wood. Right.
It's actually made of teak. This is teak, yeah?
And I realise that whenever I work with teak it makes me cough.
Ah, you're allergic to teak? HE COUGHS
No! Seriously. You're a wood guy that's allergic to teak!
Anyway, I have started on it and I've cleaned the top,
I'm cleaning the base.
The brass seemed to be, like, different levels of sheen
and different levels of rust.
But it's going to be worth it and I think if I do a really good job
on the polishing it'd be nice to have really nice brass work
to set it off like a cherry on top. OK.
So how are you going to get over, like, the teak?
Because you can't get away from it. HE COUGHS
You've just got...you've got...
I tell you what you could do - work quicker.
Quicker. And then get the job done. Quicker and I hold my breath.
There you go. And that's it. Nice one. Cheers.
Next into The Repair Shop is Louise Pallister.
Hi. You must be Louise. Come through. Hi.
She's hoping ceramics conservator Kirsten can help her
with one of her late mother's favourite possessions.
What have we got here? I have a Hornsea vase.
Which was my mum's vase.
It was in our family all my childhood.
It's a really beautiful vase. I always loved it.
Gosh. It's quite a sort of modern looking piece, actually, isn't it?
It's really gorgeous. I always think it's really elegant.
I think that's why she liked it.
She was brought up during the war and I remember her saying to me,
it was kind of dark and drab and everything was a bit miserable.
And when she got married in the '50s she wanted things that were new and bright and modern.
As people did. That was one of those things I think she saved up for.
It was one of the sort of key things in our house.
I always associate it with my childhood memories because it was often on the mantelpiece.
Right. It was never damaged the whole time it was in our family.
Right. When my mum moved out I asked if I could have the vase.
She said yes and I took it back to my home.
But I was moving and it must have shifted in transit.
And that's what took the chunk out of it. I was horrified. Absolutely.
And I just couldn't bring myself to tell her cos I felt so guilty
cos I knew it was something she really treasured.
And she never asked about it. And now she's gone...
..it would just mean a lot to me to have it fixed
and I would get it back on display. Right. OK.
I mean, that must have been absolute dreadful, if she'd looked after...
She'd be so disappointed as well. I just felt so guilty. Yeah.
So how long ago did you move? How long has it been broken?
Probably over ten years. Oh, really? I just put it away.
I was hoping I would be able to find someone to mend it.
I'm glad you kept all the pieces though.
I mean, that's really, really helpful.
So have you tried to have it repaired in the past?
I've looked into it but when I looked into ceramic restorers,
people seemed to be doing real antiques, very sort of old-fashioned things. Oh, right.
And I didn't know who would be interested or be able to take on something that's quite modern.
So this sort of thing is...
..quite tricky to repair.
That's not to say that I can't do it.
You've got that lovely flat surface that reflects the light.
And that does actually make it quite difficult to sort of
do a completely invisible restoration.
I'm slightly concerned about this, this sort of crack here.
I think that it's probably been cracked
and water's gone under the glaze. I see. Which has caused staining.
Caused a mark. Yeah. So in terms of once this is repaired,
you know, what are you going to do with it then?
I'd love to have it back on display.
Would you? Because it's been in a box for years,
with guilt written all over it. Yeah.
And I'd just love to have it back out again. I'll be thrilled to see it mended.
I'll do the best job I can. Thank you very much.
I've kept hold of that vase for years because I felt so bad about it,
but it's a beautiful piece as well. I really wanted it to be mended.
And every now and again, you know, when you move things around
I think, "Gosh, there's that vase." Such a shame that it's always away.
And it'll be so lovely to have it out on display.
And really I'd be thrilled if it was mended.
I would feel that my mum would be really pleased.
And then I would feel slightly less
guilty for having managed to get it damaged as soon as I got hold of it.
So, this is a really lovely piece of studio pottery.
Simple shape, simple design.
Unfortunately, it's going to be quite tricky to repair.
But I'm excited to work on it.
I've not worked on a piece of Hornsea before so I'm going to do the best that I can for Louise.
The vase was made in 1963 by the Hornsea Pottery in East Yorkshire.
Established in 1949,
it became one of the biggest and most influential producers
of pottery and tableware in Britain,
with an emphasis on stylish, contemporary design.
I've got a couple of pieces that Louise brought in.
That one goes in there.
And then this large piece...
..fits in very nicely.
I also noticed that there are a couple of cracks,
and there's a crack running down
here from where this was broken originally.
I'm going to try and run some adhesive into that
to stabilise it so that it doesn't run any further
and doesn't get any worse.
Furniture restorers Rachael and Sonnaz are pushing ahead
with the antique cane chairs.
Sonnaz is peeling back the layers of old upholstery
to reveal the 100-year-old original framework.
What's interesting, actually, I've just noticed these springs.
They all look in relatively good condition, and firm,
which is really surprising in a chair this age.
The fact that we don't have to replace these
does make my life a lot easier.
Over at Rachael's bench, she's done the prep
and is all set to begin weaving the intricate pattern.
The material, the cane, is actually the bark of the rattan palm
and it grows in Indonesia.
I've soaked it for a few minutes and it gives it a slight elasticity,
and it also means that as the whole panel is drying,
it's all going to tighten up.
so I'm going to get this lovely tight panel.
Drum tight, hopefully.
Usually on cane furniture, the holes that you weave into
go all the way through the frame,
so it's possible to loop the cane underneath the frame.
Because these holes only go two centimetres deep,
that means that I have to use a technique called blind caning.
Each strand of cane is cut to the length size,
and just sits two centimetres in that hole.
Golf tees are the only thing
that is actually holding these ends of cane in the holes.
So if they weren't there,
as the cane dries, all the ends would just pop out.
The golf tees are an essential part of the chair caner's tool kit
and they're perfect for the job.
Fellow furniture restorer Jay is on hand to pitch in and help
Sonnaz attach the springs to the frame.
I think you're qualified to do this bit.
Lovely. Is that enough? Yeah. Next one, next corner.
Lovely.
Nice. Still got it. I've still got it!
THEY CHUCKLE
That's a... That's it. I'll get that out the way.
Yeah. Is that better?
Beauty. There you go. It seems like you're not doing any work.
I'm supervising, it's really important.
OK, cool. I get that one. Yeah, yeah.
Make sure that you don't hit your fingers and things like that.
You're very kind.
I'm just trying the spring base unit in because I don't want the padding
on the upholstery to be too tight up against the caning.
And especially not against Rachael's new caning, so it's pretty essential
that I get this paddling exactly right.
Beautiful.
Ceramics expert Kirsten is restoring a stylish example of 1960s pottery.
She's successfully reunited
the cherished vase with its missing piece.
I'm really very happy with the way
the Hornsea vase has gone back together again.
It sort of feels really solid.
Very sort of secure now as a sort of structure.
There's no stepped edges at all.
The next stage for me to do is to fill these sort of tiny cracks
and little chipped areas here.
Even when you get a very, very good join,
you'll still have a tiny crack
that needs to be filled and retouched.
If you don't do that,
over time you will get sort of dirt and dust building up in there
and it will end up looking like a sort of nasty dark line.
It's like most jobs really -
so much of it is actually in the preparation.
If you can get a lovely sort of smooth surface to paint onto,
that's half the battle won, really.
Once the cracks and chips are smoothed over.
Kirsten's next challenge is finding the right match for the colour
and texture of the vase.
I feel slightly sort of fearful.
In some pieces it's quite easy and you've got lots of detail,
lots of colours, maybe textures. They're quite busy.
But with something like this it's going to have to be
absolutely spot on, the colour, and all the fills
are going to have to be really, really perfect as well.
It's quite difficult.
When I look at this glaze, it's very, very smooth and you think,
"Yeah, "that's fine with the colour,"
but as you look closely it's got a sort of slightly mottled appearance.
It's like someone's sort of stippled it slightly with brown.
So I'm going to have to try and just experiment
and see how to mimic that.
I've never worked on one of these pieces before
and in a way that's what makes my work interesting.
Each new piece is a challenge.
Initially I'm going to just block out these white fills
because they're quite difficult to get rid of.
Literally just block in a sort of pinky background colour.
This is a part I really love. I enjoy colour.
I really love sort of trying to match the colours the glaze is.
It's a bit like decorating your house.
The preparation is really tedious,
but when you actually get to the painting, it's quite fun.
So, I think I'm almost there.
Once that's dried I will probably then just give it a polish
and then start airbrushing.
It's absolutely ideal for this kind of surface.
Furniture restorer Will is transforming
a military campaign chest.
With a bit of elbow grease, all the brass now has a uniform shine.
And Brenton has created some custom made brackets
for the secretaire section.
Not too bad. I think we might still need to trim a bit of the brass off of here. OK.
Still rubbing against here. It's really tricky.
There's so many different pieces
where that's been patched in on the inside. Right...
Which is quite hard... What's going on here, Will?
Ah! Screwdriver. Perfect.
Actually, Brenton made these, which is... Nice! ..pretty helpful.
Nice and shiny. So they fit... Your side looks a nice fit.
They fit, then? It's perfect. Well, Brenton's end fits perfectly,
but this end needs a bit of tweaking still.
See there? Yeah. It comes out.
It's not meant to do that. Your side doesn't come out, does it?
No, no. It's spot on.
Jay, would you like to make something out of these chains?
Like a nice bracelet? Or do what you want with it.
Might melt it down and make a gold tooth, actually.
THEY CHUCKLE It's a nice bracelet.
I don't need that ever again.
So you can make as many teeth as you like. All right.
HE LAUGHS
Meanwhile, on the two Dutch cane chairs,
Sonnaz is rebuilding the century-old spring cushion.
While Rachael weaves the elaborate cane panels.
This pattern, as you go through each of the stages,
it gets more and more complicated.
And this fifth stage is the most fiddly.
I've got to make sure that the cane is nice and damp so it doesn't snap,
because it's really getting tight, the pattern, now.
A lot of people say that it is quite therapeutic.
I think it's also quite therapeutic to watch as well,
when I see other people doing it.
How're you doing, Rachael? Hi, I'm fine, thanks.
Haven't had a chance to see what you're doing. You've nearly finished now? Yeah.
You've actually come at a really good time because I'm just starting
the last diagonals, so I've got my two verticals, two horizontals...
Cool. ..and then I've got my first diagonals
and then the last diagonal going in stage.
Can I have a go at this? Yeah, please. It would be great.
Yeah, so what I'm doing is I'm going under the horizontals... OK.
..and then over the verticals. All right.
So it's the opposite to what the previous diagonal's done.
HE CHUCKLES OK. I've got it.
All right.
So it's underneath here, yeah? That's right, yeah.
And it's got to come up there? Or is it coming up there?
It's coming up there. So you're going underneath that little bar.
Blimey. You make this look so easy. SHE CHUCKLES
Oh, well, I nearly lost it down there. Jay, that's really good.
I was just about to say, am I doing it right, yeah?
Yeah, that's looking great. That around there. Under the bar.
THEY LAUGH
Hold on, now, that's wrong! Oh, yeah.
It has split, but you know you can
just flatten the cane out and that should be fine.
That's why you're the professional.
You made a mistake look perfect. Well done. I like it.
Sonnaz is striving for plumptiousness.
She's chosen an opulent velvet for the covers,
but that luxurious feeling comes with its own problems.
This fabulous blue chenille-y velvet,
the thing that I've got to be really mindful of here
is actually cutting the fabric in the right direction
because there's a pile to it and the pile in velvet
always runs top to bottom, back to front.
So you can see it's smooth that way,
and if I stroke it the other way,
it starts to rough up and go a bit darker.
When you're sewing it, velvet has a tendency to move under the sewing machine.
That is my biggest concern whenever I'm sewing velvet.
I'm pretty confident I can get it spot on. But it's not easy.
It's been a really big job,
quite a lot of weaving, quite a lot of caning.
But I've really enjoyed doing it.
I'm sort of deeply connected to this chair after all these hours spent on it.
I think once Sonnaz has put her upholstery on,
I think it's going to look fantastic.
I hope Cecille will be really pleased.
This is just the best bit,
where you actually start to see the real fruits of your labour.
Especially with a fabulous fabric like this,
and I can't wait to see what Cecille thinks of it as well.
That is one plumptious cushion.
Across the workshop, Kirsten is adding some finishing touches
to the stylish '60s vase.
The final stage here is to try and recreate
sort of some of the fine lines that are in this.
And to do that.
I'm actually just going to use a chinagraph pen,
And I'm just going to, freehand, just draw a few of these tiny lines.
Not very many. Just to sort of break up the line.
It's just mimicking what's actually there on the original.
So really it's sort of about distraction techniques,
you're distracting the eye from the actual repair.
As well as trying to copy what's already there.
It's been quite a challenge working on this vase.
It has given me one or two headaches,
but it's been a lovely piece to work on.
But, yeah, it's ready to go back.
This much-loved vase had been left broken in a box for ten years.
Now back in one piece,
it's ready to be returned to owner, Louise.
I feel a little bit nervous coming back for the vase.
I've been thinking about my mum a lot.
And what it meant to her and how glad she'd be to see it back in one piece.
So I feel suspense, really, at the moment.
Hi. Hi. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you. Yeah.
How are you? All right, thank you. In suspense.
Ah, I bet. Excited and nervous. Interested to see it.
Yeah. Well, I won't keep you waiting.
SHE GASPS Gosh, that is beautiful.
How have you done that? That's amazing, Kirsten.
That is something else. Better than I could have hoped for.
And it's back to its beautiful shape. My mum would be thrilled.
That's so nice to hear.
That's just gorgeous.
I mean, it always was a beautiful vase,
but to see it back as it should be, that's quite amazing.
I feel really touched. Thank you very much.
It's going back on my mantelpiece now.
Do you know, I've had that in my mind the whole time
I've been working on it. I remembered you saying that.
Well, I've been thinking about it a lot and I've been thinking about my mum,
and how it always was a feature of our house,
on the mantelpiece with our flower arrangements in it.
And now I just want to make sure it goes on my mantelpiece
so it's always there as a kind of continuation.
It's such a beautiful piece, isn't it? It's lovely.
Thanks so much. It's a pleasure. That means a lot to me.
Thank you. You're very welcome.
I feel really relieved to have the vase back,
and Kirsten's done such an amazing job.
It just looks so beautiful.
I did feel guilty about the vase being broken.
Now I feel really elated that it looks so good.
And my mum would want it to look brand-new.
She loved it when it was new and she loved new, modern things.
So she'd be really happy to see it like this.
Refurbishing the cane chairs has been a huge undertaking for Rachael and Sonnaz.
But finally, the end is in sight.
Just one last push to get these beautiful heirlooms looking
as they did when they first sat in Cecille's grandmother's house.
Like magic, it makes a button.
Pretty cool, isn't it?
This is all the new cane that I've woven.
And I'm going to begin to dye it down to match this back colour here.
I did a little bit of colour matching,
so I think I've got a colour that's going to blend.
Hopefully the whole thing's going to look like a whole piece.
Time is of the essence because Cecille is going to be here shortly
and I need to get all these details set and finished.
I'm not going to be happy with these cushions until I've actually
tried them in on the chairs and seen them in situ.
Cecille is back to pick up the beloved heirlooms
that are such an important link to her Dutch ancestors.
Sonnaz! Look at that! Perfection! Thankfully! Beautiful.
When Cecille brought her great aunt's chairs to The Repair Shop,
the cushions were sagging and threadbare and the decorative
cane work was showing its age.
But now hours of traditional craftwork have rolled back the years.
The inside of the arms was quite damaged.
The upholstery was quite damaged as well.
I'm quite excited to see the chairs, and I hope they will still be
the chairs the way I recognise them.
Hello. Hi, Cecille. Nice to see you.
So, have you missed them in your home? We have missed them,
all of us have missed them.
Yes, they left two big empty gaps in the living room,
so we can't wait to have them back.
Great. Right. Shall we take the blanket off? Yeah?
Do the reveal? Yeah. Ready?
There we are.
Oh, wow!
Oh, amazing. Oh, I love it.
I love the material, actually. That's really nice.
It really brings out the chairs.
I can't actually see that they've been repaired!
The skill to match the original, how I brought them in.
Oh, wow. I'm really pleased. Really pleased.
Can't believe that they're my chairs!
I love them. It was a real pleasure to work on them,
and also knowing that you're planning on passing them to
your sons and they've come all the way from Holland as well.
Yeah. I sort of had all that in my mind while I was working.
If my grandmother and her sister could see them now,
that would be amazing.
What a skill. You've done a brilliant job.
I'm really pleased. Thank you. That's really kind. Yeah.
Oh, gosh. Oh, I love them.
THEY LAUGH
And they're so comfortable, as well, to sit in. Thank goodness for that!
And you kept the little cushion at the back as well.
I can't believe what a great job
they've done with the caning and the material. It looks amazing.
This, with all the repairs and the reupholstery
will add to the history of the chairs that I can pass on
to the children as well.
At long last the military campaign chest not only looks the part,
but is now fully functional.
So are you finished? Can I get people around to have a look? I am finished.
Good on ya. Here we go. Will has actually finished something.
Come have a look at this. It's a rarity but it's happened.
THEY LAUGH You always gang up on me, but with smiles on your faces.
We love you really.
Will has deep cleaned the teak.
The once tarnished brass has been polished to a uniformed perfection.
And the sticking drawers now glide.
But most importantly, the fold-down writing desk now locks into place.
THEY MURMUR APPRECIATIVELY Oh, wow!
Aren't they pretty? Yeah.
Well done. Thanks a lot, guys. Come on, back to work.
Now all that remains to be done is to deliver the surprise to its owner,
Georgina's husband, Martin.
I'm feeling incredibly excited. Some trepidation.
I hope he's going to be really, really happy with the surprise,
but I know he's going to be incredibly excited when he sees it.
Until recently Martin used the desk every day to write his journal.
But ill health and the condition of the piece made that impossible.
Fortunately, Martin is now on the mend.
And the chest is back in action.
Can't wait to see what's underneath. It looks familiar. It does.
One, two, three... Three.
Oh, my goodness!
SHE LAUGHS That is incredible!
Good Lord!
I would not have believed it! Oh, my goodness me!
I would not... Oh, he's done it! He's put the hinges back!
He's done it, he's done it! Oh! My word!
Oh, golly! Authentic brass straps, look!
And it doesn't...it doesn't rock. It doesn't tip.
It doesn't rock!
Cor, that's as smooth as silk. CLICKS
Nice click. It's absolutely solid.
That is lovely. Those horrible chains have gone.
Well, I can tell you now it's been taken care of
by a wonderful chap called Will.
I suppose that's the only disappointment now,
I'm not able to shake the bloke by the hand. He's a magician.
SHE LAUGHS He really is.
Ah! Absolutely gobsmacked.
Did you notice your diary was in there? Yeah.
"Education, Anne. Education, Martin."
Still on there!
Oh! Oh! I can't believe it! I absolutely can't believe it!
That's fantastic.
All very humbling, isn't it? Yes.
You know, it does. It leaves one speechless, doesn't it? Yeah.
You know, the degree of effort and everything else that's gone into...
..producing a result like that.
It's put something back that is very special to him.
He's a man of... He doesn't show a lot of emotion,
but I think he's absolutely delighted.
And I certainly am. It's fantastic.
I feel absolutely amazed and astonished.
It exceeds my wildest expectations.
My dad would be utterly amazed at the transformation,
at the work that's been carried out on it.
It is all absolutely spot on.
It will be far more pleasant experience to sit at that desk now
to continue writing my diaries.
And I'm looking forward to that enormously.
It is a wonderful thing to behold.
Join us next time, as more cherished possessions
go from neglected... There's bits missing, broken...
..to perfected.
Oh, wow! Look, it's moving! Yes!