HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Time for the traditional, slightly tipsy, potentially over-emotional thank you to so many people! In no particular order, here goes:

Thanks to our customers...clearly we wouldn’t be able to do any of this without you

Thanks to our fabulous staff (seen here enjoying our Christmas party, this year held in the salubrious setting of the workshop....which was then abandoned....we have since realised we neglected to take home the leftover trifle....it’s going to be lovely by the New Year....)

Thanks to Mack&Me for all their wonderful IT help, sorting out all our postcards, DLs, website, emailers and a whole host of other things

Thanks to our fellow shopkeepers and workers at Burwash who make it such a lovely place to work and who don’t mind helping to move the odd bit of furniture now and again

And, thanks to family and friends who have, as ever, pitched in and helped with everything from looking after Martha so Kathryn can get some work done, getting printing done in record time (that’ll be you, Dad!), helping us with vans/muscle/buoying up and coffee whilst out buying and supporting us in everything we do

That’s about as soppy as it gets...we’ll be back on top ranting form in the New Year – see you then!

SUGAR RUSH

Well, I picked a good day to be in the shop...who decided to send a huge party of Spanish children to Burwash to practice their buying and English?!

In Nest, all they wanted to buy was flying saucers (at 4 pence each) from our sweetie display. My Spanish is rubbish so there was a lot of hand gesticulating and noise, and general pandemonium.

Still, at least I’m not the driver of the bus dealing with a bunch of incoherent children high on sherbet and food colouring!

VERY, VERY GOOD PRESENT IDEA!

Has anyone seen the TV advert for the online retailer ‘Very’ (fronted by Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby), that has the intention of solving all your Christmas gift dilemmas?

It shows an inept male trying to wrap up a stuffed seagull which naturally triggers a ‘bad gift alert’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do0sSXqbgbw

Well....now then....I have to say that if someone wants to go to the trouble (and expense) of finding me a lovely stuffed seagull, I will be very chuffed indeed. Replacing it with some horrible, mass produced, generic piece of tat would not make me chuffed.

As my wife pointed out in her ‘film-nerd’-attention-to-detail way, Ms Cotton appears to have a stuffed Polar bear in her ‘good gift’ headquarters. Surely this must be a mixed message or some sort of plot discontinuity – perhaps I’m reading too much into this?

Anyway, someone has just bought Henry, our beautiful stuffed Canada goose from the shop, so at least our customers have taste, style and a sense of the unexpected.

p.s. we do still have a stuffed seagull for sale at Nest, as well as loads of other unique gift opportunities! Buy quickly before Fearne and Holly dispatch a team to have them removed!

ANNOYING BUZZ WORDS

As some of you may be aware, we are a little upset at the word ‘vintage’ having been kidnapped by large companies, irritating celebrities and media types.

Well, these same people now can’t even recycle like the rest of us. Oh, no, because that word isn’t good enough – we have to come up with new, trendy, urban, cool ways to describe recycling.

‘Upcycling’ – it’s not about the mountain stage of the Tour de France, no, it’s a way that snobby people can allow something second hand into their home.

‘Recrafted’ – I’m not sure what this ridiculous word means. It sounds as though the present you bought your Dad wasn’t quite right and he twiddled with it to make it work better!

Our old favourite Kirsty Allsopp has a lot to answer for – one day she’s going to end up wishing she had just said ‘recycle’ instead of ‘homemaderecraftedvintagestyleretroinspiredupcycledb*****ks’.

YET MORE FURNITURE!

Oh my goodness....we have just bought so much furniture, even our shipper is worried it won’t fit in his lorry!

This wasn’t meant to be the December plan – while we bagged loads of quirky and interesting smalls, it was the volume of great quality furniture that we grabbed that is shocking.

Pardon the list, but: we’ve got Hungarian dressers, an English dresser, loads of tables including a couple of extenders, chairs, a yellow car (more of a display item!), a larder cupboard, a beautiful marble topped shabby console table, a fabulous fold-up snooker table (will need extensive testing at the workshop), a lovely little wardrobe, more cupboards, a massive glass fronted bookcase and much, much more miscellanea.

It’s going to get toasty at the workshop!

BIRD THEMES

As retailers, we’re always trying to work out what themes are going to sell quickly. Bird themes have always been a favourite and since we are, of course, called Nest, are also very appropriate. And I have to say, so far ‘birds’ are selling well this Christmas, especially pheasants.

Having just sold a stuffed pheasant, a metal pheasant sculpture, a ceramic handmade mug with a pheasant on and a set of 6 pheasant tumblers, this could be the hot seller!

I predict a robin backlash soon – I can’t see robins watching their traditional ‘now’ time being hijacked by a bunch of idiot pheasants. That said, the chickens are making a bid for the Christmas number one with growing sales and the recently formed collection of ‘native songbirds’ in cardboard  are also making their presence felt.

I think I need some fresh air.

KIRSTY ALLSOPP RANT

Having been specifically told by my wife not to watch Kristy’s Vintage Retro waste-of-space thing on TV, because I become cross and bad-tempered, I did anyway.

Result – I became cross and bad-tempered!

I watched an episode where Kirsty attempted to create a 1930s inspired kitchen. I have no idea why she chose this decade because, so far, all her makeovers look the same – fluffy, badly painted, randomly conceived and full of naff, cheap TV ideas.

Breathe.

She spent the entire program trying to shoehorn what she had just chosen into the 1930s. Apparently everything was invented in this period including wood, paint, glass, air, the French, willow weaving and kitsch.

Breathe.

Strangely, the day after watching this show I met a carpenter who shared my views – we spent a good 10 minutes shouting at each other about the episode. Perhaps I am not alone – perhaps there are others out there who get cross at this program – please share!

RANDOM CHRISTMAS PRESENT BUYING

We already know that someone out there is going to come into Nest in the next few weeks and buy a really unexpected Christmas present. Now, up until 20th December, this will be a woman. After this date it will almost certainly be a male and really could mean the purchase of absolutely anything!

We look forward to seeing all you males in the last few days before Christmas with that wild, desperate, haunted look in your eyes.

“Might I suggest a nice piece of taxidermy for the wife, this Christmas?” I shall say.

“Anything, and can you wrap it?” you will reply, and hand your credit card over.

Happy Christmas shopping everyone!

NEST GOES TO COUNTRY LIVING!

So, it’s been quiet on the news front because we’ve been taking part in the Country Living Fair (Islington).

Trying to fit an 800sq ft shop into a stand of 36sq ft was quite an effort. Just getting there proved to be what we politely called (later) an ‘adventure’. Apparently the official postcode for the centre has a reputation for making sat navs wander aimlessly around London without actually getting anywhere. Not to worry, we had an A-Z as back-up – oh, of course; somehow the page relating to Islington is missing! We ended up using the postcode of a nearby hotel which the sat nav liked, but we’d missed our unloading slot and had to empty our van and shift all our stock across the forecourt. Fun.

Still, that was bliss compared to the ‘adventure’ a few days later when the clutch went on our car coming into Walthamstow. It was so much ‘fun’ after a day selling at the show to take the giant yellow taxi cab (otherwise known as an AA lorry) all the way back to Cambridge...especially when they turned up several hours later than their original estimate. Oh well, at least I got a couple of hours sleep the night before, underneath a desk in a hotel (no, I’m not explaining)!

Still it was definitely an experience and strangely, we met loads of our customers at the show – I’m not sure if they were happy or disappointed to see us, certainly one refused to come to London to buy from a shop that was in the same village as him!

 

Will we do it again? Probably...if we get a better spot next time.

We would like to say a big thank you to all the friends, family, staff and adjacent stallholders that helped us during the show, looked after Martha, sympathised over our transport issues and kept us well supplied with coffee. Without them, I think Kathryn and I would have gone up in smoke at some point!

CHRISTMAS LAUNCH!

Yes, we realise there should be a law against mentioning Christmas this early, but we have no choice!

We’re taking Nest (on a slightly smaller scale, obviously!) to the Country Living Christmas Fair next week so we thought we better give all our lovely, loyal customers the chance to start their Christmas shopping early...whilst we’ve still got the energy to serve them!

So, it’s mulled wine, mince pies, cakes and the first peek at some of the lovely things we’ve got in for Christmas, this weekend – 3rd and 4th November. We have got our Christmas lights up, and we’ve got a tree outside and in (well, our inside tree is actually an old French bottle drier...but they drop a lot less needles than the real thing!)...but I can’t guarantee Christmas music, that might be a step too far, even for us!

See you this weekend!

SALESPERSON OF THE WEEK

A chap called in to the shop, wanting to sell us 3 pieces. I didn’t like any of the items which, of course, meant I didn’t want to buy any of them.

“Well, I’ve bought load off of you over the years, I think the least you can do is buy something off of me” he said (his English, not mine).

This may, or may not, have been true – I certainly didn’t recognise him.

Still, after he left in a huff with his unwanted items still in his car, I did think maybe I should try this. Should I go to Waitrose with a broken television and make them buy it off of me (!) because, well, I’ve spent some money with them over the years!

Would that work?

PRECIOUS THINGS CABINET

I may have mentioned previously that we wanted to put a ‘precious things’ display cabinet in the shop at some point. Well, that time has come and there is now one sitting proudly in Nest!

There is one small problem – we have very few ‘precious things’ to put in said cabinet. We’re sort of hoping that having a cabinet that needs filling will inspire us while out buying. At the moment, all that we have is a stuffed puffer fish, some dolls house furniture and a rare ELY toffee tin!

Hardly a display....when I say precious, I don’t necessarily mean expensive either. It’s more a case of keeping little wandering hands away from items that would otherwise get touched a lot (again, I refer you to the puffer fish – which you can’t help but touch even though it is repeatedly painful!). It should be fun, though, when out buying, to be wearing a slightly different buying hat to normal.

Yes, this is me out in my normal buying hat!

STRANGE PURCHASE OF THE DAY AWARD

6 bars of soap and 2 fossilised sharks’ teeth....I think Christmas shopping may have started!

POST APPLE DAY...

I’ve been a bit quiet as I had post-apple day illness. I spent all day outside in the ‘fresh’ air running the Tonka toy challenge for children....who are always full of bugs and clearly decided to pass some on!

Still, the challenge went very well. The record for the tractor and trailer was 22 apples across the course and for the yellow truck -24. I have to say that the competitive child that set the record of 24 apples may have bent the rules a little (if not also the Tonka toy).

The best ‘crash’ was from a small French child who managed to roll the dumper truck. I’m still not sure how because I tried to make the course ‘do-able’ for virtually anyone – still, that’s the French for you!

The picture is not of the Tonka challenge...but a rather bigger challenge that was also taking place at Burwash on Apple Day – the vintage ploughing match!

WANT TO SELL US SOMETHING?

We’ve recently had lots of people in the shop, all trying to sell us things. We need people to buy stuff, not sell us it!

We do buy a fair amount from the public but please remember the commercial reality of our situation. If you have an old spoon you think I might like, please don’t phone us up and expect us to drive to Ely to look at it!

We used to spend (or waste) a lot of time driving round to private houses. Furniture was rarely as described on the phone. I remember a ‘Victorian table and chairs’ still having its plastic barcode stuck to the leg. “Well, it’s still old” the guy said...’old’ meaning over 2 years by his definition.

And an ‘antique dresser’ made from laminated chipboard.

And a ‘Victorian cast iron garden bench’ from B&Q.

Well, the list goes on! So – if it’s large send us a photo. If it’s small, phone us and arrange a time to bring it in.

Just remember that we are not going to travel all the way to Peterborough to look at your antique TV cabinet!

And relax...rant over...

APPLE DAY...

It’s that time of year again – 13th October – BURWASH MANOR APPLE DAY!

As usual, I will be outside Nest running the ‘Tonka Toy Challenge’. For those of you that haven’t experienced the hysteria of a bunch of children watching a peer (not a pear) coaxing an apple laden vintage tonka truck across an obstacle course by means of a string and pulley...well, you just haven’t lived!

The idea is to transport as many apples safely to the finish as possible because apples means lollies (or some other appropriate prize!). There is a small fee that goes to charity, but in terms of excitement to sterling value, it’s pretty good!

MORE FURNITURE FUN

I headed off to Norfolk to try and get some more furniture the other week, on my own. Steve, the owner of the particular house clearance company I was visiting, was delighted because I usually spend more money without Kathryn editing me! And so it proved! He had quite a lot of interesting pine which of late has been scarce in the trade so I was chuffed to get my hands on some.

A few days later we headed up north and bought a load more Hungarian furniture (including a very red wardrobe) and some interesting ‘Americana’. We didn’t buy the chair they had for sale, but Martha found it very handy for a mid-day nap...

Luckily our new workshop is proving very helpful in ‘turning around’ furniture and getting it to the shop a bit faster. The only trouble is a more efficient workshop needs more efficient buyers...more coffee please!

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the...”

“Excuse me, could I buy that mirror please?” the customer interrupted.

So, no mirror on the wall – stop buying mirrors! I have no one to speak to!

I need cake.

Who said that?

SALESPERSON OF THE WEEK

We are always getting people coming into the shop trying to sell us things. I’m not complaining – we often get some really interesting things that way.




One particular regular turned up this week with a load of wooden fruit crates. I picked one up and the bottom fell out:

“Err, this is probably not quite sturdy enough to sell,” I said.

“Yes, quite right, I wouldn’t buy them,” he replied.

I award him Salesperson of the Week!

NON-STOP BUYING!

I think we said, at some point in mid-September, that our buying spree would halt until early October. We lied. It has been going on ever since that blog because of you lot (our lovely customers!) continuing to buy furniture. It is proving difficult to keep up with demand. So much so that we’re off in two large vans next week to buy serious tonnage!



And it’s not just furniture – Freddie the Fox has gone! Gone to live with someone who has another fox in the freezer ready for stuffing. Yes, Freddie will have a foxy friend! And Barney (Barn Owl) has gone too!

Now, if someone could home Henry the Goose and Barnaby the Badger, all would be well, and Kathryn might let me buy some more taxidermy treats!

 

P.S. I made all those names up apart from Freddie and Henry...

NEST LANDROVER

The main company van, as many of you know, is an old Landrover. As we’re always being asked about it I thought that if I put it on here, I could then just refer people to it, rather than constantly getting into beardy weirdy discussions on Landrover specs.

So...it’s a Series III, long wheel base, built in 1979 by British Leyland – it shows all the finish quality of a car made in that year (which is probably how long it took to build, what with all the strikes).

The Landrover was purchased from new and converted into (of all things) a mobile seed testing lab for an agricultural research station. It essentially lived in a barn for 11 months – emerged at harvest and then went back to sleep – hence in approximately 30 years it clocked up only 16,000 miles!

The van was serviced every month for its entire life by the same mechanic – I have his monthly reports which are mundanely boring, with the odd highlight involving changing the battery!

It was originally fitted with a 6 cylinder petrol engine – quite possibly the worst engine ever made by Landrover. It is now fitted with a 200 TDi – possibly the best engine ever made by Landrover. It also has a non-standard low ratio gearbox which until I had an overdrive fitted meant it could only do a maximum speed of about 45mph. However, it is surprisingly fast off the mark – you can actually wheel spin it, not bad for a vehicle fitted with off-road tyres...

The main point of this vehicle, however, is its road appeal. It is, in effect, one big smile inducing advert for the business!

However, all legends must come to an end and we are beginning to think of replacing the Landy and our small Vauxhall van with something else – so if you’ve ever wanted a completely unique vehicle, put your bid in!

PRAMS

“Oh, there isn’t much room in your shop for my pram”.

Well, it depends on the size of your pram. If your baby needs to be pushed around in something that would look more at home in the Sahara, going up and down sand dunes, then perhaps leave it in the car park with the rest of the Landrovers!

When I was a baby, we were lucky to...etc, etc...rant, rant.....etc etc.

By the way, this is a lovely old pram, as used by our friend Ellie for daughter Hope, who is not at all the kind of customer to complain about lack of manoeuvring space!

BUYING BLOW-OUT!

Right – I think that’s the end of our current monthly buying spree (well, it will be once Kathryn has visited Jane Hogben tomorrow). After spending a pile last Monday, then having a tyre blow-out on the A1 and watching it actually overtake us, I think either God or our rivals may be trying to tell us something!

Still, we did pick up a goodly haul of ‘smalls’ including, for some reason, a job lot of box brownie cameras, a load more French enamel, some old wooden toy lorries, more typewriters and several tin trunks full of odds and ends.

 

Hopefully, all this might offset the cost of a new wheel and tyre...and some new nerve endings for Kath!

NEST IS EXPANDING!

It’s sort of been on the cards for a few years. But now the planets have aligned, we’ve got our heads round the business aspect and our bank manager hasn’t laughed himself off his chair – so it’s all go!

We have taken on a new workshop (it’s next door to our current one, which is handy!) thus expanding this very important aspect of our business. It’s all really occurred because of our involvement with interior designers and their incessant demands for non-existent furniture in ‘just-so’ shades of colour! We also find that clients want a Nest ‘style’ piece, but have very specific dimensions and colour requirements. This has involved us making bespoke furniture and consequently we really, really, needed more space.

In a past life I used to design and build kitchens and so this is now a service Nest will provide. We will also undertake a repainting service if you want to give a blast of life to a tired piece of your own furniture.

So, if you need a kitchen, a wardrobe, a row of storage lockers, a tree house, a boat shaped shed, just about anything really, then give us a call. It will be built with all the creativity that you expect of Nest...

We had a very tasty all day fried breakfast the other day (well, I did, Kathryn had a vegetarian breakfast – when she asked what was in it, they told her ‘everything except the meat’...fair enough) at a farmers cafe – this can mean only one thing – we’re getting fat? No! We were on the road, driving and buying.

It was an eclectic haul of goodies that trip. Lots of typewriters, a fencer’s mask (you know, for people with swords), lots of fold-out wooden rulers and a good pile of furniture. We bagged our first ever seed drill which would make a wonderful err....decorative type thing! A collection of hammers, some lovely watercolours, mirrors, crates, a concrete dog, loads of interesting cutlery and, well, just boxes of stuff!

The madness, I mean the buying, is carrying on into mid September...providing I get enough fried breakfasts!

LOTS OF LOVELY NEW THINGS!

We went to one of the big trade shows on Sunday and managed to come away with some exciting new suppliers.

People are always asking us for traditional wall-mounted plate racks, but these are really difficult to find so we decided to see if there was a British manufacturer...and yes, there is! So look out for these beautiful pine racks made in the South West coming soon to Nest...

There were actually a lot of little British manufacturing companies at the show so we put a few orders in for lots of lovely things. Watch out for them in the next couple of months! We also, whilst we were there, put in a large order with our false flower company to ensure some really stunning autumn and winter displays in the shop.

Whilst writing this blog, two large deliveries have turned up (just my luck!). The first is a new batch of French ceramic lamps which, if the French didn’t take the entire summer off, we might have got just a little bit sooner (still, worth waiting for!). Secondly we had a delivery of books from a new distributor – some really good titles and some, dare I say it, ideal Christmas presents – sorry!

SELLING TOO MUCH!

August was a very strange retail month indeed. For some reason, you lovely people out there all decided to buy large pieces of furniture and this is beginning to cause us problems (not least because we tend to store our glassware in larger dressers!). We have recently bought a lot of large items but, at the moment, most of this stock is weeks away from being shop ready so if this pattern continues we’re going to have to pile lots of smaller bits in!

This is what happens when I dare take a full bank holiday off – still, can’t complain, it’s a good problem to have!

CHRISTMAS IS APPROACHING!

Yes, early September sees us start to do the autumn trade shows in search of Christmas stock. In fact, for most businesses this would be a bit late to buy for the festive season but we take the view that if you buy the right stuff, it has all year round appeal.

Whatever new lines we buy will have to fit with our existing ones and, of course, blend in with our vintage wares.

We’ve been listening (or should I say, eavesdropping) all year to our customers to see if there are any obvious items missing from our stock. We have a few ideas, so providing we can find the right suppliers Nest should be even more interesting this winter.

We’ve also just bought a really lovely continental display cabinet which we’re hoping we can use to display ‘precious things’. Quite what we mean by ‘precious things’ I’m not sure but it does give us more options. As long as it makes Nest more exciting to shop in, who cares?!

WHAT AN IDIOT....

What an idiot! That stoat that we spent months looking for was not a stoat - after much collective muttering we think it’s a mink.

yes, even I know that the pig in the picture is not stuffed...but it definitely is a pig...probably

I now have to update the ‘Matt’s guide to wildlife’ book. My original entry stating that you could tell a stoat from a weasel because it looked happy is now in ruins. Turns out minks look happy and are much bigger than stoats that are probably still happier than weasels and bigger but weasels still look angry and are still very small. Glad we sorted that one out!

No one mention pole cats.....

FREDDIE THE FOX

Okay...so I’m still buying stuffed animals, despite the looks I get from the shop staff.

I bought a really beautiful fox the other week. He’s in a sitting position with his big bushy tail wrapped around his feet. I decided at the time to take him back to the workshop for a little repair work so popped him in the back of the van along with my football gear. A few hours later, running late for football and having forgotten about the fox, I opened the van door and scared myself stupid! I also made some sort of reflex kung fu defensive move which I’m sure is now being re-run repeatedly on the sports centre CCTV.

So the staff will be very pleased that I got a dose of what they feel when I leave a new piece of taxidermy somewhere in the shop for them to find!

BUYING TRIPS...AND BACON BUTTIES

We’re out buying on and off for the next few weeks and have already dug up a few choice items.

Do you like the metal industrial look? Well, we blagged 12 old metal bedside cabinets from a Prague hospital. Totally the inlook at the moment! I have to say I’m keeping a couple for myself and we’ve already sold a few more to an interior designer to get in quick, if you’re interested...

We picked up a cracking 1950s table and chair combo. The table has a blue vinyl top with chrome edging, beach legs and the table sides have sort of space-age scoops cut out. The chairs (4) have matching blue plastic seat covers – it’s easily the best of its type we’ve seen for a long time.

A big old carpenters saw horse, which we were going to use as a display piece, has just sold as I write this blog in the shop so err.... can’t say much more about that!

We finally managed to find a stuffed stoat which had been requested by a customer. At least I hope it’s a stoat – it looks quite happy and has been displayed really well atop a dead rabbit it’s just caught – perhaps this is why it looks cheerful! Weasels always seem to look angry..and very small. I think this must be the difference.

What else? What else?

A really beautiful (well, once restored) Scottish dresser, more metal trunks, a big old enamel double grocers scale, loads of china, a couple of brass bells, American drinks crates, some beautiful blankets and the usual array of chairs, chests and cupboards.

We have at least 3 more buying trips coming up soon so provided I don’t pass out from bacon butty poisoning, we’ll keep you informed....

TELEVISION TALES

We were contacted by the BBC recently to see if we would be interested in taking part in one of their antique/bargain hunt type shows. I say ‘take part’ but what they wanted to do was send an ‘expert’ and a contestant into our shop to see if they could buy something to sell at profit at auction.

Now, I do occasionally watch these programs because we often feature in some sort of background capacity (we’re very often buying at antiques fairs when the film crews are there).

I have a slightly irritable view towards these shows because they have to hammer down the price paid to the dealer in order to make a profit at auction. We know several dealers and often see them being goaded on TV to basically give something away so that some gap-toothed expert can look good later. However, we also know a few dealers who actively resent the cameras and go out of their way to prevent them filming near their stand. The use of loud bells, whistles and ‘colourful’ language seems to work best!

Reality: us buying at a fair, in the rain...don't remember many TV cameras being around, that day!

I have to admit to driving the Nest van into camera shot during a ‘take’ because they were blocking the road. I got a very dirty look from the ‘expert’, but we are trying to earn a living at this – it’s not a daytime game show to us. Maybe this is why many dealers get wound up by the shows. I think they feel a few experts on a jolly doesn’t do their business any good.

We can always tell if someone watches these shows when they come into Nest. The tiresome and inevitable phrase “what’s the best on this”, coupled with the equally annoying “what’s the absolute death on that” ensures absolutely no movement on price from us.

Oh, well, I suspect that the BBC may not want to film at Nest because our only stipulation was no haggling – and what boring TV that would make!

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER (WELL, MONEY, ANYWAY)

Did you hear about the shop that sold an old Russian oil painting for 35 quid, only to be told by the art dealer buyer that it was worth a lot, lot more?! To be fair, we thought it was a bit boring and so did you, our customers, because it was on our wall for about 3 months before the art dealer bought it. So you can all share the blame! And it’s not the one in the photograph as we didn’t even think it was worth taking a picture...

Have we sold other items that were worth a lot more than we were asking? Difficult to know unless the buyer comes back and brags! We have a regular that never fails to mention the print he bought from us being valued at 7 times what he paid.

In our industry knowledge is everything and, to be honest, you can never know enough and will never know enough. Over the years we have adopted the philosophy that if we’ve made our money on the deal then we’re happy.

DAMP DRAWERS

All this rain we’ve had has made buying furniture a potentially tricky task. You may well appreciate that if wood gets damp or wet it tends to expand. On a 1930s oak cupboard, for example, tolerance to expansion is low which means that the door expands into the frame...i.e. it jams solid. The joints on chairs can expand and when you test them appear firm and strong – when they then dry out, however, all the legs fall apart – hopefully not when eating your dinner.

A few months ago we bought what I knew to be a batch of ‘damp’ furniture. Included was a chest of drawers, the bottom of which had jammed fast so I couldn’t inspect it. Well, the wood finally dried out and contracted enough to get the drawer out, this week. I say drawer – drawer front would be more accurate – there was no drawer behind it!

This is, of course, is the danger in buying furniture without fully inspecting it. We knew a dealer who bought an old bureau at auction. He was very quick to say what a bargain it was...but not so fast to mention that all the drawers had been cut out on the inside to hide a large stereo system.

If you do buy ‘damp’ furniture, do not, under any circumstances, try to dry it out too quickly – you will end up doing more damage. In fact, I should think more old furniture has been destroyed by exposure to central heating than exposure to moisture. Georgian and Victorian furniture was all built before hermetically sealed, centrally heated houses. Shrinkage, resulting in wood splits, joint popping and veneer buckling is all very common.

We recently bought an early Victorian chest in which the wood had shrunk so much on the sides that the internal frame had started to push through the front, popping the veneer up as it went. If the chest had been in a damper house, it would be in much better shape!

Of course, you could just buy all your furniture from Nest, where we’ve already checked it over and done all the hard work...

Err...anyway, not really sure where this blog was going, but I think you should check your drawers for unwanted moisture – a rule we should all live by!

OLIVE

I thought I might write a little piece about Olive, the workshop dog. She’s a female black Labrador approaching 4 years old (I’m not quite sure what this is in dog years – I think it’s late youth).

Olive was always destined to be my workshop companion and, as such, she started work straight away as a fresh faced little puppy. She had an interesting apprenticeship:

   Learning to recognize different types of timber – by chewing them!
   Helping me to distress furniture – although not always at an appropriate moment.
   Applying paint in a most skilful way – well, dipping her tail in the pot and wagging it everywhere.
   And always bringing me her squeaky screwdriver when I needed the real one.

It was hard work but now she is a fully paid up Nest furniture restorer and has risen up through the ranks (well, past me) to become the official workshop napper (both pre and post lunch), the front-of-house meeter and greeter (nice visitors might be awarded some sort of manky toy) and, of course, the official taster of all and any foods imported into the workshop.

'I don't understand the difference between a philips head and a posi drive,

they all taste metally to me.'

Most importantly, though, she keeps me calm and de-stressed. She’s always watching out for me (even when apparently fast asleep and snoring) and is very good at getting me to leave work on time (afternoon walkies).

RANT (PURE & SIMPLE)

I seem to remember writing a small blog about haggling not so long ago. I suggested that, for example, if you went into Sainsbury’s and offered them a lower price, for cash, on a pack of sausages with the added incentive that you had a car and could take said pack of sausages away immediately, then the supermarket would not be very impressed and might, indeed, call security. Well, a certain customer should read that blog!

Of course, if you really don’t think the piece of furniture you so kindly made me such a generous offer on is worth that price, then head off to our competitors. It is a free market out there – we have been doing this over 8 years and I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have survived so long by making up arbitrary prices to fund our collection of Ferraris.

How many supermarkets are out there?
How many charity shops are out there?
How many clothes shops are out there?
How many shops like ours are out there?
You see? There might not actually be that much profit in it, after all!

p.s. Kathryn added the lovely picture of another pretty new bench we’ve taken in to the shop to soften this entry, a little!

BEAUTIFUL BENCH...BRIEFLY

So, we finally got one of our amazingly beautiful Hungarian painted benches into Nest. I had worked out its position in the shop and how we would display it...but hadn’t factored in someone wanting to buy it as I unloaded it from the van! So, err...here is a picture of the bench on its way to its new home!

Well, we have another painted in pink which I will attempt to get into the shop when I’ve finished working on it. I may do this secretly, at night, to avoid pesky customers!

WHAT WE BUY, WHEN WE DON’T TAKE THE VAN...

Early last week we went off on a mini buying trip to try and get some interesting ‘fillers’. The sort of stuff that makes the shop fresh and exciting to visit, even if you don’t buy something (although it would be nice, if you did!).

A couple of weeks ago we sold a large ‘King Dick’ spanner which had come from a hardware store and had been used to advertise that range of spanners. This is the sort of stuff we love!

We ended up buying some beautiful large metal Tri-ang toys; a red train, a lorry and a very beaten up circus ‘cage’ truck. These will make a fantastic display. I’m not entirely sure why but a purchase of some very heavy cast iron wheels also took place – surely someone will need a very heavy, industrial door stop? Or perhaps something to stop a marquee blowing away in our balmy English summer...

Possibly the most exciting buy (for me) was the purchase of an eastern European wooden toy lorry and tractor. I can tell you now they won’t appear in the shop anytime soon because I’m taking them back to the workshop for inspiration. I have long thought of making a range of vehicles based on a sort of folk art theme. I have been collecting junk for ages to make them with so this may just push me into production... sometimes being able to make lovely stuff for the shop helps take the pressure off trying to find it!

HOMESTUFF WITH HISTORY

Last Thursday evening, I went up to Peterborough to the Key Theatre to see Maison Foo perform ‘memoirs of a biscuit tin’.

In short, it was a wonderful play about a decaying house looking for its owner (Mrs Benjamin). More specifically, it centred around the chimney, floor and walls all trying to piece together the life of Mrs Benjamin through the little mementoes they find in an old biscuit tin.

Very funny, very moving, a real treat and something that resonated strongly with me. I keep a scrapbook of ‘memories’ at the workshop. It is full of all the little abandoned moments of other peoples life’s that we find in the furniture we restore. These can range from weird 70s style wedding snaps and mad passport photos to medical prescriptions, love poems and shoe repair tickets. I even have an old black and white wedding photo in which the groom has been torn out. There is one photo of a glamorous looking woman in a beret – she looks like a chic member of the French resistance!

I hope that in a very small way we can keep the memories of the furniture’s previous owners alive! It certainly fits in with our company’s strap line: ‘homestuff with history’.

PONY PROBLEMS!

The new advert for Burwash Manor is out in Cambridge Editions. I say new, it’s a re-run from last year because due to bad weather and the time I’ve spent getting ready for the artists exhibition it’s been impossible to get a new one sorted! Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to write a little blogette about shooting the ‘pony ad’.

The pony is called Avocado and belongs to the farmer’s daughter. If you look carefully into Avocados eye you can perhaps detect a naughty little plan forming in that equine head. Literally a second after setting this shot she decided to kick all the paint tins over (sorry, Providence!) and try to eat the brushes. Later that evening, she actually jumped over the stable bar and escaped into the fields. Luckily she was later captured near the M11. To be honest, this is a fairly typical photoshoot for Burwash! I think Avocado probably resented having her stable redecorated (I think she’s more of a straw bales kind of a gal).

I would like to thank, very much, Jane (www.burwashdragonfly) who, prior to the shoot, gave Avocado a good old groom and managed her during the photoshoot. Without her, I’m almost certain that photographer Dan (www.mackandme.com) or myself would be sporting horseshoe shaped scars on our foreheads!

VINTAGE, VINTAGE, VINTAGE

Oh, that word – it’s everywhere – it’s like an annoying C-class celebrity who manages to spin out a career based purely on hype.

In our industry the word vintage simply means over 30 years old, while antique means over 100 years. It is simply a quick indication of age.

Several years ago, the word got picked up by the media and high street types and has been turned into something different. In the early days advertisers were very careful to present reproduction or new goods as ‘vintage style’ but now many seem to have dropped the ‘style’ bit!

I overheard a shopper in a certain retail outlet (one that sells wall-to-wall chintz on everything from mugs to towels to mobile phones to badges)  saying that she’d just bought a ‘lovely new vintage bag’!

Can you have a new vintage bag? Can you have a new antique bag? I think the way the word is being used now, the answer is probably yes!

Still, that’s the beauty of the English language, always changing and adapting to commercial pressure! I guess I will have to accept the looser definition of vintage and try not to get too irritated by competitors selling vintage accessories that were made 2 months ago in China. But, if you shop in Nest and you buy something vintage – rest assured it will be over 30 years old!

THE ARTISTS' MARQUEE

The Artists’ Marquee is now up at Burwash Manor, ready for the exhibition (sponsored by Nest!) that starts this weekend. As carpenter in charge of getting all the display boards up and into an interesting layout I knew it was going to be one, tiring job. I was right!

However, as I am also exhibiting on every weekend, it did give me the opportunity to add some little extras. Most important of these was a room to store all the cakes in that were promised at various meetings (I think that’s what Kathryn was talking about). In fact, my layout designs were centred around the cake room. I will be very disappointed if no cakes turn up (are you listening Heather? By the way, coffee and walnut is my favourite!).

Err, anyway, as well as cakes there will be some great new artists joining us this year to keep the event fresh and interesting and we’re holding a preview evening this Friday (6th July, 5-8pm) which will actually be the only opportunity to see all 15 of the artists all together. And to enter our posh raffle in aid of the Rosie. And to drink Pimms whilst listening to a very mellow jazz band....And eat cake.

DOES WEATHER AFFECT OUR TRADE?

The trouble with retailers, when it comes to poor sales, is that it is never our fault. We blame everything for a poor month except ourselves. Naturally weather is a top thing to point the finger at.

Now, I appreciate that if you sell umbrellas and it doesn’t rain for 3 months that may affect your trade. On the other hand, if you sell umbrellas and it rains for 3 months and you still struggle, then you blame the government, the economy and, of course, it was the wrong type of rain. As I say, we never blame ourselves.

I know from our staff feedback over several years that a poor day can be attributed to the following weather conditions:

a) It was just too hot for people to shop
b) It was just too cold for people to shop
c) It rained all day, so no one bothered coming out
d) It didn’t rain all day, so everyone stayed at home in the garden
e) It was just grey and miserable, as were the customers
f) It snowed
g) There was a tornado
h) It rained poisonous frogs

I can honestly say, from my experience, that the best type of weather would be mild and slightly unsettled. The weather equivalent of magnolia, perhaps!

CEMENT AND JOSS STICKS

Warning – this blog may contain traces of rant.

I noticed that an interior design chain has gone into administration. Let’s call them ‘Cement and Joss sticks’. The senior designer at this chain used to write a monthly section in a local magazine. Let’s call this magazine ‘Helmet’. She introduced the interiors part of Helmet. Helmets interiors section is called Nest* - ah ha, now we get to the point!

I have to admit that someone writing a monthly report on the dynamic world of interiors for a long time and never quite clicking that there was a rather lovely shop of the same name, not very far away, was a constant niggle. Especially when at Christmas said designer recommended an internet company she had ‘discovered’ that sold old printers blocks. We are one of the biggest sellers of said items in the country and we’re local...plus a lot cheaper. I thought a local magazine promoting an internet company over a local retailer was more than a little bad-mannered, especially as they’re always after our advertising budget.

As for why Cements and Joss sticks went into administration. Well, as their senior designer very often mentioned, she was always jetting around Europe looking at the latest wallpaper. I can’t help feeling this might not have been helpful in keeping overheads down. This is, of course, utter jealousy speaking – I wish I could jet set around Europe looking at distressed furniture. Instead I tend to get distressed driving round Norfolk in an old van.

I do wonder, however, whether being constantly in touch, in vogue and always on the move alienates you from customers. I always got the feeling from Cement and Joss sticks that if I bought something from one of their ranges, and then wanted to add to that range a little later, they would have moved on and be selling something else, perhaps a little trendier or a little more ‘this minute’.

Still, it’s not a problem here at Nest. We range from trendy (for 1860) up to so trendy; you just don’t know it yet!

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?

That’s another buying week out of the way. We’ve eaten far too much fried food and drunk far too much coffee and spent way too much money. At the moment the last few days are a bit of a haze but I can remember a few highlights.

A pair of the most beautiful painted pine benches (with back and sides) we have ever had! There is little point trying to describe them because I won’t be able to do them justice. However (!)... one is a blue (ish) colour and the other pink. I’m desperately trying to work out if I can get one in my house!

We managed to find quite a bit of enamelware – teapots, jugs, coffee pots etc. which was encouraging because lately supplies seemed to have run dry – I’m sure it’s got something to do with the Jubilee – I blame the Queen!

Of course, a major highlight (for me, not so much Kathryn) was buying a whole menagerie of stuffed creatures. My absolute favourite being a massive seagull (the sort that would eat your cat and still have room for a small child). He has a comedy partner in the form of a goggle eyed cormorant! We also picked up another barn owl which was handy timing as we had just sold the owl bought at the start of the week. We were on the lookout for some new characters, so I also bagged a couple of new ducks (not Drakes) and some sort of seabird that may possibly be a razorbill. All will be in soon, after a bit of sprucing up. I was very tempted by a wild boar but I’m not sure our customer base is quite ready to be confronted by an angry looking pig...there should be some sort of joke here but I’m too tired and might end up insulting the staff...and, er..me.

I was also tempted by a Formula One racing car tyre in order to turn it into a coffee table. But, again, I’m not sure if our shop is ready to go down that road (ha ha!)!

I have, however, been building up a little stock of decorative ‘industrial’ pieces which will come in at some point when I work out the best way to display them...or rather stop them falling on someone’s foot. This is definitely a trendy growth area in the interiors scene at the moment which is slightly frustrating because it’s all so ****ing heavy!

So, all in all a successful week – now all I have to do is get everything ready for the shop – which means more coffee and lots of biscuits!

SHOP IMPROVEMENTS!

We’ve got a little bit of a buildings reclamation thing going at Nest, at the moment. Due to the very quick sale of a wardrobe which I thought may take a few weeks rather than days to sell, we had a large space to fill. We’ve got quite a few pine doors, lots of Victorian chapel windows, some metal framed windows, a wooden ladder and various other odd bits and bobs. I’m working on a rather lovely replacement wardrobe at the moment so this little salvage display will only last a couple of weeks!

Talking of new displays, I’ve been working on a new 7’ x 7’ dresser to hold all our glassware and enamel. It’s been made from workshop scrap and even incorporates the Nest sign that used to hang outside our old Cambridge shop.

I managed to get it installed just in time for us to go off on a buying week – so expect to see if full of wonderful new goodies soon! We’re also, following lots of customer feedback, extending our range of French bee glasses so I hope you agree it’s a really beautiful new display area.

THE PERFECT (PINK?) PRESENT

What to get for a nieces 1st birthday present? Especially as her mum runs Nest with me.

Perhaps I should go to ‘Large Pink Plastic Toys Inc.’ and get the biggest price of injection moulded rubbish possible. The sort of toy that ends up in the shed a month later, then at a car boot and then sticking half out of a wheelie bin.

I used to work at a model making company and one of the products we helped to develop was Polly Pockets (sorry). I remember the problems we had trying to mix a specified pink for one of their products. This pink was so intense that it had a chemical half life of mere seconds. It was so pink that it wasn’t actually possible to be any more pink! If the Americans had used Agent Pink instead of Agent Orange the Vietnam War may have turned out differently. I believe this pink has since been banned for causing psychological problems and massive environmental pollution.

Oh, the flashbacks, the years of staring at green things (the antidote to pink).

Umm...anyway, I managed to get a very beautiful vintage wooden pushcart in a lovely old deep blue with wonderful illustrations down the side. I filled it up with wooden building blocks and she loved it – both mum and niece! And no one will ever need pink therapy in later life, although there is the potential for the odd splinter...

THE STORY OF THE SUBMARINE

Do you remember the submarine that used to be outside our shop? It was something that I built to hold an exhibition in and was a spectacular failure because it was difficult to get people to go into it to actually look at the exhibition. Most preferred to stay outside and comment on the fact that I used toilet seats for the portholes (I was in a rush).

Anyway, it sat for years outside the shop acting as a sort of detached stockroom. I loved telling people that I thought a certain item was in stock and “let me check in the submarine”.

Then a few years ago I moved house and decided, after living there for a while, that I didn’t like our garden shed. About this time Burwash Manor looked like it was going to need a Santa’s Grotto so it didn’t take a genius like me long to realise a shed, in return for transporting the submarine to my house, might solve a few problems.

I have to say that following Michael Radford (Burwash Manor owner, and man worryingly accustomed to such weird tasks) down the A14 towing my submarine on a trailer was probably in my top 3 stressful life moments. I was composing newspaper headline in my head involving serious accident, 2 suspects’ held, blue submarine and debris spread over 2 counties.

At one point a police patrol car drew level in the fast lane and I could see the officers talking to each other and much shoulder shrugging. I was convinced we were going to get pulled over but I’m guessing it might have been near their shift end and they drove off quickly – well, who wants to deal with a submarine on the A14 – think of the paperwork...

Eventually, after the longest 35 minute journey of my life, we got the submarine to my house. We then preceded to block the small lane outside my garden for 45 minutes while trying to get the thing in through a hole I had created in the hedge (for those of you who hadn’t seen the submarine, it was 16 feet long and nearly 16 feet high at the periscope!). There developed a small but not angry queue of cars. I think rural Suffolk folk are used to agricultural delays and this was at least vaguely amusing to watch. A one-legged farmer, one idiot, a submarine, an annoyed hedge and lots of swearing.

So, I have a submarine in my garden which looks, er, interesting... and I can get all the gear into it that was in my rubbish old shed.

But, mainly, I got rid of that shed...or so I thought. The recent building work at Burwash Manor has meant that the Secret Garden Furniture shop has moved next to our shop and their new temporary office (which I can see from the counter) is....drum roll....my old *****y shed!

This must be karma.

HOW TO LIVE A LIFE

Do you delight in the small things in life? I’m sitting in the shop trying to think of what to write. So I make a cup of coffee. Making a cup of coffee or tea is what I would call one of those small things in life!

If I was at home I would be getting my coffee from an old French enamel canister – it’s just gorgeous – mainly white with heavy red patterning and a big old chipped knob on the lid. Having done this I would choose a mug. I don’t know if anyone else out there does this but I often select a mug depending on what mood I’m in at that particular moment. Recently, for some reason, I have been selecting a Star Wars mug – I don’t know why – just have! At other times it might be a mug with a chaffinch on the front or a mug with a black beetle (insect). Then to stir the milk in, I have to choose a spoon (point of the blog about to make itself apparent and in fewer words than a Clarkson car review!). Choosing a spoon – what a joy! I have been gradually building a collection of old silver and nickel plate spoons from the late Victorian period up. Some are monogrammed, others have the most delightfully elegant shape and all have been loved and used and washed a thousand times so have that indefinable richness of age and use.

Having beautiful, interesting and yet practical items around your home environment can make all the little tasks much more agreeable and, of course, here at Nest we are the purveyors of such things! If you like mixed cutlery then definitely come and see us. I ate my porridge this morning with an old Scottish silver spoon engraved with a thistle – splendid!

Of course, I sat down on one of a large collection of distressed kitchen chairs (I have a slight fetish for distressed slatbacks – I said SLATBACKS). But which one? I opted for the heavily chipped green one because it smiled at me!

My current collection of dinner plates (circa 1996) is finally being usurped by a random collection of late 19th and early 20th century plates. My wife cooked up a beautiful supper at the weekend and served it out on some blue patterned ironstone plates – it looked just gorgeous – shame to eat it, really, but I did have a 1939 war department fork in my hand, so no chance.

I forgot to mention that when I reached for the coffee canister it was on display in a flipping fabulous old painted pine dresser, so the act of opening the glass fronted door by turning the old key in the lock was in itself a lovely little moment and hang on – yes – we sell such life enhancing furniture at Nest, as well!

So I would suggest you all come in and buy some stuff, it will make your existence so much better!

p.s. we don’t sell Star Wars mugs.

ADVERTISING ADVENTURES

If you read the local glossy magazines, in particular Style, Journal and Cambridge Editions, you will, I hope, have noticed the Burwash Manor adverts.

For some reason, in the dim and distant past I took on the role of sorting out these ads every month. I generally come up with the idea, sort out a location (always on the Burwash Manor site), get the props and then work with the photographer to realise the ‘idea’. Our present campaign entitled ‘where retail meets the countryside’ means that in general, I try and take one of the shops on site and present their ‘wares’ with the campaign concept. In reality this usually involves product, a field and some sort of reluctant farm animal or child (much the same, but smellier).

The weather is, of course, the biggest pain in the backside when trying to get these ads sorted and because this is all done in my spare time (which doesn’t exist), once a date for the photo shoot has been planned it goes ahead regardless (wave fist at sky defiantly). There was one day, early in May, predicted to be free from rain so I risked booking in Dan the photographer (www.mackandme.com) to try and get a shot for the June editions.

I wanted to do a Nest inspired ad using our Landover and given that no animals or children were involved, thought it might be straightforward. The basic idea was to stick the van in a field next to probably the only tree that had enough leaves to look vaguely summery and then hang our vintage furniture and other bits from the side of the van. So far, in my head, so good.

It started quite well...the main table got suspended and counter-balanced on the blind side by large weights. We then started adding lots more furniture, chairs, a tuba, anything really. We were just about to get the shot when a gust of wind blew the deckchair off the van. So we reset, nearly ready, then there was an enormous ‘twang’, followed by the table leaping off an embedding itself several inches into the waterlogged meadow.

After exchanging pleasantries with Dan about the delights of working on these exciting ads, I went and got some tow rope and re-hung the table.

Again, nearly ready and the ****ing deckchair took off again (this time selfishly taking some furniture with it) so we ended up nailing it to the van and finally getting some shots. Unfortunately the sun didn’t come out but it did rain the next day, and the next, and the next, and the next so I was at least chuffed we got something.

My wife is a darn good graphic designer and has been managing, over the years, to turn sometimes desperate photos hoots taken under extremes into really lovely ads; hopefully this will be one of them. Look out for our van in the June issue of Style!

ARRANGING...AND RE-ARRANGING

Today I spent the first three hours of the day, in the shop, moving things around and setting up new displays. A task not made easier by Kathryn turning up halfway through and dumping five boxes of vintage stock next to the counter. This can be the problem with our business. Whilst we mostly do the buying together, if an opportunity arises to buy new stock, you take it. So I had to integrate a whole load of new pieces into the display. Still, it’s a good problem to have.

We try and keep the shop looking fresh and interesting because I, for one, hate visiting other shops where nothing changes from week to week. This should be an obvious business practice but it’s making that a reality can be challenging. After a long day at the workshop, turning up at the shop to move furniture around in the evening isn’t always as tempting as a bar of chocolate, a log fire, a snoozy Labrador and some sort of documentary on tanks! (Just me, then.....)

And that was why I had to move stuff around while tending to the shop. Typically, having created what I thought was a rather beautiful arrangement including a gorgeous blue German chest, and off pink display cabinet and lots of old Victorian cream jars, ink wells and ribbon spools, some customer only wanted to go and buy the display cabinet. It’s a peculiar situation being ever so slightly irritated by a customer wanting to buy something!

I re-jigged the stuffed animal display and, naturally enough, working on the above principle, a stunning pair of Victorian partridges, in a case, sold along with one of our comedy ducks! I wasn’t irritated by that sale, however, because it gives me a very clear agenda to buy more weird stuff.

I was so into doing displays today that I created a few you can’t see. By that I mean you have to look in the right cupboard or dresser top to see it. Another display involved an old typewriter which prompted a customer to let me know that her seven year old daughter had recently asked her what a typewriter was. We both exchanged that certain glance that you do when small people remind you how ancient you are.

Well, I’m back in the shop again in a couple of days and am already cooking up a few ideas. The only problem being that a few days later we’re off buying to Norfolk, so it will all change yet again to accommodate the new stock. Still...it makes it more interesting for you guys...hopefully!!

DRESSER WARS

Now and again a customer asks me what my house looks like. It’s tempting to say it’s full of IKEA and MFI but in reality virtually all my furniture has come via the shop. Oddly, there are only a few pieces that ‘never made it’ to Nest. Sometimes we get an item that I love, I know we will never see again and I go for it. So I take my treasure home, offer it up on the doorstep like a little doggy and hope my wife will love it as much as me! I have about a 50% hit rate getting it past the front door but if I wasn’t censored the whole house would be full by now.

Strangely, though, my favourite piece of furniture sat in the shop for about a month and was by and large ignored by you lot out there. I kept looking at it and thinking...hmm..I have a place that would look really good in. So...I bought it and it does look amazing. Another piece of furniture (a massive painted bowfront chest) sat in the shop for about 3 months. I finally got fed up of no one appreciating it and took it home out of spite! However, it looks fantastic and we haven’t seen another one since.

The shop really is an expression of the things Kathryn (business partner) and I like. So naturally both our houses contain the sort of stuff you see in the shop.

There was a large pink cupboard that we bought when first setting up Nest – we sold it quickly but then were offered it again some years later. So we bought it again! It sat in the shop for almost a week during which time several people fell in love but couldn’t persuade difficult partners to also fall in love. Kathryn then decided it would work in her kitchen, just before my wife decided it might work in ours and just before a customer came in after persuading her husband it would work in their house. After the dust settled I ended up having to build a dresser top to match the cupboard for Kathryn. It then took 2 years to find the right cupboard for my kitchen. As for the customer, she bought a vintage rolling pin and was going back home to discuss quicker ways off communication with her husband.

Confused? You should try remembering all this! I’ve got loads of these sorts of stories for future blogs...lucky you!