Back in 1982 we spotted a charming old Victorian residence with a shop in one corner with display windows on Abington Avenue and Abington Grove. It had two reception rooms and a bathroom to the rear. We converted the bathroom to an office and the reception rooms were ideal for display, we even light a fire in the lovely old fireplace on cold winter days. Still no central heating !.

The back door opened onto a very useful courtyard with gates onto the road for parking and loading with an old two storey coach house across the way. Originally the coach house had a steep ladder up to the first floor but we soon installed a staircase. All this room .... how will we ever fill it ! How wrong we were....we recently built on extra showrooms at the rear but retained some lovely old features.

We originally opened our doors as "Second Time Around" which was not a marriage guidance bureau but in fact an antique shop. This was great fun especially driving a van to Chelsea twice a week to the auctions. We would buy imperfect furniture at London prices, repair it and hope to sell it for a profit in Northampton ! After almost 2 years I realised that what I was seeing on the pavements of Chelsea was what we should be offering to Northampton.....pine furniture.

It was hard to find the right designs,from quality timbers and built traditionally at an affordable price. After much searching and pure luck we found a small workshop in Staffordshire who's owner smoked a sweet smelling pipe and spoke a strange language, something like gaelic. They had the materials and craftsmen but not the designs or sales outlet to be really viable. However, as a joint venture it was perfect. We designed it and sold it....they made it.

The rest is history. Our furniture can be found all over Europe including several kitchens in France and even some products in China. We don`t only sell furniture that we make... there are other good makers out there and we have chosen a few who make something that we don't .We realise that we can't make everything and customers have to have a choice but one thing common to everything we sell....it`s well made.