Furniture restoration and French polishing in Perthshire
Craig Williams mends, polishes and makes furniture in a wee workshop in Bankfoot, a few miles down the road from the Birnam Oak. Tables, chests, chairs and cabinets go back hame looking cared for again.
The table that's been in the family longer than anyone can remember
Most of what comes through the workshop door has a story. A dining table a removal van dropped. A chair a granny sat in. A chest that has been water-marked, sun-bleached and moved house five times.
Craig's job is to put it right without taking the life out of it. The joint gets mended, the veneer laid back down, the finish brought back by hand.
He does four things, and does them himself: French polishing, repair and restoration, making furniture and cabinetry, and chair seating in cane, rush and cord.
Same room, same table, a few weeks apart
A twin-pedestal D-end dining table, first on dust sheets in its own dining room, then restored and back by the marble fireplace. Drag the handle, or use the arrow keys, to compare.
Four things Craig does, all by hand
A workshop in Big Tree Country
Bankfoot sits five miles south-east of Dunkeld, in the part of Scotland known as Big Tree Country. Across the Tay at Birnam stands an old sessile oak believed to be the last tree of Shakespeare's Birnam Wood.
In the grounds at Dunkeld is the Parent Larch, planted for the Duke of Atholl in 1738. The Dunkeld larch, a hybrid, was raised on the same estate.
Perth has a long line of wrights behind it. One study counts over six hundred working in the burgh between 1700 and 1840, and the town was a centre for laburnum furniture, a wood cabinet makers called Scotch walnut.
Craig doesn't claim any of that history as his own. It's the country he works in, and the kind of auld furniture that still turns up in its houses, farms and front rooms.
Customers bring pieces from Perth and Scone, Dunkeld and Birnam, Blairgowrie, Pitlochry, Crieff and the glens between. Where customers come from
What customers wrote
Craig's Yell listing shows 5.0 from 10 reviews. Three of them, word for word.
“He recovered and restored a loved piece of family history.”
“…he restored the table and chairs to beyond my expectations.”
“…would recommend this master craftsman to anyone.”
Send Craig a photo
The quickest way to find out what a piece needs is a text with a few photos. Craig will look at them and get back to you.
Or, in his own words, "feel free to phone for an estimate or just for some advice."
Four photos that help
- The whole piece, standing on its own feet
- The damage, close up, in good daylight
- Underneath a seat or the back of a carcase
- Any maker's label or stamp you find
