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FAQs
Yes, we are happy to deliver to most parts of the UK. Please see the question 'How much will it cost to deliver the furniture item?' for details. We will either deliver your furniture ourselves or by using one of our trusted couriers who specialise in furniture delivery. In either case, your furniture will be cared for and protected while being transported to ensure it arrives with you in the same condition it left our premises. Please note that our courier will normally require assistance to get any bulky or heavy furniture item from the vehicle to your door. Two-person delivery is only available by special arrangement at a surcharge.
For most UK mainland postcodes, there is no additional cost for delivery.
There are some areas of mainland UK where our couriers charge us extra; for these postcodes we apply a delivery surcharge. You can check if you will be liable to a surcharge by placing an item in your Shopping Cart, then viewing the Shopping cart and completing the 'Estimate Shipping' box. The surcharge, if any, will then show.
Our regular couriers do not deliver to Highlands and Islands, other UK islands and Northern Ireland. In these cases 'Estimate Shipping' in the Shopping Cart will give you a message telling you to contact us; we will then try to arrange a special delivery cost quotation for you.
You are welcome to arrange to collect an item from our workshops near Richmond in North Yorkshire. If so, please contact us before purchasing, we will give you a discount coupon code which you can use at checkout on our website. It is important you tell us whether you will be collecting in person or sending a third party.
We also offer a discount for delivery to DL postcodes (our local area). If so, please contact us before purchasing, we will give you a discount coupon code which you can use at checkout on our website.
If you wish to purchase more than one item, please contact us before purchasing. We may be able to give you a discount coupon code against our delivery costs which you can use at checkout on our website.
Normally two to three weeks, much less for something more local to us. Do contact us for a more exact idea. We appreciate you would like to receive it sooner, but it is worth understanding why it takes this amount of time. Furniture delivery isn't like parcel deliveries that can be so rapid - or unfortunately so cheap! We are careful to use only couriers who specialise in furniture delivery - and most importantly who we trust to give a first class service, caring for the furniture until it's safely in your home. Our selected handful of couriers schedule deliveries to different areas of the country, so we hope you will understand why for instance Cornwall deliveries might only be once every three weeks.
Our normal arrangements are for deliveries to be made to the ground floor entrance of the delivery address, the driver may assist you to locate the item in an accessible ground floor room - at his discretion. It is vital that you inform us prior to purchase if you require delivery to a non-ground floor address /room, or to somewhere with access limitations or parking restrictions. We will need to try to make special arrangements with our couriers for this. While our couriers are specialised in furniture delivery, they cannot be expected to carry out work where professional furniture removers would use several men or specialist equipment.
With furniture delivery, much of the work is in packing, loading and unloading the furniture. The mileage involved is not so relevant. Nevertheless, we offer a discount for delivery to DL postcodes. If you contact us before purchasing from our website with your delivery details, we will tell you the amount we will discount for local delivery to your address and will provide you with a one-time discount code to use when purchasing.
You are most welcome to collect from us. If you wish to do this, contact us before purchasing from our website, we will tell you the amount we will discount for own collection and will provide you with a one-time discount code to use when purchasing. Please note that if you collect from us in person, you must ensure that the vehicle you bring is large enough to transport the furniture safely. You will need to inspect the item before signing for receipt in good condition; we cannot be held responsible for damage in loading and transporting the furniture, which you must supervise. (This does not affect your statutory rights). We recommend you bring sufficient soft protective items e.g. blankets to protect the item while being transported. Please note that if you send another person (friend, relative, van driver, courier etc.) to collect on your behalf, that person will be acting as your agent; they will be required to inspect and sign for the good condition of the item, then take responsibility for loading and transporting the furniture...
Yes, you are most welcome to arrange for your own courier to collect from us. If you wish to do this, contact us before purchasing from our website, we will tell you the amount we will discount for own courier collection and will provide you with a one-time discount code to use when purchasing. We recommend you use a courier that is experienced in handling furniture and uses protective blankets. Please ensure the courier is aware that he must inspect the item(s) being collected and then sign to accept in good condition. (This does not affect your statutory rights). We cannot be held responsible for damage in loading and transporting the furniture, which your courier must supervise.
You can pay by:
- Paypal
- Credit Card
- Debit Card
How? The Fettling Fairies online store checkout system uses PayPal for payment processing. If you don't have a PayPal account, don't worry. You can checkout without a PayPal account using any major Credit or Debit card.
If we are refinishing your own furniture for you (or we are sourcing furniture specially to refinish for you) then we require a 50% non-refundable* deposit before we commence work (or before we purchase the items to refurbish for you). The balance is payable before we despatch the finished furniture to you. (*we would refund your deposit if for some reason we were unable to fulfil your order). You can pay by:
- Bank Transfer
- Credit Card
- Debit Card
- Paypal
Please contact us, we may have a similar item awaiting refinishing in which case we can give you details, photos and quote you a price for the item to be refinished to your specification. Otherwise, we could, at no-obligation try to source it, then give you full details and cost for you to consider. In some circumstances we may be willing to repaint an already finished item in a different colour. Please contact us to discuss this. Please note that we will not alter the upholstery on items we offer for sale; if you require a different fabric we would need to offer or source different furniture to refinish.
Yes, we are constantly searching for furniture items for our own stock and for clients. Please contact us and tell us what you are looking for - and your budget. We will try to find it for you on a no-obligation basis. If we can source it, we would give you full details and cost for you to consider. We can quote you a price for the item to be refinished to your specification - or 'as seen'. We want to help.
Yes, in any week we are working on several items of furniture belonging to our customers, so please contact us to discuss yours. We'd like some photos of your piece with some idea of what you would like doing. Alternatively we could offer some suggestions and a no-obligation quotation which would include collection and return to you. We understand that it's a cherished item, we would give it loads of TLC. If you are local to us, we may be able to call to chat and give the same no-obligation quote. Please see our portfolio of completed furniture for some ideas on what we could do for you.
When we buy a 'raw' item, we usually have an idea of what we would like to do with it, but most pieces go into stock for later preparation. This gives us time to look at the piece regularly before deciding the best finish. However, on first arrival, our Practical Fairy will thoroughly check for woodworm and other damage; he will schedule any remedial work and repairs required - or sometimes reject it because it does not meet our standards. At this stage we can also decide if mirrors, glass and/or hardware need replacing. With lasting repairs and remedial work done, the piece awaits the Artistic Fairy's decision on finish, at which stage paint, any paper and handles and hardware can be ordered. Once our Practical Fairy commences surface preparation before painting begins, he makes decisions on what knocks and bumps are part of the items history - and which are unsightly marks - often in consultation with the Artistic Fairy. We try to fill or otherwise rectify the marks we consider unsightly.
Please note that we no longer buy furniture for stock, we only purchase against specific customer orders and commissions. Our furniture comes from many sources. We buy items from online auctions and classifieds, sale rooms and directly from private sellers. We are lucky to know several dealers who offer us items from house clearances. We occasionally buy from charity shops.
Sorry, no. We do not buy furniture for stock anymore. We only purchase against specific customer orders and commissions.
We put a lot of work into painting our furniture and think it should have the best protection. One advantage that carnauba wax has over beeswax is that it is moisture resistant whereas beeswax is not. Spilling water on a beeswaxed top will completely spoil the finish. When we looked into the subject of waxes, we realised a lot of products are really design for natural wood. As most of our finishes are painted wood, the next step was to investigated waxes for painted finishes. We didn't move on any further than car waxes, because they ticked all the boxes for us. The experts in the field, 'detailers' use a wide variety of waxes, some costing a fortune, and all based on carnauba. Carnauba wax is a wax of the leaves of the palm Copernicia prunifera. It comes in several quality grades and good car waxes use the higher grades. We experimented with several quality brands and finally settled on Chemical Guys XXX Hardcore paste wax which we have used for a long time. When applied on our painted furniture and buffed off, we get a soft sheen and a silky feel to the finish.
The high-quality furniture grade paints and varnishes that we use do not need a protective wax coating. furthermore, maintenance of a wax coating requires higher maintenance - and we don't think our customers need extra work! We are happy to wax pieces at no extra charge should a customer request this.
At the Fettling Fairies, we carefully inspect each piece for woodworm attack and if we find it, we check minutely for evidence of a live infestation which we rarely find. In either case, for peace of mind, we then painstakingly inject insecticide deeply into each and every woodworm hole with a hypodermic syringe. Most furniture that has woodworm holes has suffered many years ago when the item was in very moist conditions and the infestation is long gone. Woodworm is not infectious, and there is no reason why it would spread from one piece of furniture to another or to house timbers. Each infestation results from the female adult beetle laying eggs in an environment that she thinks will be suitable for her offspring – i.e. moist nutritious wood. If you have moist nutritious wood anywhere in your house then adult female beetles – which are flying around everywhere between April and July – will lay eggs in it. If the wood is dry, as it will be if you live in a normal heated ventilated house, then they won’t.
Most of the antique and vintage furniture we wave our wands over has had an original varnished, stained or French polished finish. Substances and colourings used in these methods penetrate the wood surface (sometimes quite deeply). Sanding and other surface preparation cannot remove all of this without too much wood being removed. Sometimes the remaining substances will react adversely with new paint coats leaving unsightly marks. We have tried several stain block paints to minimise this effect and settled on a high quality shellac-base primer sealer. This also permits us to apply water-based coats on top without reaction.
Categorically no. These products (and dipping) might remove paint, but they can have an adverse effect on the surface wood fibres. The chemicals can also seep into joints to weaken them and can appear through paintwork at a later stage. In the past we have accidentally purchased furniture that has been chemically stripped; we found it very hard to achieve a good paint finish without resorting to excessive sanding.
Yes, we do. Please contact us for quotations!
