Thinking of booking a place on a furniture painting workshop?

Do your homework before you hand over your cash to learn how to paint furniture

Thinking of booking a place on a painting workshop? Take a good look at the company's website first - I've seen one company offering classes, but the main images on their website and Facebook page have been lifted from Pinterest. 

That's not to say they don't know what they're doing, but a little misleading, maybe...

If you see an image on a company's website, you assume that it is an example of their work - and if that company is offering to teach you to do something, you want to make sure you're going to be taught to the standards you expect.

So, if you see an image like this, for example:

Wow! Did they really paint all that? No, someone else did 

The chances are it's just been pinched from another site. Unless the company whose site you are looking at has lots of photos from the same photoshoot, or has a large showroom in which to take such photos, it's unlikely that it features work by the business in question.

If in doubt, go to Google Images and simply drag the photo into the search box to do a reverse image search.

For the image above, taken from the homepage of a painted furniture company that holds workshops, you get this result:

Page after page of the same image

The image is widely shared on Pinterest - which is probably where the website found it. They do have photos of their own work on their Facebook page and their website, but they are somewhat hidden.

I'm not suggesting there is any malice or deliberate deception intended by this company - it's more likely a case that they needed some images and it was easier to find professionally shot photos on the internet than it was to get some taken. But this is something I've blogged about before.

While it may seem harmless, it's misleading, and when you've seen first-hand just how hard some people work to take their own photos, of their own products, it really grates and seems a little bit like cheating. And remember, somewhere, the person who painted and styled that bedroom, and took the photograph, is having to watch it get used by people all over the world to make money for themselves. Is that really fair?

There are plenty of well-qualified people (French Grey Tales, Sugden and Daughters - not to mention all the trained Annie Sloan stockists such as Chalk) offering painted furniture workshops - and a quick look at their sites will tell you straight away how good they are. 

So, if you're thinking of booking a place on a workshop - even if it seems like a really good deal - just spend five minutes doing a bit of research into the company before you click that 'pay' button. Better safe than sorry...

Sign of the times

Mr Reloved asks where all the Come In We're Open/Sorry We're Closed signs came from

Now that the whole ‘Keep Calm and…’ backlash is well and truly established, I’d like to nominate a new irritant that is taking our shops by storm.

Now, before I reveal what it is, I’d like to say that my loathing of this item is completely irrational, and I’ve no idea why it winds me up so much, but then I’m a very irrational man who is very easily wound up (I’ve twice threatened to commit genocide while watching Grand Designs, for example).

So what is the new scourge of the High Street? It’s the shabby chic, retro, US gas station style ‘Come In We’re Open’/’Sorry We’re Closed’ sign that seems to hang in every other shop door.

There’s nothing ugly about it, in fact it’s a pretty nice piece of design. If I had a shop and I’d never seen it before, I’d probably order it. But that’s the problem. Everyone’s seen it, liked it, and ordered it.

Where did they all come from? Is there a man with a vanload going around our town centres, selling them to independent shopkeepers? Is there a wholesale site where you can buy them?

I’ve seen a few knock-off versions, but why isn’t someone making their own, alternative version in red or yellow, or green, with a different font?

And, more to the point, why are so many people happy to have the same sign in their shop window (door)?

Fair enough, if you’re a salon or a gift shop or something, but if you’re a creative type – say selling painted furniture or your own designs, or if you’re an antiques or vintage dealer, why would you choose it?

Your shop window is literally your shop window – your chance to show off your creative skills, or the quality of your stock. If you’re selling antiques or genuine vintage items, why use a modern repro mock-vintage sign?

If you design and paint for a living, why not make your own sign to show off your skills?

Don't believe these signs are becoming an epidemic? Here are a few I've snapped in the last few weeks...

Hairdressers in Stamford

On the telly!

I can see you hiding!

5 star hygiene rating - go you

I WANT YOU to get a new sign

Come In? Oh come on...

Taken from the car - I never rest

Who's that handsome man in the reflection?

Somehow manages to be only the second worst sign in this door

Running out of captions now

Ooh, a knock-off version!

Fin.

Possibly the most pointless show ever

Mr Reloved reviews French Collection, Channel 4’s newest upcycling show 

The premise is a familiar one. Three amateur enthusiasts buy things, then try to sell them at a profit. So far, so Bargain Hunt, but Channel 4’s new daytime series, French Collection, offers a twist: the buyers buy in France and sell in the UK. That’s a TV series right there.

Guided by dealer Mark Franks, the three keen contestants are given £800 to spend at a French flea market, with the aim of upcycling the items and selling them at a profit back in Blighty. The contestant who makes the biggest profit keeps everyone’s winnings.

French Collection presenter Mark Franks

The first thing to strike you is just how expensive the flea markets are. Sure, there’s the occasional bargain, but by and large they are charging well over the odds for items you could pick up at British antiques fairs or auctions for far less money. In fact, any items the contestants fail to sell are taken to an unspecified British auction, where they always make a massive loss on the price paid for them.

Most times, the contestants do make a profit, but only a couple of hundred quid, which, in the real world, would instantly be swallowed up by the cost of getting to, staying in and getting the furniture back from France. This is a cost never factored in to the game show element of the series.

Perhaps the biggest puzzle, though, is just how much the pro dealers back in the UK are prepared to pay for the items. Although they rarely cough up the ludicrous prices suggested by Franks and the contestants, they often pay far more than you would expect. So much that you can’t see where the profit is. One suspects they are doing it just to get their shop on TV. And who can blame them? Maybe we’d do the same.

Of course, some dealers tell it like it is and state outright that the pieces are terrible and they wouldn’t pay more than a tenner for them.

It’s not really the fault of the contestants – they’re all amateurs and are given just one day to upcycle their stuff. It’s almost impossible to paint a large piece of furniture to a high standard in just one day, even more so when you’re trying to do three of four pieces.

Hopefully, from our point of view as furniture painters, the viewers will see that there’s more to painting a chest of drawers than paying 200 euros for it, slapping on a single coat of paint and then taking it to a shop and expecting them to hand over £600.

Like the aforementioned Bargain Hunt, the premise is flawed. In Bargain Hunt, the contestants buy at antiques fairs (retail prices) and sell at auction (wholesale prices). In French Collection, they buy from market traders (retail prices) and sell back to dealers (at wholesale prices) but they also have to added travel and upcycling costs to factor in, which makes this possibly the most pointless show ever.

Still, we’ve watched every episode so far and it’s still on our series link, so it must be doing something right…

Interesting fact: French Collection is made by Reef, who were ditched by the BBC when it was discovered that they had used a crew member to pretend to be a member of the public on one of their other shows.