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Canberra Today 25°/29° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

David loves the vintage look

David Middleton... “I look at not only what people want, but what I can do on top of that, how I can extend the idea.” Photo by Gary Schafer
David Middleton… “I look at not only what people want, but what I can do on top of that, how I can extend the idea.” Photo by Gary Schafer
HIDDEN away in David Middleton’s garage in Weston Creek is a vast collection of vintage furniture and props, from gilt-edged picture frames and typewriters to wingback chairs, Chesterfield sofas and a collection of church pews.

David, who’s trained as a panel beater, restores and makes all the props himself, and hires them out for events and photoshoots.

“I love creating something beautiful out of damaged items that would otherwise be thrown,” he says.

David works as a function event co-ordinator, and says the idea for his hire business, A Vintage Look, came about when an event he was working on required vintage chairs.

“I couldn’t source anything locally through the hire industry, so I restored some old chairs that were damaged,” he says. “I built new back pads, reupholstered and re-stained them.

“I had no experience in restoring furniture at the start. I learned quickly and read a lot.”

Since then, David says the business has expanded beyond all his expectations, and the garage is now bursting at the seams with vintage goodies.

He started by making more chairs – “at any event, people will need to sit down at some point, so chairs seemed like a good place to start” – and has progressed to making authentic-looking church pews from an old bed, as well as restoring genuine pews, building a trestle table out of an old door, restoring vintage bikes and making his own tandem bike from two discarded models.

“I also had some requests for giant letters, so I made a giant L-O-V-E out of MDF for photo booths or wedding and engagement photography,” he says.

“The next step will be moving to a showroom, because the garage can only take so much!”

More information at amemorableimpression.com/A-Vintage-Look—Function-Hire.html

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