ACCORDING to local couple Wayne and Christel Bradbury, simple recycling doesn’t cut it anymore.
Now it’s all about upcycling — an affordable way to take a neglected piece of furniture and make it look as good as new.
“There’s so much new stuff being produced and so much old stuff being thrown away,” says Wayne.
“We’ve got to look after the earth.”
A quest for quirky items for their own newly built Swan Hill home meant that Wayne and Christel had prior experience in identifying and fixing up old furniture.
With that in mind, last year the environmentally conscious duo launched Finders Keepers — a second-hand furniture venture run out of the Bradbury’s farm.
Now they travel across the region hunting pre-loved treasures to spruce up in their workshop — which is always overflowing with dressers, drawers and other wooden pieces.
“We find it all locally,” explains Christel.
“Garage sales, clearing sales… we’ll travel to places like Donald and buy half a dozen things at a time.”
The Bradbury’s often customise items for their customers, and say popular styles include industrial, French provincial and retro, with Christel using chalk paint powder and stencils to give items a rustic feel.
Natural wax seals the deal.
“It depends on the piece —some things tell you what they want to be,” Wayne says.
“Sometimes pieces sit in the shed for months.”
“And sometimes things turn out better than you imagined,” says Christel.
You can see more of Wayne and Christel’s creations on the Finders Keepers Facebook page.
