lloydsbsbs London furniture notes

London · furniture notes

Notes on furniture repair in London homes.

A reading desk for timber, cloth, leather, joints, and finishes. The pages explain what to look at and what to write down. They do not book a visit or take a payment.

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Hands marking a measured line on a block of pale timber with a marking gauge
Illustrative photograph of layout work on timber. It does not show the publisher’s premises.

The room

London homes are uneven on furniture.

A sticking door in March and a pale patch by the window in August are ordinary events in a heated flat. They are also the sort of signs people bring to a conversation about furniture repair. These notes slow that conversation down. They separate seasonal movement from a broken joint, a film finish from bare wood, and a coated fabric from hide.

Many London rooms mix masonry walls, radiators under windows, and furniture pushed against an outside wall because the floor plan is tight. The air in the middle of the room is not the air in the gap behind a wardrobe. Laundry dried indoors, a steamy bathroom without a fan, and a long heating season all change how timber and cloth behave. None of that requires a dramatic fault. It requires a record of what the piece did last winter.

The desk is published by lloydsbsbs from a correspondence address in Dalston. It is not a workshop, and the address is not a counter where furniture is received. If a page is unclear, the contact page says which address to use. Corrections are described in the editorial policy.

Eight notes

Start with the material in front of you.

Catalogue of every page
  1. 01 Timber movement

    Sticking, gaps, and splits through a London heating season, and what to write down before anyone planes a rail.

  2. 02 Surface wear

    White rings, dark rings, sun fade, and scratches, read in raking light rather than guessed from across the room.

  3. 03 Upholstery cloth

    Weave, pile, seams, and sag. Includes the measurements that describe a seat without opening it.

  4. 04 Loose joints

    Wobble versus rack, and why glue on top of polish does not hold a chair together.

  5. 05 Veneer and solid wood

    How an edge tells veneer from laminate, printed foil, and solid timber.

  6. 06 Leather and coatings

    Aniline, pigmented hide, coated splits, and vinyl, and a small test before any cleaner.

  7. 07 Hardware and runners

    Hinges, drawer slides, and catches, plus the sizes worth measuring before a part is removed.

  8. 08 Light, heat, and finish

    Windows, radiators, oil, wax, shellac, and paint, including older paint that should not be sanded into dust.

A light living room with a fabric sofa, a timber stair, and tall windows
A living room used as an illustration of placement: sofa, stair, and glass. It is not a London address and not the publisher’s rooms.

A year in one room

Watch the same piece twice.

Heating season often dries the face of a cabinet that sits over a radiator faster than the face that looks into the room. Gaps can open. A door that was flush in September can show a step by January. In a damp spell the same door may swell and drag. A change that returns with the season is a different problem from a split that appeared the week after a leak.

The practical habit is a pair of photographs: one in midwinter, one in late summer, taken from the same corner. Add a note of what changed in the room — new glazing, a move, a dehumidifier, laundry on a rack beside the sideboard. That record is more useful than a single close-up taken on the day something annoyed you. The timber note and the light and heat note go further into this.

Before a workshop sees it

A short record, made while the piece is still whole.

These notes do not introduce workshops and do not describe a job. They do list the observations that keep a later conversation specific.

  1. 01

    The whole piece, then the damage

    A close-up without the wider view makes scale unclear. Include an edge, a leg, or a coin only if you also keep a full-frame photograph.

  2. 02

    What it is made of, if you can tell

    Solid timber, a thin wood face, a printed sheet, cloth, or a coating. The veneer note shows where to look.

  3. 03

    When it changed

    After a move, a leak, a dry January, or gradually over years. Timing changes what the mark is likely to be.

  4. 04

    Loose parts, kept together

    Knobs, screws, and chips from the same spot belong in one envelope. A replacement screw of the wrong length can punch through a thin top.

Limits

What these pages will not do.

They will not name a “right” workshop, rank products, or quote a price. They will not pretend a general note is a diagnosis of your piece. A chair that folds when you sit, a smell of burning from a powered recliner, or paint that may contain lead are reasons to stop and get in-person help. The disclaimer states the boundary in one place.

They also will not ask you to buy a package of work. There is no basket and no booking form. If you write to the publisher, write about the page.

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Correspondence

55 Dalston Ln
London E8 2NG

Published contact address for the website. Not a furniture drop-off.

+44 20 7749 1780

[email protected]

Contact details