Q What was the first piece you ever gave the Vamp treatment too?

This was part of the first batch we finished.  We spent ages agonizing over colours and trying to find the right mix of furniture for the opening of the shop. It seems a whole lot easier now!

Q Tell us some of your trade secrets (please!)

Wherever we (my partner Michael, the woodworking genius in the business) go we are always on the lookout for beautiful pieces! I am all about the aesthetics and Michael is the voice of reason from a technical point of view. So once we get them into the workshop, I give him my wish list for a piece and he lets me know what is possible (or not!) most of the time it works out perfectly! There are all sorts of little things I have learn’t that never crossed my mind before, one of them being that pieces lovingly shone with brown boot polish for years and years shouldn’t be painted as the polish seeps through (again and again and again) …and Michael gets very grumpy!

Q What colours that are proving really popular?

The brights are also always in demand with the most popular being teal, hot pink, red and mimosa. We are trying out a new Tangerine at the moment which is also proving to be a hit! That said, all the neutral colours are also selling up a storm; dove grey, cream, white, black – and our much loved aqua.

Q And which products  fly out of your store? We are very fortunate in that our stock moves fast, its not often that any piece hangs around very long. As they are one offs, customers realize that they have to act fairly quickly if a particular piece ‘speaks’ to them!

Sideboards big and small, extendable dining tables, cupboards with lots of storage, desks, upholstered couches and armchairs (especially a matching pair), coffee tables. Lynch and Tretchikoff prints are always very popular.

Q Your luckiest find?

I recently spotted this gorgeous little vinyl player out of the corner of my eye at a house
sale we went too. I sold it within twenty minutes of sending out my Friday mailer.

Thanks Paula for sharing some of your wonderful inside track info with us! To receive
Paula’s fab Friday furniture mailer, email her at paula@vampfurniture.co.za

Visit Vamp at the Corner of Albert and Treaty Roads, Woodstock, call 021 448 2755 or visit
the Vamp blog