The shops

We are a growing family run business and following the big step in March 2016 to open our first physical shop, we have moved and expanded a few times during the next 7 years.

Newbury

Our flagship store is located now in the main shopping street of Newbury - Northbrook Street adjacent to the central Park Way shopping precinct. We moved into the defunct Edinburgh Woollen Mill premises at end of August 2022. This is a much larger store than our previous one which was located on the edge of the somewhat tired Kennet Shopping Centre. My husband Neville, who had recently retired from his corporate sales world, spent the next 3 months refitting these very tired premises, completely rewiring the entire facility and reconfiguring the layout to suit our needs and laying a brand new floor. Reusing and recycling whatever he could including all of the solid oak cornicing and architraves that were used throughout. Our main counter is built almost entirely out of this recycled oak. the landlord had installed a new shop front, as they are converting the two floors above into 4 apartments.

Northbrook Street: Here you will find a much wider range of homeware, soft furnishings and gifts as well as the Frenchic furniture and wall paint for which we are long standing stockists

School Road, Tilehurst

Our second location, opened after lockdown on 2nd December 2020 (literally the first day we could open). We also operated a Click & Collect service from this location for orders from our web site whilst it was shut again for 4 months after Christmas 2020, what crazy times they were!This was a logical move for us for two reasons, I grew up in Reading and the previous Frenchic stockist in Reading - the lovely Tessa Turner of Epoch3 had retired. Here we have a lovely selection of eclectic gifts, a mix of quirky, different and just fabulous. I challenge you to find any of the items in other shops in the area (except at No96 of course). The web site will give you a snap shot of what is available on your doorstep. Naturally, we have the full range of Frenchic paint & accessories, along with door knockers and door handles ready for your home or furniture makeover.

The Emporium, Hungerford

In August 2020 we took a small space in this very popular emporium in the centre of Hungerford. Here we stock the full range of Frenchic paint, along with ceramic handles and brass door knockers and a small range of homeware.

The Original Shop: In Pound Street, Newbury, it is now our dispatch centre and furniture painting workshop. We ship our products nationwide and online became during and since the pandemic a significant part of our business.

This is where it all started, when Teresa decided she would like a shop, tracked down the owners and within 2 weeks she had one! Located in Pound Street, Newbury, a listed building which has a quaint shop front. Our son Jacob manages this location and is where he built his 'factory' for serving the online community.

Beautifully Upcycled Furniture

Serpentine sideboard, painted in Frenchic 'Hornblower' with wall paper 'decoupaged' on the door and drawer fronts, coated with Frenchic 'Finishing Coat' for protection.

I started the business from home in late 2013, upcycling furniture after buying a piece and thinking I can do this, if not even better! Many more pieces followed and our home became a furniture store! I became stockist of Frenchic furniture paint in 2016 and that needed a bricks and mortar shop to sell from. The shop and business evolved quickly with the help of friends and family and today it is the mainstay of our hectic lives.

To be honest, unfortunately today I spend less time than I would like painting furniture, but am always there to provide our customers advice and guidance on how to approach a project and get the best from the product.

The furniture items we sell are all original pieces and vary in age. They will of course, have blemishes, scuffs, etc. as you would expect from pre-used furniture. We take great care in (repairing where needed), cleaning, sanding down, painting and waxing them to create stunning up-cycled pieces that can be enjoyed all over again.