MEET THE MAKERS
Woodworker gives old furniture new life
Marley Quann likes to give old furniture a new life. By refinishing, upcycling or repurposing, she allows each piece to have yet another chapter.
Since 2021, the Westville, Pictou County, N.S. woman has been operating her own businesses called New Chapter Furniture & More, where she focuses on refinishing outdated furniture. Although she intentionally started the business, she says she never expected to get as busy as she has been.
The furniture refinishing business is a natural fit for Quann. She describes herself as always having been a creative person. The art of woodworking, in fact, piqued her interest from a very young age.
All of her skills are completely self-taught.
“I started refinishing my own furniture 10 years ago and learned through trial and error,” says Quann, adding that Youtube has been a great teaching tool in recent years.
To source the furniture she works on, Quann turns to Facebook marketplace. Other times, she merely finds it on the side of the road, discarded for big garbage pick-up day.
The most popular item that she makes would be dressers and dresser sets. These are always highly requested, she says.
The item she is most proud of having completed is an antique coat closet that she turned into an open-shelving unit.
“That was by far the most challenging piece I have done,” she says.
The piece was covered in multiple layers of paint that needed to be stripped and sanded.
“I worked on it in the middle of winter and every product was working against me with the cold weather. It took many
“I started refinishing my own furniture 10 years ago and learned through trial and error.” Marley Quann
hours to complete, but it was worth it in the end for the excitement and love on my clients’ faces,” she says.
The piece was a custom order and is now used as a decorative display unit in a kitchen.
Quann does a lot of commissioned or customized work for people. With a non-refundable deposit before starting the project, Quann can help bring new life to old furniture for clients. About half of her business is custom orders.
“I like to allow myself time in between to get my own pieces listed for sale as well,” she says.
Some of Quann’s own projects include creating wood/ resin mosaic artwork. These pieces can be hung on the wall vertically or horizontally, and serve as a beautiful statement piece, she says.
To help her keep track of her projects, Quann keeps an inventory of furniture. She then makes schedules for what pieces she hopes to refinish within the month.
As for her ideas, sometimes she says she can look at a piece and know exactly what she will do to it. She then draws out her vision for the piece and executes the design. Other times, she finds inspiration
through platforms like Pinterest and through other furniture flipper’s accounts that she follows on Instagram.
In the future, Quann says she would love to start making her own furniture to sell. Currently, she builds new bases for some of the pieces, but she would like to start making the entire item. Additionally, she says she would also like to make more mosaic art designs for customers to choose from.
As much as Quann says she would like to work on her furniture business full-time, she says she is a mom first. She is married with two children aged five and two years old. She works from home while caring for her family.
To view New Chapter Furniture & More’s work, visit Facebook Marketplace or check out the Facebook or Instagram pages.