Today is nearly as exciting for us as the first day we launched Masterfind in 2011.  Not only are we launching our new re-vamped website today but also presenting our first blog. 

Now seven years on (where did that go?) we have a thriving home-based business and loving what we do more than ever.  To those who know us, you know the ‘we’ are myself (Sue) and my husband Pieter.  For those who don’t know us, well, at least now you know our names!

For those who have never written a blog before (me until now), it’s actually really difficult.  Where to start is the big question – I thought about this long and hard.  Then the seemingly elusive lightbulb moment came (finally) … suddenly the answer is so obvious – at the beginning! 

Masterfind was born through frustration – yep, pure and simple.  We have always loved original furniture – furniture with a history, a story to tell.  Character filled pieces created by the marks left from knocks and bangs through generations of use (so many stories to tell if they could only speak!). The types of beautiful timber used, the wood grain, the feel and the techniques used. 

Our taste is eclectic, to say the least, resulting in a wide appreciation of what furniture makers and designers of the early centuries right through to the twentieth century have produced.

This is what we wanted for our home – original pieces.  Finding it, well, that is where the frustration set in.  Initially we scoured retail outlets and found a repetition of the same types and styles … and they were made yesterday – we didn’t want what everyone else had!  We scoured specialist stores … beautiful, beautiful pieces but more often than not, priced way more than our little wallets was prepared to let go of.

Solution – let’s search online!  Frustration again.  Predominantly poor photos, little information and an unrealistic rating (no, it is not in excellent condition when it can hardly stand by itself with half of its bits missing!).  Missed all of that though in the dark unclear photos! 

But you know, in all fairness, such sellers just really had the need to move pieces on – it is not their love or passion and we totally got that. 

Having said that – we saw many wonderful sites who did it so well, hats off to them.  It is so tough to achieve!

Like many people, we came to a cross-road in our lives.  We were not happy any more with our current careers but what to do now?  We didn’t know, but one thing we did know, we wanted to do something we loved, we wanted personal freedom, we wanted to be passionate about what we do and last but not least, after wrestling morning and night with the daily commute to the heart of the city for years – we wanted to work from home.

One night, while sitting in front of an open fire enjoying a delicious bottle of red, we pondered this very question as we had many, many times before.  What now?

On this particular night it happened – bang, like a bolt of lightening it struck us.  Why don’t we start sourcing original pieces and present them online ourselves … but in a different way? 

We realised then that even though our individual skill sets are very different, brought together it could work so well.  We both have loved giving furniture a new lease of life, I am a photographer at heart (drive family and friends crazy at times) and I love writing, Pieter loves tinkering and making things work. 

Now Pieter ensures that everything works seamlessly (drawers, locks etc) and that the piece is clean, finishing off with feeding the beautiful timber with our own home-made furniture oil (our secret recipe – KFC eat your heart out) that feeds and maintains the timber.  Now the piece is ready for my part – to photograph and present.

The photographer, the writer and the tinker came together as a team - our collective skills enable us to source, prepare and present lovely original pieces that we can pass on at a fair price.

So here we are – presenting complete and original pieces, ready to be adopted into a loving home.  Here you are, looking for that special specific piece, one to take home to be loved and cherished and for you and your family to become the part of the next chapter in its history.  AND you even made it to the end of our first blog!