Jason Jackson has been finishing our furniture for thirteen years now. He’s worked in 9 shops during that time. Nine. He recalled them all for us recently during a “pie break” one afternoon in the workshop. Each finishing shop had its special little memory: no heat for weeks, rats as big as cats hanging around outside near the dumpster, freight elevators that were likely to close on you and cut you off at the knees if you weren’t careful. That was in the early days when Jason was self-employed and finished furniture for other craftsman along with the Huston pieces. Three years ago, Jason became a full time employee of Huston & Company, finishing our furniture exclusively. The finishing shops have gotten progressively better since then. At the last shop, which Jason shared with a millwork business, Jason’s biggest complaint was the country music.
This year, Bill decided it made the most sense to have our own finishing shop; not to pay rent, lease space, share space, etc. He has been hard at work for several months making all the arrangements, signing contracts, procuring equipment and getting permits and inspections for our new shop. It’s very exciting to have a new finishing shop, brand new, all our own. Especially for Jason. Now he has his very own space in which to work his magic. He has his acoustics set up to blast out his own music, and has already found the perfect spot for his boots.
The shop, located just off Route 1 in Biddeford, was built in a space portioned off of a large, industrial warehouse which is used to store boats in the off-season. It has a huge overhead door so we can pull our van right inside to load and unload. We no longer have to worry about ‘weathah’ when loading and unloading.
Inside, the shop is complete with all the necessary and practical ventilation and climate controls. No more temperature fluctuations. No more overwhelming fumes. And, it’s legal (isn’t that good news). It’s been inspected and approved, up to code and up to snuff. The spray booth was carefully chosen to suit our needs perfectly. I’d never seen a new, unused spray booth before. It looks rather space-aged to me. I can’t help thinking that if I stand in it long enough, I might disappear and re-appear somewhere else as a teeny tiny candy bar.
The shop itself is large, spacious. We can easily fit several loads of furniture there to await finishing, which relieves some strain on our workshop storage space in Kennebunkport. This is good for those huge library and academic projects that we’re working on.
Another beautiful thing about the new finishing shop is that others could use it too. That’s right. We know (boy, do we know) that there aren’t too many spray booths or finishing shops in our region that are accessible, and not everyone has the wherewithal to create their own. So yes, we’ll work with you if you need some finishing done, or need to use a spray booth to do your own.* And sure, spread the word. There’s room to share.
*Please contact Bill Huston at Huston & Company to discuss use of our finishing space.