French Furniture Restoration Shop in Mid-City LA: Sully

Sully Restoration works out of a small workshop at 1843 South Orange Drive in Mid-City Los Angeles, and the training behind it goes back to the Paris schools where French furniture makers have learned their trade for generations. Samuel Sully has restored antique furniture since 1986, first near Paris and, since 2017, in Los Angeles. For a furniture restoration shop that can repair Boulle-style brass marquetry, turn a missing spindle and finish it all with shellac by hand, this is a rare find on the West Coast.

The About page lays out the history. Samuel and Lydia Sully ran their workshop close to Paris from 1986 to 2017, then moved the business to Los Angeles. Samuel studied at the Ecole Boulle, the Paris school of fine furniture and applied arts, at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts and with Les Compagnons du Devoir, the French craft guild known for its long travelling apprenticeships. Furniture runs in the family: his grandfather Raymond worked in the trade, and his father Roger taught at a technical high school in France.

Lydia came to the business from a career as a project manager in computer science, and her own father, Georges, was a craftsman in the south of France. The workshop lists clients on both continents, including UCLA, the Château de Versailles, the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco and French historical monuments.

The services page reads like a cabinetmaker's syllabus. Restoration is done with vintage wood, so a replacement piece of veneer or a new leg comes from old stock that matches the grain and color of the original. The workshop carves and turns replacement parts, repairs marquetry, inlay and veneer, including brass and mother-of-pearl work, and grafts new wood into damaged sections. Finishing is done with French polish, the shellac applied in thin layers with a cotton pad, followed by waxing and touch-ups.

It helps to know what kind of finish you have before you call. A simple test is a drop of denatured alcohol on a hidden spot such as the back of a leg: shellac softens and turns tacky within a minute, while modern lacquer and polyurethane barely react. Most French and English antiques made before the 1920s were finished with shellac, and that is the surface Samuel Sully rebuilds by hand. Mention the result in your quote request, along with any known history of the piece.

The workshop asks for measurements and photos with every quote request: an overall picture of the piece, then close-ups of each area that needs work. The contact form includes a ZIP code field for pickup and delivery, so you can arrange collection rather than loading a commode into your own car. No prices are published, since every antique needs a different amount of work, and the photos are what the quote is built on.

The house rule for visits is to call first. The homepage says the workshop is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 6:30pm, with Saturday by appointment only, but the team also does onsite work and deliveries. The About page repeats the advice for anyone planning to drop by.

One service sets Sully apart from most furniture restoration shops in the city. The team comes to your home to wax furniture and recommends doing it once a year. Regular waxing protects a shellac finish from dry Southern California air and from the water rings that spoil so many dining tables. Onsite work is also offered for pieces that cannot easily be moved, such as built-in cabinetry or a large armoire on an upper floor.

If you are deciding whether to restore or simply maintain, ask during the quote. A worn but intact French polish can often be revived with cleaning and a fresh pad of shellac rather than stripped back completely, which keeps more of the original surface and costs less.

Before a pickup, empty every drawer, take out loose shelves and keys, and photograph the piece where it stands so you have a record of its condition. Marble tops on commodes and washstands should be lifted off and moved separately, since a marble slab left in place can crack when a case is tilted onto a dolly.

South Orange Drive is a quiet residential street of stucco bungalows and duplexes between Pico and Washington Boulevards. A short walk south on Washington Boulevard brings you to the Ray Charles Post Office Building, the post office Congress renamed in 2005 in honor of the singer, who recorded for years at his own studio farther east on Washington.

A kilometer or so north, Cane & Basket Supply Co. on South Cochran Avenue reweaves cane, rush and Danish cord seats, so a chair frame restored on Orange Drive can have its seat rewoven nearby. For lunch, the taco stands and bakeries along Pico Boulevard make an easy stop.

Address: 1843 South Orange Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90019, in Mid-City between Pico and Washington Boulevards. Workshop hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 6:30pm, with Saturday by appointment only; call ahead because the team also works onsite. Quotes require measurements plus overall and close-up photos, and pickup and delivery can be arranged.

Specialties: antique restoration with vintage wood, carving, turning, marquetry and inlay repair including brass and mother-of-pearl, grafting, French polish, waxing and touch-ups, with upholstery and caning through partner artisans. Run by Samuel and Lydia Sully, in France from 1986 and in Los Angeles since 2017. Ask the Karpo APP for a lunch spot on Pico Boulevard or a coffee bar in Mid-City while you wait on your quote.