As the team here at Chrisbeon celebrates our 50th anniversary in 2024, we’ve been taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane, delving into our photo archives.
A few of the snaps we found showed old government desks that we refurbished and transformed in the early days, so we wanted to share the story with you!
From Government office to Shropshire workspace
Back in the early years of our business, we sourced many of our desks from government surplus sales. These desks were solidly built but often a bit dull in their original state.
The colours they originally came in also could have been more appealing. Orange, for instance, was a particularly tough sell back then, and finding a buyer for them in their existing state took a lot of work.
We began refurbishing these desks, by putting a new vinyl top on them and giving them a new lease of life by sanding them down, fixing any blemishes, and applying fresh coats of paint. Silver quickly became our go-to colour, and what started as a standard government-issued desk became an excellent option for workplaces.
A piece of history resurfaces
As we prepared a showroom display to mark our 50 years, one of the original desks was found tucked away in our warehouse – as well as some photographs of the desks being collected on our own lorry which was nick-named TAT!
We decided to bring this piece of history out of storage and put it on display for our customers to see. Seeing it in person is like stepping back in time; it is still in its original orange colour with a blue top, and it would probably be snapped up in 2024 as a colourful retro style!
Our journey
Reflecting on our history isn’t just about reminiscing; it’s about understanding the journey that has brought us to where we are today. The desks we refurbished in those early years are a testament to our commitment to quality and creativity.
We used to travel far and wide buying lorry loads of furniture from sales – and even today we still buy second-hand furniture from auctions to sell in our pre-loved showroom and offer a trade-in service for customers – although Chrisbeon has changed in many ways over the years, our ethos and the fact our business is family-run (Partner’s Richard and Craig are the son’s of founder Brian) means there are lots of similarities between now and then!
Pay us a visit
If you’re as intrigued by history as we are, please do come along to the showroom on Stafford Park 4 and see the desk, the photographs and more in our display.
