Learn To Restore Vintage Furniture
Find. Restore. Love. is the online community and course for learning to find, restore and sell vintage furniture — taught by someone who built a real business doing exactly that. No fluff, no guessing. Just the method, the tools, and a community of people doing the same work.
Join today or keep reading to see exactly how it works.
Why I Built This
In 2023 I lost a dear friend. His passing left me with questions about the fragility of life and how little time we actually have to do the things that matter. After 13 years in a different business, it was time to build something real. I needed somewhere to put my hands, so I picked up a $10 op-shop find and never looked back.
What started as a way to process grief became a side hustle, then became my full-time life. Three years and 2,000+ pieces later, Plots & Pickles is a real vintage furniture business in Auckland — and Find.Restore.Love is where I teach everyone else exactly how I do it: how to find a piece worth saving, how to bring it back properly, and everything that happens after the restoration, once it's ready to sell or simply enjoy.
I built the community I wish existed when I started: no scattered, contradictory free videos, no guessing whether a piece is worth the hours. Just a clear method, a place to bring your questions, and people who are doing the same work.
The Method: Find, Restore, Love
Everything inside the community is built around the same three stages I use on every single piece I buy:
- Find — knowing what to look for, telling dirt from damage, and walking away from the pieces that aren't worth it. See the free breakdown in dirt or damage: how to tell before you buy and the 4 levels of furniture restoration.
- Restore — bringing a piece back properly, without ruining what makes it special. See the complete guide to vintage furniture restoration.
- Love — everything beyond the bench: knowing what you've got, styling it, photographing it, pricing it, and letting it go well (or keeping it and loving it for years). See how to price and photograph vintage furniture to sell.
The free articles above will get you started. The community is where you go deeper, get real answers on your own pieces, and stop guessing. For the full sequence tying it all together, start with how to start flipping vintage furniture for profit.
What's Inside
The community is organised into departments. Each has one clear job, so you always know where to go.
Discussions
The open community feed. Members share finds, ask questions, post progress, and celebrate wins. This is the heartbeat of the whole thing — nobody restores alone.
The Eye
Where I break down real pieces — era and style, reading timber and construction, spotting value that others walk straight past. This is the skill that takes the longest to learn on your own, because it comes from handling thousands of pieces. Here, you borrow mine.
How Do I...?
A growing library of short, practical how-to videos, organised by the problem you're facing. Wobbly drawer, water ring, which finish to use, how to strip old varnish. Search it, watch the answer, get on with it.
Beyond the Bench
Everything that happens after the restoration — the part almost nobody teaches. Knowing what you've got, styling it so it sings, photographing and describing it, pricing it, selling it, and caring for it so it lasts.
The Path
The evergreen course that ties it all together — the same sequence I teach in person, from finding a piece to letting it go. It's the spine of the whole community: it tells you what to do, in what order, and points you to the right department at each step. Every new member starts here.
Two Ways In
| Membership | Workshop Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $37/month | $197/month |
| The promise | Everything you need to do it yourself | Everything, plus me beside you |
| Best for | The hobbyist, the one-piece fixer, the self-starter | People doing it seriously, or who want to move faster |
| Access to Grant | Via the community | Direct — live sessions and priority verdicts |
| Spots | Open | Capped (~20-25) to protect quality |
The simplest way to hold the difference: Membership gives you the map and the tools. Workshop Hours gives you the guide walking beside you.
What Each Member Gets
| Membership $37 | Workshop Hours $197 | |
|---|---|---|
| Discussions (community feed) | Included | Included |
| The Eye (breakdowns / learning) | Included | Included |
| How Do I...? (technique library) | Included | Included |
| Beyond the Bench (styling, selling, care) | Included | Included |
| The Path (evergreen course) | Included | Included |
| Weekly workshop series | Included | Included |
| Community answers to your questions | Included | Included |
| Live Workshop Hours with Grant | — | Included |
| Priority verdicts on your own pieces | — | Included |
| The private upper-tier space | — | Included |
There's no free trial. The proof lives in the free content across social and on this site — by the time you join, you already know what you're getting.
The Weekly Rhythm
The community runs on a predictable weekly beat, so there's always a reason to come back and you always know what's next.
| When | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | The Find — what came in, what I paid, what I walked away from | All members |
| Wednesday | How Do I...? — the week's new technique video | All members |
| Friday | Workshop Hours — live session + "what are you working on?" thread | Workshop Hours (thread: all) |
| Sunday | The week in the workshop — the series | All members |
| Daily | Knowledge posts, and welcoming new members by name | All members |
New videos are added to the libraries all the time, shaped by the questions members actually ask. It's not a course you finish and forget — it grows continuously.
Is This For You?
Before you join, it helps to know honestly why you're here — it changes what you'll get out of it.
- Fixing one piece you already own? Membership gives you The Eye and the How Do I...? library so you don't ruin it, plus a place to post photos and ask "is this worth restoring?"
- Making a bit of money on the side? The full Find, Restore, Love method plus Beyond the Bench will teach you to buy smarter, work faster, and price and sell what you finish.
- Building something bigger? Workshop Hours gives you direct, live access to work through your actual pieces and decisions with me, not just the library.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free trial?
No. The free content across social and the guides on this site are the trial — by the time you join, you already know what you're getting and why it's worth it.
What's the actual difference between Membership and Workshop Hours?
Membership gives you every library, the full course, and the community. Workshop Hours adds direct, live access to me — weekly sessions and priority verdicts on your own pieces. Most people start with Membership and move up when they want to go faster.
Do I need experience to start?
No. The Path is built for a complete beginner and walks you through the same sequence I use on every piece, in order. Where you start just depends on what you're here for — see "Is This For You?" above.
Can I actually make money doing this?
Yes — that's the whole reason Beyond the Bench and The Path exist. But it isn't instant, and volume isn't the goal. One good piece a month, priced and sold properly, beats five rushed ones.
What if I just want to fix one piece for my own home?
That's a completely valid reason to join. Ignore anything about profit — The Eye and the How Do I...? library exist so you don't ruin the piece, and so you actually enjoy the process.
How is this different from just watching free restoration videos on YouTube?
Free videos are scattered, contradictory, and never about your specific piece. Here, the library is organised by problem, the method is one consistent sequence, and you can post your own piece and get a real answer — not a guess.
Join Find.Restore.Love
Membership is $37/month. Workshop Hours is $197/month, capped to protect quality. There's no free trial — just a clear method, a real community, and me on the other end of it.
Join Find.Restore.Love on Skool →
Found. Restored. Loved.
The workshop that's always open · Plots & Pickles Vintage · Grant Difford