Village Squire, 1974-12, Page 18pay so much money, that local people don't
have a chance anymore.
"There's an auction today right around the
corner/' he says, "and we're not even
going."
A friend, he said, had spent 5700 at an
auction for a cherry cupboard even without it
being refinished. The piece would cost 5100
to 5150 to refinish, he said, and with the
markup on top of that, the price would be well
beyond the reach of any but the well-to-do
collector.
Often, he says, he can build a piece in the
time it would have taken to visit the auctions
and buy one. In addition, he doesn't have a
lot of money tied up in the piece. He does,
however, have a lot of love tied up in it.
The Niblocks have really gotten into the
antique reproduction business. So far, most
of the pieces have been made to decorate
their own home. They'll never have a large
stock of reproductions on hand since most will
be built on custom orders to meet specific
tastes and fill the space requirements of each
individual home.
The only way he is likely to get into
anything like mass production, Ernie says,
would be if an architect or interior decorator
came to him with an order for so many corner
cupboards or so many desks for a specific
project.
' He showed some of his work at the
Colbourne Christmas Country Fair this year
and was very pleased with the amount of
interest shown by people, not in terms of
confirmed orders or dollars and cents, but in
just being shown. Getting known is the first
big step, he says. Most of the interest shown
has been from outside the area. Local people,
he says, haven't come to appreciate the old
furniture yet since it was so common place for
a long time.
The rekindled interest in pine and cherry
furniture, he says, is not just a fad.
"It's part of our heritage," he says. "The
country -made furniture was made solid, was
made good. The manufacturing age arrived
and everyone wanted the latest out of Eatons
catalogue. But today that thing out of the
catalogue is worth little while the old solid
furniture is worth 5700 or 5800.
"To compete in the market to day they're
not using solid wood anymore. It's all
chipboard and veneer. In a few years that's
not going to be very valuable. So anything
that's made of solid wood is very valuable."
The beautiful pine and cherry reproduc-
tions decorate the basement of the old church
which the couple have turned into a
show -piece home. They've installed few
partitions in the room and so it remains open
and airy. The windows are enough above
group to make you forget you're actually in a
basement.
They bought the old church just over a year
ago. For a long time they'd been looking for a
place in the country, preferably a log cabin.
Then one day they took a drive and drove
through Auburn. They the saw the church
and thought "wouldn't that be a great place
to live". But they didn't know it was for sale.
But the same night, Pat was doing the
laundry in a Laundromat in Goderich which
was right next door to a real estate office.
There, in the window, was a picture of the
church That night she had a dream about
16, VILLAGE SQUIRE/NOVEMBER 1974
living in a church, and the next morning, they
bought it.
Ernie worked throughout the winter to
make the old, damp basement into a home.
One problem was heating it since the old
furnace had to come out. After getting advice
from several heating contractors they
installed a baseboard -type, hot water system.
They scoured old buildings that were being
torn down in Goderich and salvaged old pine
flooring. Now their home has beautiful old
pine floors. They installed one partition in the,
basement, to separate a Targe bedroom from
the rest of the living area. The bedroom is
dominated, significantly enough, by a large
Ernie Niblock painting and an old pine chest
of drawers.
They're still working on the downstairs of
the building, installing some old beams.
Upstairs, little has been done as yet. Ernie
hopes to install a loft and living quarters as
well as a working area.
Several of Ernie's paintings, sketches and
etchings he made add to the beauty of the
home.
"I've been spending so much time with
refinishing and reproduction," he says, "to
have time for my art work. But I hope I'II be
able to find more time soon, if I can get the
work finished on the church."
When the upstairs of the church is turned
into separate living quarters and display area
near the door the Niblocks think they may
even open a small art gallery.
"I would like to encourage some of the
people who are doing such beautiful work;
they don't seem to have any place to display
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PAINTS - WALLPAPER
FLOOR COVERINGS
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EXPERT INSTALLATION
36 West Street
Goderich, Ont.
Phone
524-8532
Christmas
Bazaar
Ontario St. United Church
CLINTON
Saturday, Nov. 23
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
• Candy
• Sewing
• Baking
• Produce and Preserves
• Used Books and Toys
• Christmas Shoppe featuring:
felt tree decorations
- tree skirts
-dried flower arrangements
- Christmas arrangements
-homemade mincemeat
-place mats
-toys
-inexpensive gifts for children to buy
-fireplace pine cones
• Plates and Coffee Mugs featuring the
church for the 50th Anniversary
• Tea and Sandwiches