Most pet owners berate their animals for causing damage to their furniture. But Paul and Suzanne Robinson are thanking their beloved dogs after a restoration project to repair their scratched sofa bagged them a trip to New York courtesy of Furniture Clinic.
Paul and Suzanne Robinson entered a Furniture Clinic competition to win a holiday to the Big Apple by repairing damage caused to their cream leather suite by their three dogs’ claws.
Competitors were tasked with using Furniture Clinic repair products to fix up an item of furniture and uploading before and after images to the firm’s website. They were asked to upload their restoration stories and before and after images to the firm’s website, after using Furniture Clinic’s products.
After repairing their sofa and two chairs so they looked like new, Paul and Suzanne, from Leicester, are heading off to the city so good they named it twice.
Paul said: “We have three sighthounds. Ollie is about 11 and is a Saluki Lurcher who we rehomed from East Midlands Dog Rescue. Suzanne used to volunteer there and take the dogs out for walks. Ollie loved his walk with our dogs so much, we decided to keep him.
“Woody is a 10-year-old greyhound who was born in rescue and we re-homed when he was eight weeks old and Dylan is the youngster; a five-year-old Whippet who we’ve had since he was a puppy.
“We’re thrilled that they’ve inadvertently won us a trip to New York. The dogs had worn and scratched the seat cushion areas of the sofa, usually when they made a quick exit from the sofa at meal times. They’re all couch potatoes who love nothing more than relaxing on the sofa after a long walk or run.
“Suzanne was convinced it was going to be a waste of time and money trying to repair the sofa, but she’s very happy to have been proved wrong. The transformation by simply following Furniture Clinic’s video tutorials after taking advantage of their colour-matching service is excellent.”
While Paul, 53, a children’s publishing company network manager, has been to New York previously for a work trip, Suzanne hasn’t visited. The pair will be seeing the Statue of Liberty, taking in the views from the Empire State building, paying their respects at the 9/11 memorial and visiting Central Park, even though they admit they feel slightly guilty they won’t be able to take their three pets for a walk there.
Paul added: “We’re also expecting our first grandchild in March, so no doubt we’ll be buying lots of ‘I Love NY’ babywear.”
Ben Staerck, Furniture Clinic MD said: “We always love seeing our customer stories and photos. The work they carry out on their leather sofas, classic car seats and convertible roofs always looks amazing so we decided to offer a prize to give something back for their incredible feedback.”
Paul sent a leather sample to Furniture Clinic to get the right shade of colourant before working with the firm’s specialist products including its cleaner, filler, and protection cream to get his finished results.