How upcycling old sofas led to a thriving family business and a TV appearance

They tried to get a mortgage to help pay for the renovation work. “They just laughed at us and said there was no way we would ever make it water tight and suggested we sell it.

"My husband said I would either have to go back to work or we’d have to sell. I am not a quitter. I wasn’t brought up that way. I am a farmer’s daughter and never work-shy.

"But having been out of the workplace for 15 years and been a stay-at-home mum I didn’t have the confidence to go back to doing what I did before I had the children. The world seemed a very scary place."

Katy had worked in auction houses and she had a number of antique sofas and so decided to sell those as a way of making some money.

"I had 12 secondhand vintage pieces. I love antiques, its part of my passion, I love old stuff that people want to throw away. We are in a planet that is over consuming and it just doesn’t sit right with me to throw away something that could last a lifetime and replace it with something that’s disposable.

“I had bought them from auctions to put in the mill because it was so large. I really love Chesterfields and that’s what I had and I decided to sell them on eBay.”

Katy sold all 12 sofas in six days. “That was basically the birth of the business. I then started to go to auctions to buy sofas to replace the ones I'd sold and then sell them."

Within six months of starting her business Katy was selling 60 vintage sofas a week. “It as a surprise to me and it was hard work but it really took off.” At this point she fell ill and had to have major surgery and she started to realise that it wasn’t a scaleable business.

“You are only as good as the sofas you find and by then other people had started to copy my business model so as demand increased the price of the sofas at auction went up and so the margins became less. Things I could buy for a couple of hundred pounds were selling for £400 so it wasn’t feasible. Also I have very high standards and refuse to compromise.”

Katy then got the idea to take her favourite designs from her secondhand sofas and make new ones using two local manufacturers in the same way that the vintage sofas were made.

"And that was where the Vintage Sofa Company name came from. I am a bit of an idealist but I wanted the same quality and integrity as the antique sofas so I know they are going to last and it could become and heirloom and be passed down through generations rather than thrown away.”

In the sofa-manufacturing industry dominated by greys and beiges, Katy’s style is bucking the trend with her colour-drenched, maximalist sofa-style a welcome antidote to the minimal style favoured by many.

She is also proud that by having her sofas made locally it has ensured the future of one family company and allowed them to grow and employ apprentices to ensure the skills are not lost.

“That relationship is very important to me,” says Katy. ”To know that those skills are being passed down to another generation and not being lost is quite fulfilling. It’s not about the money for me it is about doing things right and paying for the mill project.”

As a farmer’s daughter Katy’s background is one of thrift, tenacity, faith and creativity and, with husband Peter, she has brought everything she has learned from a long and varied career into making Vintage Sofa Co the successful brand it is today with a turnover of more than £6 million and a team of 25.

Peter decided to sell his bed business which helped buy for a new roof for the mill which not only became the company’s show room but the family’s home and now they have been joined in the business by their children.

"Up until 18 months ago we lived in the showroom but have now moved into out own house close by.” For Katy being in business is not about making money. “It is about having integrity and helping your neighbour and not profiting from other people’s down fall. I am Christian which is really important in my life it is faith, then family and then business . It is not about making money or building an empire it’s about doing right by others.”

It is one of the reasons she and Peter decided to take part in Series 11 of Rich House, Poor House on Channel 5/Netflix, where they stepped into the shoes of Rich and Sarah two care workers living in the city with their three children, swapping Halifax and sofas for Bradford and bikes.

“I got approached to take part in the series, but it really isn’t my thing, I am not an outgoing type person I am quite an introvert its not my natural inclination to do something like that,” says Katy.

"But I do believe that it is really hard to make money when you have no money, but I also believe the circumstance to which you are born should not define you. I’m interested in people who want to break from the norm. I’ve been given so much and I fell like I’ve been very lucky I don’t know how I arrived here and I find it a bit overwhelming when you realise how far you’ve come. I also always remember that tomorrow it could all be gone and that’s okay. It’s important to stay grounded.”

After Katy’s initial decision to say no to doing the programme, when she heard the background to the family that had been selected to swap lives with her and Peter she couldn’t refuse. "They told me about Richard and Sarah and their desire to become more financially stable for their family and they needed a helping hand – having heard that I just couldn’t turn my back on them.”

Katy and Peter were keen to offer practical support to help Rich and Sarah turn the page on their debt and take steps towards realising their dreams while Rich and Sarah shared how valuable it is to remember to take a moment to pause and reflect away from running the business, making time for new experiences and creating memories.

Katy and Peter worked with Rich on building his bike restoration business, helping with a new website and branding; offering to support Sarah through training in yoga to further her career.

The TV programme was a reminder for Katy and Peter that it wasn’t so long ago that they were refurbishing and selling on sofas, so to be able to help Rich do the same with bikes, including setting up a new eBay business, has been hugely rewarding and a privilege.

“Since the programme was filmed, we have been in regular contact with Rich and Sarah, and have become firm friends,” says Katy. Both couples say they have learned a lot from each other, and that being involved in Rich House, Poor House has cemented the importance they all place on friends and family.

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