Rare Restoration - Village Green Renewal

Awesome. My initial concern was cost, as they seemed to be more of a vintage restoration shop, and that usually means expensive. I was pleasantly surprised that they were perfectly happy to fix my trimmer cord, and the entire job came out to around $25. They replaced the cord, cleaned out the dust and the mouse poop (ick) and greased whatever parts needed greasing. Afterward, Seth made sure it powered up and even took it out back to run a field test on some branches in the yard waste pile. It worked great - better than new, actually. I've been using it for a few days and my hedges are regaining their curb appeal. Thanks, Rare Restoration!

The stove handle was a miracle!!!! I still don't know how Rare Restoration accomplished this amazing feat. I've had them repair extension chords, lamps and they came to my house to repair my snow blower. Their prices are very reasonable. In some cases like the extension chord I could have bought a new extension chord but it was repaired to perfect condition and kept it out of the land fill.

Today, I picked up my newly rewired lamp from Rare Restorations. Seth came out to greet me, to follow up with the work done, and to answer any questions I may have had. I asked generally how the process was completed and he walked though the steps. He is very knowledgeable about the mechanics and how to preserve the aesthetics of a piece of work. I appreciate his time and work and highly recommend Rare Restorations!

These guys really know what they're doing! Seth and crew are top notch and really make sure everything looks great, is strong and sturdy! Could not recommend them more. Plus, the shop is awesome! Run in and have a look, you won't be disappointed!

Village Green Renewal (now "Rare") exceeded my expectations. Excellent workmanship, polite, professional staff, beautiful end result -- all at a very reasonable price. One more note: it can be nerve-wracking letting a treasured heirloom, or irreplaceable antique out of your sight, but owner Seth Barrett and his staff were super conscientious and respectful about how they handled the table and the whole transaction. I couldn't be happier--and I wouldn't hesitate a second to recommend Village Green Renewal/Rare.

Seth and crew did an outstanding job! Looks better than the day we got it. Highly recommend them to do any type of furniture repair.

Seth very deftly reconfigured the pieces, built a wood frame to support the aluminum outline, cut a new piece of red plexiglass and threaded LED lighting throughout. It's an amazing piece of reconstruction and glows brightly as the centerpiece in my living room. I would absolutely bring any restoration work to Village Green and highly recommend this business a every opportunity.

They were great! Skilled, honest, excellent work!

It was fixed perfectly and timely! Really felt like they handled my beloved bench with care. Also called around for other pricing but this was the cheapest for the amount of work needing to be done.

A real, honest to goodness parts/repair shop for pre-electronic period items, an excellent resource for homeowners living in housing pre-dating the mid 20th century, I recommend viewing their website to better understand their scope of services. Located in the heart of Brookline Village, Brookline, MA.

I mentioned that I would be leaving town in two weeks and they rushed the job so that it could be finished in time. The price was very reasonable.

They are very efficient and timely in responding. I have been pleased with their work.

The gentleman I spoke with was very pleasant but I just had no need for their services. I did find them very personable. The prices were fine for someone who doesn't know their way around a toolbox.

They were very friendly, yet professional. Very helpful when I called to get general information about location and parking. Gave me a good tip on parking (across the street in a loading zone). They gave us a good explanation of what they were going to do, a time frame for completion. They were ready when they said they would be. I thought it was rather a lot of money to put 2 new switches in lamps. They explained it was complicated with a floor switch, but still.......

Several months ago, an old wooden toy that my daughter loves broke; Village Green folks fixed it quickly for $5. Several months later, the other side of the toy came out (not the side that they'd previous fixed), and although the amount of time necessary to fix the new problem really cost $25, they kindly agreed to do it for half that amount, given that I'd brought it in before. Seth and John were incredibly responsive in calling back and getting the work done. The toy is completed restored, much to my daughter's joy. I should say, on another note, that I've called Village Green over the years about other jobs and on the rare occasions when the job I needed done was not what they do (for example, repairing/cleaning leather), they have very generously recommended other places to contact that do that kind of work, or have even offered advice about how to fix it myself. How many other places would do that????!! I can't recommend these folks highly enough. I will continue to contact them whenever I have a repair or reconstructive job to do, big or small.

After initially great service, the encounter completely fell apart when I went to Village Green Renewal in person. I was referred to them by my locksmith as a place to find a replacement for my antique spindle door knob. The locksmith gave me the information he thought I'd need to provide (entrance door with a 2 inch width). I took pictures of the door and sent them to Village Green. A very friendly employee exchanged emails with me. They didn't have an exact match, but believed they could find something close and told me to come in when the owner was there. I let them know I was planning to come on Saturday, September 21 and the person I was emailing with said that would be a great day because the owner was there all day. I drove over from Belmont to Brookline on Saturday as planned. When I arrived the person at the shop (presumably the owner) said it was a beautiful door knob and he was sure he could help us find something that would work. At that point he told me I needed to take apart the existing door knob and bring it to him so he could find the correct replacement. I expressed my frustration at hearing this for the first time -- had I known he needed to see the door knob I would have brought it with me. Now my trip to Brookline was wasted and I would need to find a time to return with the knob. I told him I was surprised that the employee I emailed with didn't mention that I needed to bring the knob. He told me he needed the knob to be sure he sold me something that would work -- while I appreciate that he didn't want to sell me the wrong thing, I had really tried to get ahead of the curve with this purchase by contacting them in advance and would have expected to be told I needed to bring the knob. The person at the store then told me he and quot;wouldn't take the scoldingand quot; and if I didn't want to come back I shouldn't come back. Needless to say I won't be going back. Even a tiny apology or acknowledgement that my frustration was justified would have been enough to bring me back. The complete lack of an effort at customer service was surprising and incredibly disappointing. Seems they have enough business they don't need to worry about being polite to customers.

I came by with the toy to see if they could fix it. They said absolutely, and that they would call me when it was done. They called in a timely fashion, and had done a great job.

They are fantastic. They are the first company that could fix my lamp, after trying to find someone for years. He has done other fix ups for me since - painting, door repairs, etc. They are very nice to work with. If I have a repair, I look to them first.

The owner came over personally, looked it over and gave me an estimate (which Mr. Handyman of Newton was not willing to do). When I asked him to go ahead, he came again with the mason to explain the job. I was not charged for either the estimate or the visit with the mason. The mason came on time, did an excellent job in filling in cracks and holes, told me exactly what he was doing and gave me some advice on other work (The suggested work is not done by Village Renewal so he was not just trying to sell me something extra.). The bill was almost exactly what had been the estimate. It took most of the morning at $90 an hour which was about the price I had been quoted by Mr. Handyman of Newton.