Email
Print
FeedWhere to Get (Nearly) Everything Fixed
A Rescue Guide.
(page 2 of 8)
Artwork Restoration
Miro Art Inc.
704-A Locust St, Mount Vernon (914) 484-8350
Before |
After |
First, we must disclose that Miro Art’s Roman Kujawa is married to this magazine’s Art Department Assistant, Marta Kujawa. But, rest assured, nepotism is not why we included him in this guide. We figure that if he’s good enough for the President of the United States… In 1995, Kujawa restored the 18th-century ceiling and gilded 365 acanthus leaves on the crown molding in the Blue Room of the White House. Trained in art conservation in his native Krakow, Poland, Kujawa has restored art treasures in European museums, palaces, and churches, so here in the States, both private collectors and auction houses such as Sotheby’s rely on Kujawa to restore museum-quality pieces. He also can restore stone, wood, or plaster sculptures, as well as gilded and painted furniture (including Louis XIV and Louis XV), mirrors, and frames. Prices are determined by the job; estimates are available.
Blacksmith
Startup Steel
11 Old Mill River Rd, Pound Ridge (914) 764-5985
Antiques dealers, interior designers, estate groundskeepers, and County home-owners know they can count on Cliff Startup to restore anything and everything metal—brass, bronze, iron, cast and wrought iron, copper, and stainless steel—including garden ornaments, fountains, furniture, fences, statuary, sundials, and gates. His specialty is repairing and restoring antiques, like metal gazebos from England and France that date back to the late 1800s and turn-of-the-century metal tables and chairs. Startup does all the work by hand in his on-site machine shop. The craft is in his blood: his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were also blacksmiths, the last for Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm I. He charges $90 an hour for repair work and also makes house calls.
Camera Repair
Specialty Photographic Repair Services
629 Fifth Ave, Pelham (914) 738-6500
For nearly three decades, photography buffs have brought in every type of camera—point-and-shoot, 35mm amateur and professional cameras, digital cameras, even obsolete slide projectors, film, and video equipment to Specialty, an authorized service center for scores of camera brands, including Nikon and Olympus. The company also has a, well, specialty, in reviving antique equipment, like Hasselblads dating back to the ’50s, Nikons and Canons from the ’60s, even a ’70s- era Kodak Pocket Instamatic. “We’ve encountered everything and anything,” Jay Cohn says. Have they ever been stumped by a job? “Once a guy came in with a camera sitting at the bottom of a five-gallon pail of water. We did everything we could, but the camera was totally rusted.” Specialty charges $65 per hour, with flat rates offered for complicated jobs; run-of-the-mill repairs range from $65 to $100, and there is a $30 charge to disassemble and assess problems on digital cameras.
Sam’s Camera Exchange
979 Central Ave, Scarsdale (914) 725-1616
195 N Bedford Rd, Mount Kisco (914) 666-3383
Faster than you can say “cheese,” Sam’s photo equipment pros can help with such common camera crises as recovering deleted digital shots or lost images on memory cards. While it handles repairs on all photographic equipment, Sam’s, a County staple since 1939, is best known for de-bugging digital cameras: solving printing problems, photo-editing, and the like. Sam’s repairs can take a minimum of two weeks. Pricing varies depending on the project.
Carpet And Upholstery Cleaning
Carlan Cleaners of Westchester
Ossining (914) 923-2184
Carl McKenzie, the County’s very own Mr. Clean, has been keeping the carpets, rugs, and upholstery of Westchester spot-free and spiffy since 1990. He charges by the square foot: $.65 for carpeting (so a 10-by-10 foot room would cost $65) and $1.25 for rugs; upholstery is $19 a linear foot. For a large home with multiple children and pets, it might run around $2,000 for a full day to clean all the wall-to-wall carpets, rugs, and furniture.
China Repair
China Repair Studio
32 Beacon St, Yonkers (914) 375-0080/(914) 376-2768
Humpty Dumpty might have had a happier outcome if he had just called Gail Guccione; she’s been putting broken china (and jade, ivory, and glass) back together again for the past 30 years. One recent challenge was to completely restore an heirloom manger that had languished in an attic for years. “People bring objects to me because they have sentimental value or are irreplaceable,” she says. She charges by the piece; prices vary widely per project based on complexity. Restoration and touch-ups are added expenses.
Computer Repair
PC Ventures
White Plains (914) 288-9806
Aaron Woodin of PC Ventures is available 24/7 to solve computing nightmares: screens gone mysteriously blank, creepy spyware run amok, and other digital disasters. Too set in your ways to upgrade your system? Not to worry—Woodin can keep “middle-aged” systems up and running so you don’t have to. He specializes in Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Office, small networks, and DSL/cable modem setups. He also can truly customize a computer system to mesh with a client’s needs, wants, and lifestyles so even the techno-challenged can have a rocking setup. Woodin charges $80 per hour, pro-rated for projects that take less than an hour.
RSA Computer
630 Saw Mill River Rd, Ardsley (914) 693-4052
RSA fixes failed hard drives and broken keyboards, recovers lost data, and helps clients switching from a Windows-format PC to a Mac by converting and transferring address books, Quicken financial data, documents, and e-mails onto the new machine. The company charges $80 per hour.
Westchester PC Fix
120 S Lawn Ave, Dobbs Ferry (914) 673-6831
As the name suggests, PCs are the main focus of this firm, whose staff is happy to make a house—or office—call to cure assorted viruses, eliminate malicious spyware, recover data from failed hard drives, or transfer data from your old computer to a new one. The staff also is ready to assist in setting up home theaters, digital cameras, telephone wiring, and networking with wireless routers. The company charges $100 per hour for most jobs.
