CJ’s Antiques and Refinishing runs out of 4080 Highway 24 in Vanessa, Ontario, a small Norfolk County community roughly twenty five kilometres south of Highway 403, reached via the Rest Acres Road exit onto Highway 24 south. Owners Keith and Diane Koopman operate what their own site describes as one of the largest antique furniture showrooms in Southern Ontario, a claim borne out by the sheer range of room-by-room inventory on offer: dining room sets, bedroom suites, and complete home furnishings spanning multiple centuries and styles, laid out across a showroom built for browsing rather than a small storefront with a handful of pieces squeezed onto a sales floor.
The refinishing side of the business is what separates CJ’s from a straightforward antique furniture retailer. Rather than selling pieces strictly as found, the Koopmans work on restoring and refinishing antique furniture, giving customers the option of a piece brought back to a like-new finish rather than one left in its original, sometimes worn, condition. That combination of a large as-is showroom alongside hands-on refinishing work means shoppers can choose between an untouched antique with its original patina intact or a comparable piece that has been carefully restored, depending on what a particular room or collection calls for.
Because CJ’s operates out of a rural Norfolk County location rather than a downtown storefront, the business leans on scheduled visits for much of the week. The showroom keeps set weekend hours, open Friday and Saturday from 9am to 4pm and Sunday from noon to 4pm, while weekday visits from Monday through Thursday are handled by chance or by appointment, a structure well suited to a rural antiques destination that draws buyers willing to plan a dedicated trip out to Vanessa rather than a casual walk-in on a lunch break. That appointment flexibility also suits the refinishing side of the business, where customers dropping off or discussing a specific restoration project often need a scheduled conversation rather than a quick browse.
For furniture buyers across Southern Ontario searching for scale and selection, a showroom sized to cover complete dining rooms, bedrooms, and whole-home furnishing needs in one visit is a rare find outside major cities, and CJ’s positions itself squarely in that gap. Reaching the shop means a deliberate drive into Norfolk County farm country, but for anyone furnishing a home entirely in antique and refinished pieces, or looking for a single dealer who can both sell an antique and restore it, that drive is part of the appeal rather than a drawback. In short, CJ’s Antiques and Refinishing is a large-scale antique furniture showroom and restoration business in Vanessa, Ontario, run by Keith and Diane Koopman, offering both original-condition antiques and custom refinishing for buyers furnishing entire rooms rather than hunting single accent pieces.
