In the seaside town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula, just north of Victoria on Vancouver Island, Hansell and Halkett Vintage Home Decor blends a curated vintage furniture shop with a working paint studio, an unusual pairing that lets the same storefront sell a finished antique dresser and also teach a customer how to refinish one of their own. The shop’s stock leans toward vintage and antique furniture pieces sourced and restored for a second life, alongside locally curated artwork from regional makers rather than mass-produced prints.
Chalk paint sits at the center of the business in a way that goes beyond simply stocking a product line. Hansell and Halkett is a stockist of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, the furniture-refinishing brand that helped popularize the DIY painted-furniture movement, and the shop runs its own paint classes and workshops for customers who want hands-on instruction rather than a tutorial video. That combination of retail and instruction means the shop functions partly as a design resource for the peninsula’s home decorators, not just a place to buy a finished piece.
Beyond furniture and paint, the shop carries a broader home decor assortment built around a similar upcycled, garden-and-cottage aesthetic: Bergs Potter garden containers, where Hansell and Halkett identifies itself as a proud stocklist, alongside Farmhouse Pottery and East End Press goods, candles, stationery, gifts, and smaller home accessories. The range gives shoppers a reason to browse for a gift or a small decorative item even if they are not in the market for a piece of furniture that day, and the shop backs larger purchases with free shipping on orders over 150 dollars, with some exclusions applying to bulkier furniture pieces.
The business also maintains an active blog covering design inspiration and step-by-step furniture transformation projects using chalk paint, giving customers a way to learn techniques between visits or before committing to a workshop seat. That online presence, paired with active Instagram and Facebook accounts under the Hansell and Halkett name, extends the shop’s reach to Vancouver Island shoppers who might not make it to Sidney every week but still want to follow along with new arrivals and painted-furniture projects.
Sidney itself is a walkable harbor town known for its bookshops, waterfront, and proximity to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, making it a natural stop for visitors exploring the Saanich Peninsula between Victoria and the ferry crossing to the mainland or Gulf Islands. A vintage and home decor shop built around restoration and hands-on paint instruction fits comfortably into that setting, appealing to both destination shoppers passing through and locals furnishing a home with pieces that carry some history rather than off-the-shelf newness.
For anyone on the Saanich Peninsula looking for vintage furniture with real character, locally curated art, and the chance to learn chalk paint techniques directly from people who use them every day, Hansell and Halkett Vintage Home Decor in Sidney offers restored antique furniture, home accessories, and hands-on paint workshops all under one roof.
