MAKING A MARK: Robert and Chelsey Pegram give new life to old items
Ashley Smith at 13News Now ABC
Fibrenew Franchise owners, Robert and Chelsey Pegram repair leather, plastic, and vinyl on antique items, family heirlooms, and sentimental pieces. But they say the restoration business preserves more than just things. In this video, they explain what that means.
Robert Pegram believes it’s better to repair than replace.”If you can restore it, you can keep those memories,” he says. He and his wife, Chelsey, own Fibrenew Hampton Roads-Peninsula– a mobile restoration franchise.
“What we do is leather, plastic, and vinyl repairs and restorations,” Chelsey says. “He does the functional part, and I make it look pretty.”
But there’s an unwritten service that the Pegrams offer– preservation of history. “We get to keep pieces alive, keep things out of the landfill,” Robert said. “It’s very touching… just kind of hearing the back story, and then seeing their face light up when you’re done. And it looks like new again,” Chelsey said.
Many pieces the Pegrams restore carry stories of a family. It’s a lesson the couple is passing onto their own. “We have four kids,” Chesley said. “It takes a village, right, to raise a family. And also, you should take care of your village,” Robert said. “And that’s what we teach our kids.”
The Pegrams travel across the community, renewing items together– knowing that life is short, but memories are forever. “We’re a team, hundred percent,” Chelsey said. “We’re big on learning and growing– personal growth, business growth, community growth, just constantly trying to be better than what you were yesterday.”
If there’s something special you’d like the Pegrams to restore, visit the Fibrenew Hampton Roads-Peninsula website at fibrenew.com/hrp
