New Repair Shop for Old Stuff Now Open in Ballard

We Fix Old Stuff , a Seattle repair shop for a wide range of objects, is now open its new Ballard workshop on at 4818 14th Ave. N.W. “Lighting is our specialty, but we’re happy to be your first call for other stuff, too. If we can’t fix it, we’ll point you toward someone who can,” said co-founders Ashley Zaworska and David Nebert.

Lighting services range from simple rewires and socket replacements to fixture customization, electrification, finish work, and complex restoration. Beyond lighting, the shop repairs and customizes other functional and decorative objects, sometimes in collaboration with craftspeople such as glassblowers, metal platers, and other specialists.

The shop is intentionally broad in scope, giving customers a single point of contact for projects that may involve several trades or types of work. Some jobs are simple: puppy-chewed lamp cords, flickering fixtures, socket replacements, or adding a dimmer to a lamp. Others require much more problem-solving. Recent projects have included reassembling a shattered heirloom ceramic platter, restoring a customer’s grandmother’s fire-damaged chandelier brought down from Alaska, modifying European sconces for installation in American homes, restoring a suite of original vintage light fixtures as part of a North Capitol Hill home remodel, and coordinating the 3D scanning and recasting of a broken vintage refrigerator handle that could no longer simply be replaced.

We Fix Old Stuff grew somewhat accidentally out of Moon Moon Lighting Co, Zaworska and Nebert’s custom lighting company. The pair already had the tools and experience to design, build, and repair lighting, so friends and family began bringing them broken objects to fix. Word spread, but for a while the founders weren’t sure whether We Fix Old Stuff should remain occasional side work or become a business of its own.

Earlier this year, We Fix Old Stuff was selected for a six-month Seattle Restored storefront in Lake City, giving Zaworska and Nebert the chance to test the repair shop as a public-facing business. By the end of the pop-up, the founders saw a meaningful role for the shop in Seattle and were excited to grow We Fix Old Stuff with a larger repair team.

Zaworska is a Washington-licensed architect with a degree in architectural engineering, and Nebert has more than 10 years of experience in lighting repair, restoration, design and fabrication. Together, they bring technical depth and a strong design eye to the work.

The shop matches its approach to the needs of each project: some objects simply need to be made safe and functional again, while others call for careful finish matching, custom machining, or highly detailed restoration. For projects that warrant it, the shop is capable of museum-quality restoration. View before & after photos here.

The new Ballard workshop shares a building with Moon Moon Lighting Co, allowing both businesses to continue operating under one roof while We Fix Old Stuff expands its repair work.

We Fix Old Stuff is a working repair studio rather than a traditional street-facing storefront. Customer access is through the We Fix Old Stuff entrance on the parking-lot side of the building, beside the large loading door. Ring the bell and the team will let you in.

LOCATION:

We Fix Old Stuff

4818 14th Ave. N.W.

Seattle, WA 98107

Customer pickups and drop-offs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

ABOUT WE FIX OLD STUFF:

We Fix Old Stuff is a Seattle repair shop founded by Ashley Zaworska and David Nebert. The shop specializes in lighting repair, restoration and customization while welcoming a much broader range of repair and fabrication projects. From straightforward functional fixes to highly detailed restoration, We Fix Old Stuff combines technical problem-solving with a strong design sensibility to provide thoughtful repair for stuff worth keeping.

Photo Credit: Kyle Johnson