Robert McNellis recycles and repurposes found materials into unique, utilitarian furniture and home and garden décor that he creates under the name Kensington Studios. A sought after expert on the topic of up-cycling, vintage and antique trends, his furnishings are sold in fashionable boutiques. He sells at top flea markets and high-end antique shows in the United States, including the Alameda Antique Faire and the Pasadena Rose Bowl.

Attending antique auctions and estate sales since he was 12, Robert’s keen interest in the past was influenced by his father, who bought a lot of decorative items and Victorian furnishings for their Queen Anne home in the historic Los Angeles neighborhood of Angeleno Heights. Named for the original owner of his Queen Anne Victorian home, he also restores vintage, wood furniture under the label Weller House Designs. Often used as a location for San Francisco in the movies, Angeleno Heights has the largest concentration of 19th Century Victorian and Queen Anne homes in southern California.

The Weller Mansion is listed as a Los Angeles Cultural Historical Monument.

Before he turned his hobby into a business, McNellis was an international, competitive cyclist. Restless after 15 years in the music business as a record distributor, he purchased a round-the-world airline ticket and took his bike with him, riding in exotic locals in southeast Asia, Oceania and Europe. During a stopover in Australia, he fell in love with Cairns, near the Great Barrier Reef, and relocated there to buy and renovate houses.

Returning to Los Angeles seven years later, he took his hobby to the professional level, and became a vintage re-seller and has been active in the antique and collectible business for 20 years, buying all over the country.

From 2000 to 2006, he was the number one producer and wholesaler of Shabby Chic style furniture in the western US. His work has been featured in décor and shelter magazines House & Garden, Romantic Homes, Victorian, Country Living.

Robert McNellis is the only American collector featured in a new book about buying and collecting Affordable Antique Furniture, by Caroline Wheater and Vivays Publishing in London, available on Amazon.