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Mahogany turned-leg side table, c. 1940s, with a warm, sealed wood finish
How to Remove Water Rings and Heat Marks from Wood Furniture
Nearly every owner of a wooden table eventually meets the same small heartbreak: a pale, cloudy ring where a cold glass sat, or a white bloom where a hot dish... Read more...
Art Deco walnut veneer wardrobe with book-matched burl panels, c. 1930s
How to Fix Veneer: Repairing Lifting, Bubbles, and Missing Pieces
Veneer has a reputation problem. Many people hear the word and think “cheap,” but some of the most celebrated furniture ever made is veneered: flame-figured mahogany, book-matched burl, and walnut... Read more...
Victorian tiger oak pressed-back parlor rocking chair, a period chair whose joints reward careful re-gluing
How to Fix a Wobbly Antique Chair: Re-Gluing Loose Joints the Right Way
Sooner or later, nearly every antique chair begins to wobble. You sit down, feel a faint give at the back or a creak in the rails, and the quiet question... Read more...
H.E. Shaw Grand Rapids mahogany and burl walnut cabinet-on-stand, circa 1920s–1930s, a closed cabinet suited to a modern cabinet of curiosities
How to Create a Cabinet of Curiosities at Home: Styling a Modern Wunderkammer
A cabinet of curiosities is one of the oldest ideas in collecting: a single case, shelf, or room where objects from nature, art, and science are gathered because they provoke... Read more...
Early 19th-century Continental walnut secretary desk and bookcase, a freestanding statement piece for a rental
How to Decorate a Rental with Antiques (No Renovation Required)
Decorating a rental with antiques sounds like a contradiction until you look at what a rental actually demands: nothing bolted down, nothing painted over, nothing you cannot carry out the... Read more...
Antique Doulton Watteau Flow Blue plate, c. 1890-1902, Victorian blue-and-white transferware
Grandmillennial Style: How to Get the Look with Real Antiques
Grandmillennial style is what happens when a generation raised on white walls and gray sofas walks into a grandmother's sitting room and falls in love. Ruffled lampshades, blue-and-white porcelain, needlepoint... Read more...
c. 1920 black japanned steel steamer trunk with brass trim, styled at home
How to Decorate with a Steamer Trunk: Styling an Antique Trunk at Home
An antique steamer trunk is one of the few objects that can honestly be called furniture, luggage, and sculpture at once. It was built to survive railway platforms, ship holds,... Read more...
Mid-century Hollywood Regency tufted slipper settee, c. 1955 to 1965, curated at The Eclection
Decorating with Inherited Antiques: How to Live with Pieces You Didn't Choose
Someone you loved left you a sideboard. Or a set of dining chairs, a glass-fronted cabinet, a gilded mirror that has hung in three generations of hallways. You did not... Read more...
Antique hand-forged gooseneck nail puller, c. 1900 to 1925, the hammer's companion
Types of Hammers: What Each One Is and When to Use It
The hammer is the oldest tool in the box, and the one most often grabbed without a thought. But a claw hammer, a framing hammer, a ball-peen, and a Warrington... Read more...
Vintage Sears Craftsman dowel centers set, Model 9-4184, c. 1950s, in its original clear case
The Best Way to Use Dowels: Strong, Clean Dowel Joints
A dowel is the humblest joint in the shop: a short, round wooden pin set into matching holes, with glue doing most of the work. Done carelessly, it gives you... Read more...
Vintage American ratcheting bit brace with blue-painted head and grip, nickel frame, and auger bit installed, c. 1940-1965
Drill & Boring Bits Explained: Twist, Brad-Point, Spade, Forstner, Auger & More
Open a drawer of old bits at an estate sale — twist bits gone rusty, a flat spade paddle, something with a wicked screw tip, one wide flat-bottomed cutter that... Read more...
Vintage Cain Mfg. sheet-metal layout tool, patented 1950, machinist precision
Taps & Dies: How Thread-Cutting Tools Work
Every machinist's drawer holds the same odd couple: a tap, threaded and fluted like a tiny screw gone wrong, and a die, a flat hexagonal puck with a hole cut... Read more...