Complete Guide to Victorian Decor
History, colour, pattern, furniture and lighting, with modern room-by-room interpretations of a period that lasted more than sixty years.
Yassine
Yassine runs The Patina Journal, carrying forward the eye of his father, Houssine, who spent forty years in the antiques trade in Casablanca. Read the story.
How Victorian Rooms Were Designed for Living
We remember the Victorian interior as cluttered and dark. The people who lived in it were solving problems we still have.
The Slow Return of the Dining Room
We knocked the wall through and gained a bigger kitchen. What we lost was a room that could only do one thing.
The Beauty of French Provincial Interiors
Limewash, worn oak and a deep suspicion of anything too new. What makes the French provincial room work, and why it ages so well.
Reupholstering a 1930s Club Chair
A good first project, provided you know where the work actually is. On stripping, frames, webbing and why the horsehair is worth saving.
What an Old Furniture Catalogue Can Teach Us About Decorating
A 1948 trade catalogue is a poor advertisement and an excellent document. What a list of dimensions and prices reveals about how people actually furnished a house.
Marble Tops, Cane Backs: Pieces Worth Keeping
Two materials that tell you a piece was built to last, and how to tell original work from a later replacement.
The Art of Mixing Vintage and Modern
Contrast is not what makes a mixed room work. The rule is quieter than that, and it comes down to what your furniture agrees about.
A Week in a Provencal Farmhouse
A house altered so many times the plan made no sense, and was entirely coherent. What a week there corrects about French interiors.