How to Light a Room Like a Photographer
Turn off the ceiling light. The habits that make a room photograph well are the same ones that make it good to sit in.
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.
Complete Guide to French Vintage Decor
Provincial and Parisian traditions, the furniture that defines them, the surfaces that make them work, and how to source it.
Reading Wallpaper: Patterns and Their Dates
Strip an old wall and you find a compressed stack of decisions. How to read the layers without inventing a date for them.
Why the Parlour Is Coming Back
The most ridiculed room in British housing is quietly returning under a different name, and the reasons are not nostalgic.
The Case for One Good Lamp
The single purchase that changes a room most for the money, and why the shade and the bulb matter more than the base.
Toile, Linen and the Faded Palette
The most recognisable French pattern and the easiest to get wrong. On using toile once, and why faded is not optional.
The Hallway Deserves More Than a Console
The first room in the house and the one that gets the least thought. Why a hall can take more colour, and what to put in it instead of a console table.
Restoring Wax Finishes Without Stripping Them
Most dull antique surfaces are not damaged finishes. They are decades of wax with dirt in them, and cleaning does what stripping is credited for.
Reading an Auction Catalogue Properly
Lot descriptions are written to be accurate without being discouraging. How to read the wording, the condition report and the estimate.