When you’re eyeing up a piece of furniture - whether it’s on Marketplace or sitting patiently in an antiques shop - your senses are great tools for figuring out whether it’s solid wood or veneer. In this article, we explore how we can use them.  But first... what is veneer, and why does it matter?   Veneer is simply a thin layer of real wood applied over a core, which could be plywood, MDF, particle board, or a cheaper solid substrate like birch.  If you’re restoring a piece, knowing whether...

Did I write this partly as an excuse to share our beautiful kitchen which made us lose every ounce of peace we had? Yesss. Naturally, I'm feeling very proud of our efforts and I'm excited to share the result - but it also has ' sustainable’ written all over it - and that makes this post very relevant (have we decided which emoji depicts smugness yet?). Anyway, here’s why: The kitchen units are second-hand. Rather than buying a brand new kitchen, we looked on the second-hand market. The great...

If you’ve ever purchased an old dresser or chair caked in layers of paint, you know the first question isn’t what colour will I repaint...