Piece Of Furniture

Every piece of furniture that antique dealer Aileen Minor displays shows amazing craftsmanship -- deep, ornate hand carving and polished veneers.All of it is as perfect as anything on a showroom floor, and each piece has lasted a lifetime."

Most people redecorate their homes and expect the result to last for years and years. But sometimes adding just one piece of furniture or an accessory can make a whole room look fresh and very up to date. It's a delicate balance: You want furnishings that are very much of the moment but won't look out of style in a year or so.If the new year has you thinking of redecorating but you don't know where to start, we have some suggestions. Here are our picks for pieces that pack plenty of punch but also have proven staying power.

In the past 20 years, the status of the armoire has evolved from exotic to essential, from overscaled white elephant to a staple among household furnishings.This is simply because it's a piece of furniture that actually works. In fact, the armoire has been functioning diligently in Europe since the Middle Ages. Back then it was a kind of locker in which the well-dressed crusader could hang his suit of armor and store his mace, spear, sword and other weapons of righteous warfare.Later, presumably when hand-to-hand combat faded from favor, the armoire assumed more domestic duties, serving as a cabinet for clothes in pre-closet centuries.

When the weather heats up, the idea of snuggling up inside goes out the door. The focus shifts to creating a cozy haven outdoors -- on a porch, a deck, a patio or terrace -- just about anywhere you can plop a chair and a little something extra to provide the ambience you seek.Translating that feeling of comfort and style to an outdoor space is becoming easier as manufacturers offer an increasing array of choices each season.When planning what to buy, think of the space as you would a room in the house.

WILSON, N.C. -- In this image-conscious tobacco and factory town of 40,000 less than an hour east of Raleigh, a homeowner's choice of porch furniture might soon be declared illegal.In what many people here see as a clash of the classes and an assault on the amiable rhythms of Southern life, the city of Wilson is expected early this year to ban old sofas, recliners and other indoor furniture from porches and yards. Southern historians see the proposal as an attack on a regional tradition that predates Naugahyde.

My wing chair is in terrible shape. The cushion is lopsided, the arms are frayed, the fabric is faded, and the cat has used the back for his own personal scratching post. I am tempted to cart it to the nearest dump.But wait. This chair has a history. I love this chair. It was the first piece of furniture my husband and I bought more than 30 years ago. It sat next to the old fireplace in our little Lutherville apartment and sometimes my husband would build a fire and we would squeeze into the chair together and dream about the future.

A friend of mine buys a dozen white cotton T-shirts every May and then throws them all away every October. I guess his routine makes some sense. White cotton T-shirts don't cost very much, and they look good only when they're in pristine condition.At the same time, I have trouble relating to such indiscriminate disposal. There's something about the use-it-and-then-lose-it mentality that seems slightly sinful.Clearly, though, frugality is becoming less common -- even in my own field. The throw-away impulse now applies to household furnishings such as chairs, tables and rugs that used to be kept until they literally started falling apart.

Despite today's mobile lifestyles, many of us want to believe that the furniture we're buying will one day be our children's heirlooms. I think this notion is often a delusion. For lots of reasons -- some having to do with differences in taste and others with the quality of mass production -- most pieces prove to have a relatively short life span.But there's one type of furniture that does seem to get passed down the generations, probably because it conjures up nostalgic images of quiet nights beside the fireplace or lullabies sung by a mother to her restless child.

To buy a museum reproduction is to buy a bit of history as well as a piece of furniture.With it you get what's known in the worlds of art and antiques as provenance, the history of a piece's origin. Perhaps this is no more than a hang tag that gives the background of the original furniture.But if you know that your purchase is part of a museum-based licensing program, you know the museum has sanctioned the company and had some say in the design and quality of the piece.Museum-based licensing programs aren't new -- they started with Williamsburg in the 1930s.

We're about to remodel our large family room, which also encompasses the kitchen area. The floor plan we've devised seems fine in most respects, but it has one major missing piece: kitchen cabinetry. Nothing that we've seen has been suitable to the room's transitional styling. The cabinetry also has to blend with the mellow finishes of the cherrywood furniture in the living area. The chairs, by the way, are covered with blue or natural-color fabrics. What do you think would be our best choice?

Dr. James Johnson Gerlach, an ear doctor and collector of early American furniture, died Thursday, after a short illness, at the Stella Maris nursing home in Timonium. The former Baldwin resident was 86. Born and raised in Baltimore, he graduated in 1939 from the Gilman School and in 1943 from Colorado College, where he developed a passion for falconry, a form of hunting that involves training birds of prey. His son Robert E. Gerlach of Greensburg, Pa., who took notes on conversations he had with his father, quoted Dr. Gerlach as saying, "I'm not quite sure why my father decided to send me to Colorado; maybe it was to keep me from becoming more involved with a girl I had met while in high school."

Because of budget issues, I have to use in my new home some clunky furniture upholstered in brown-and-dark-green material. These pieces are overscaled in the new home's small living room, and the fabric is worn and needs replacing. What should I do? Maybe give the white walls and wooden floor a different treatment? Reupholster? There's no single way of visually reducing the size of a piece of furniture that's too big for its surroundings. One technique might be used for a piece that's out of scale with others in a room, while a different approach might be taken in the case of a sofa, say, that's of a style not consistent with the overall look of an interior.

I want to create a brighter and softer look in a foyer with a stained-wood floor and staircase. It's been suggested that I carpet the stairs, but I wonder whether you can offer a less expensive alternative. I'm willing to paint and to buy a small piece of furniture. Because such a space is typically small and filled with architectural elements, there are plenty of challenges to be met.Carpeting the staircase would introduce the color and pattern that your foyer lacks. But paint and a single piece of furniture can help, too. Heather Paper's book Decorating Ideas That Work, published by Taunton Press, shows one foyer idea.

Last weekend I went out in the backyard and stripped. I was peeling layers from a piece of furniture, a wardrobe, not myself. I was following the lead of my wife, who some weeks ago started peeling wallpaper, yes wallpaper, and paint off this piece of furniture. I'm no expert on furniture. I am not sure when you call a tall closet cabinet a plain ole "wardrobe," which stores garments, and when you call it an "armoire," once a repository for armor. I suspect an armoire is older, more expensive and better looking.

You know a lion when you see one. A witch, while she may take a little longer to spot, is something most of us can recognize as well. But a wardrobe? If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, if you're not into antiques and have never needed to supplement your closet space, you might not be familiar with the piece of furniture that stars in the new movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the first in the series of C.S. Lewis children's books.

As a piece of furniture, the dressing table can range from unassuming to flamboyant. It can be a simple desk, stand, pedestal table or a desk-like form with an attached mirror and drawers to hold makeup. How time is spent there, however brief, is what makes it special. Dressing tables -- or vanities, as they're also aptly named -- are very personal, although some might consider them frivolous and anachronistic. But some women can't imagine living without one. "It's one of those guilty pleasures," says Jill Waage, editor of Decorating, a Better Homes and Gardens special-interest publication.

Would you restore an antique American tavern table whose maple finish is scarred by centuries-old wear and tear? Say "yes," and you might be sorry. "The finish on a piece of furniture is viewed by many people similarly to the way an archaeologist or historian views an archaeological site," says Leslie Keno, senior specialist in American furniture at Sotheby's auction house in New York. According to Keno, a frequent appraiser of American furniture on PBS' Antiques Roadshow, an antique that has sustained damage over the centuries may be more valuable because of its flaws.

Skiing in comfort Take a look around your living room and zero in on that piece of furniture left over from college or inherited from your colorblind aunt. Would you like to launch it down the side of a mountain? If so, head for Montana. Every year, Big Mountain Ski and Summer Resort in Whitefish, Mont., holds its Annual Furniture Race on the Saturday of its closing ski weekend. This year's events are set for April 7, when participants hurl themselves and their furniture down the slopes on skis.

Every piece of furniture that antique dealer Aileen Minor displays shows amazing craftsmanship -- deep, ornate hand carving and polished veneers.All of it is as perfect as anything on a showroom floor, and each piece has lasted a lifetime."

When the weather heats up, the idea of snuggling up inside goes out the door. The focus shifts to creating a cozy haven outdoors -- on a porch, a deck, a patio or terrace -- just about anywhere you can plop a chair and a little something extra to provide the ambience you seek.Translating that feeling of comfort and style to an outdoor space is becoming easier as manufacturers offer an increasing array of choices each season.When planning what to buy, think of the space as you would a room in the house.