As a California transplant living on the East Coast, I’m still charmed by the concept of “winter.” Yes, the endless gray days and biting winds occasionally get old, and I might secretly wish for a freak-weather event that creates a 70 degree day in Brooklyn—during February—but the promise of a lazy afternoon on the couch or a dusting of snow on a tree bough continues to maintain its magic. One particular activity holds endless fascination for me: decorating the hearth. This can look different for everyone, but recently I’ve been drawn to the idea of heritage materials—pieces with history, built…

Wallpaper-scrap DIYs, Maine-made furniture, and a few more things we’re noting of late: Above: This weekend’s virtual browsing (or in person, should you happen to be near Oak Hill, New York): recently-opened upstate antiques shop Pidgin. See more at Shopper’s Diary: A Poet-Collector Opens Pidgin in Upstate NY. This midwinter weekend, we’re admiring the moody, dark vignettes in a pair of designers’ Brooklyn loft. One step closer to a new multi-site national park, the first to honor Jewish American heritage and the legacy of Black education in the history of the Rosenwald Schools, listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.…

Project details Skill 1 out of 5 Easy Cut the large pieces, miter the trim, and coat it with paint. Estimated Time 6 hours It's a shame to closet your collectibles when open shelving puts those prized possessions on proud display. And it doesn't take much to build yourself a custom bookcase: A few sheets of veneer plywood and some inexpensive molding, and you're well on your way to creating a proper showcase for your hardback favorites and treasured curios. Or you can find one that suits your space in a range of styles and materials, from unadorned models made…

At a time when so many of us are starved for inspirational browsing, news of Kostas Anagnopoulos’s recently-opened upstate New York antiques shop, Pidgin, sent ripples of excitement throughout the design world. Kostas himself could relate: since his purchase of a pelican-shaped Art Deco bottle opener at the age of 14 , he’s been on the hunt. “I think all antique and vintage dealers who go into business do so in part because they’ve been accumulating for so long that it’s just time to practice detachment and share the finds,” he tells us. “That’s certainly true for me.” Kostas is…

Several years back, a reader submission landed in our inbox from Lisa Jones, a former fashion buyer. The pitch? A dark and dated bungalow on New York’s Shelter Island that she and husband James Hyatt had remodeled, tip to toe, into a midcentury-style lakeside escape (with a laundry room modeled directly after Julie’s). The story—A Fashion Buyer’s Danish-Inspired Getaway on Shelter Island—was a hit. At the time the editorial team pored over the photos and Jones’ knack for sourcing vintage finds. Was I sure she wasn’t a designer? Fast forward a few months and I got another email from Jones, this time…

Big, nasty cleaning jobs—prepping a long-neglected exterior surface for paint, say, or purging years of grime discovered behind a kitchen appliance—call for a heavy-duty cleanser. Trisodium phosphate, commonly known as TSP, may be just the ticket to banish major messes, but this potent, inexpensive cleaning product does have its drawbacks. Read on to learn the ABCs of TSP and how it should best be used to see if it’s the weapon of choice to defeat your toughest cleaning challenges. What is Trisodium Phosphate? An inorganic chemical compound (Na₃PO₄), TSP is a white granular or crystalline substance that can be mixed…