The specialist guide to Asian antiques and exotic home decor from the far east.

Wood furniture polishes and wood furniture care

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:40:57 +0000

We carry two main brands of wax polish for furniture. Both are hard wax polishes. Golden Rooster is domestic brand which seems to be partnered with Kiwi. While this works fine, there is chemical smell to the wax which I personally find undesirable. It relatively inexpensive. Harrell’s Traditional Wax Furniture Polish contains beeswax and is a bit [...]

Fun and funky distressed finishes to brighten up any room

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:50:40 +0000

In this recent gloomy economic climate, it would be nice to add a bit of color and I though sharing some of the neat distressed finishes we have been working on, might brighten up the days a bit.  The hand rubber, distressed finish sky blue hutch adds some pleasantness to the room and may even pass [...]

How to assemble a chinese wedding bed

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:13:36 +0000

I was searching for some photos of Chinese wedding beds and Chinese canopy beds when this humorous page came up on Chris Johnson’s personal website entitled “How to Assemble an Antique Two Room Chinese Wedding Bed.” This along with his main Chinese Bed page is worth having a look at (The photos below are [...]

Old wooden doors

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:08:51 +0000

Quick follow up, on a prior post about antique doors and antique door furniture. Was pokin around on Flickr again and noticed just how many great photos of old doors there ( along with a [...]

A look at this years international furniture trade fairs

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:05:02 +0000

For those furniture importers, wholesalers, trade buyers, interior designers or furniture retailers in the business who were unable to make it to this years Shanghai furniture fair, its worth heading over to our China sourcing blog to see what you missed.   Shabby chic remains a strong look and some of this years other nicer offerings included [...]

Useful Tips and Hints for cleaning and repairing antiques

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:59:33 +0000

The antique advertiser.com website has a great page of tips called Antique Alchemy which have been compiled from various reader feedback and other web sources.  Its a great little resource which I though I might reprint for you here. As they mentioned on their page - these tips are all use at your [...]

Integrating Asian style furnishings: Practical ideas from real homes.

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:14:06 +0000

Any furniture retailer will tell you that, many times the “end all be all” for retail buyers will be just how the item integrates into their home space. Sure, comfort, durability and quality are all top consumer preferences but overall dimensions, depth and height along with usability all have a lot to do with furniture-buying [...]

Guide to antique doors and antique door panels.

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:36:29 +0000

I was in the warehouse just a few days ago, looking over a batch of antique door panels which just came in and it really reminded me just how cool some of these pieces are, especially the iron hardware, the various textures, and the overall character and charm of these bits of history. In the raw [...]

Chinese Lantern Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival) Arrives!

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:25:33 +0000

Just a quick note to remind our friends around the globe that this Sunday is the mid-autumn harvest festival for Chinese around the globe. To learn more, jump over to last years post on the mid-autumn festival, which will provide you with all the details and history surrounding the Moon Cake Festival also sometimes known as the “Lantern [...]

Whitewashed, bleached and lime finishes are all the rage in furniture

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:04:41 +0000

Recently we discussed the popularity of furniture constructed from salvaged materials like this reclaimed elm wood dining table and therefore it should be no surprise that the according to House Beautiful, the whitewashed look along with lightened wood, bleached finishes and limed finishes are growing just as much in popularity as well whether in Asian [...]