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Arts & Crafts style and knockdown design team up for a winning combination. Imagine this attractive little table residing next to a comfortable chair, holding important items such as a cup of [...]

Add richness, depth and color like a pro. Some wood finishes seem to have richness and depth that combine to create a special warm glow. This glow usually comes with age, due to natural changes [...]

Thoughtful finishing and new leaves prepare this classic for the next 100 years. This old table looks like a prime candidate for refinishing. Scrub off the old finish, sand out all the dings and [...]

This two-step process guarantees flawless results. No brush marks, drips, runs, bubbles, hairs, dust or orange peel—and beautiful results every time. For most furniture projects, it doesn’t get [...]

Improve your results by understanding wood characteristics. Each species of wood has unique finishing characteristics, both positive and negative. To help you determine how to choose the right [...]

How to choose and apply a long-lasting clear finish. What do fancy wooden boats and beautiful wooden front doors have in common? They both need a clear finish that can really stand up to the [...]

Work miracles on wood with oxalic acid. Watering a potted plant can be disastrous if the plant lives on top of something made out of wood. We’ve all seen the white spots and black rings that can [...]

Three quick steps to a silky-smooth finish. Brushed-on finishes such as varnish provide superior protection, but they dry so slowly, airborne dust and renegade hairs are almost sure to settle on [...]

Take your box-making and scroll saw skills to a new level. “Trompe l’oeil” is an old French phrase that literally means “it fools the eye.” Trompe l’oeil has a long tradition in the art [...]

Add a touch of color to your hallway. Our front hall is usually a disorganized mess: coats on the floor, keys strewn here and there, and hats—well, I can never find them. I built this wall shelf [...]

Achieve rich, warm color without blotching in 4 easy steps. If you’ve ever stained birch plywood a dark color, the results were probably so blotchy and difficult to reverse that you vowed, “Never [...]

Using factory-made prefinished plywood makes cabinet building quicker, easier and cleaner, so it’s unfortunate that most home centers and lumberyards don’t stock it. Luckily, [...]