When it comes to articles, the BBC’s h2g2 site is like a comic strip version of about.com – with a definite British twist of lime in the humour. This article about door decoration goes a little beyond the pure comedy value of some of the articles (like the one about how to knock on doors!), and you can actually get a bit of insight and use out of the author’s writing…

Door decorations, according to the article, range from the simple nameplate, to simple decorations like quotes or photos, to cartoons depicting bitter office workers (rings so true!), to family-oriented door decoration. I’d love to be able to talk about decorating your office door with antique knockers, beautiful cut-glass knobs and a matching paint job… but I don’t know of any office (other than my home one!) where you can decorate your door with anything that needs something more drastic than Blu-tack to affix. I could put up a nice, professional Doctor’s knocker at home, or maybe something unique, like the Medusa head knocker … but in the end, the knocker only gets used if somebody outside cares if the person inside is busy!

You could try satisfying an antique fetish at work by putting up photos of gorgeous knockers and knobs … or better, you could decorate the inside of your office instead, with things that are removable and therefore management-approved. Paperweights are really individual and help personalise your office, as do lamps, or bookends. Experimenting with different lighting setups can also help your efficiency… eye strain isn’t good for anyone. Do you think that would make your office decorating efforts tax deductible, or even a reimbursable expense?!! Worth a shot…

Photo credits: My Favorite Professors (or, The Perfect Office) by Matthew McVickar

There are two camps of antique-lovers in the world, we have found … they are both just as passionate as each other in their love of the old, but don’t quite agree on how to keep and display their antiques. In the silver corner, wearing the bright and shiny trunks, and weighing in at 142 pounds, we have the ‘New-Antiquarians … arians…arians’! These guys love old things, but also love their old things to look like new, and be nice and clean. The dirt of the ages is not what they had in mind when they started their collections! Then, in the dark and musty corner, in the mellow patinated trunks, and weighing in at 142 pounds also, we have “The Purists … purists … purists”! Many people from this corner can’t bear to clean up their old pieces too much, and believe that restoration can be akin to desecration.

We straddle both camps here – but this article is for the New Antiquarians (…arians!!), and especially those who love the ancient and historical look of pewter. It is definitely not a common metal, especially nowadays, however it does pop up in antique collections often, and many of our reproductions are available in pewter. It is an alloy composed mainly of tin, but including hardening agents like antimony, copper and lead. It was used in the very first of the great civilizations, the Egyptians and Romans, and medieval Europe also used it extensively. Did you know there was once a Worshipful Company of Pewterers, dedicated to maintaining pewter standards?!! So if the idea of a thousand years of dirt on your doorknobs doesn’t necessarily appeal to you – or you would like to keep your reproductions in a clean and respectable state, here are some methods for maintaining and restoring pewter. (more…)

Well, the first things you’ll need are a drill set, some safety goggles, a welder …
Nah, just kidding! Actually, we have an even easier, more multi-purposed solution to the worries of keeping your kids out of drawers that you don’t want them to have access to. Sheer genius … and I think we might, strangely enough, be the first people on the web to market this new brand of child-lock! It will be great value-adding for our antiques customers, we think, to be able to purchase their child locks in the same place as their gorgeous antique knobs. Now we only have to investigate the SPCA licence for keeping the child locks, and figure out what to feed the child locks, and maybe teach them to guard as well (against door knob burglars ;-)

Seriously though, I think the end of the movie which was cut off may have been the toddler trying to open the drawer by putting his fingers on the top or side of it, rather than on the handle, and then screaming and crying for the next ten minutes after he had his fingers slammed in the drawer… and the poor old dog wondering what he did wrong!

It looks like this dog owner might also have seen our post on how to stop dogs and cats from scratching at doors, and antique door knobs. You can imagine the dog just popping up its paw to close the drawer, it would work just as effectively. However, it looks like the owner has used our handy hints on preventing dog claw scratches by teaching the dog to use its nice soft (although perhaps somewhat slimy…) nose!

The Story Begins …

At Architectural Classics, we love history … obviously! The opportunity recently came up to piece together some historical puzzles, return some history to its rightful spot, and look at some gorgeous photos of ancient Welsh architecture in the process.

You can imagine the feeling in the office! We haven’t even needed coffee this week.

It is a twisted tale indeed, but here is the story of this imposing, strong and masculine chandelier. Starting at the start … St Donat’s castle in Wales was built at a time unknown (how romantic :-), but the parts of it still standing that were earliest built were owned by the de Hawey family in the twelfth century. Later, one of the de Hawey daughters, Joan, married Sir Peter Stradling. We hear that she always burnt poor old Pete’s toast, and had very strange nose-hair …and so ownership of the castle was seen as a fair exchange for the liability and inconvenience of being responsible for Joan (!). Or perhaps it was to do with the custom of wives’ property being passed to their husbands upon marriage, the reasoning is a bit blurry. Anyway! The Stradling family owned the castle for many centuries – until 1738 in fact, when Thomas Stradling died, and a John Tyrwhitt ended up buying the castle.

William Randolph Hearst’s Chandelier

It sounds all well and good to own a castle, but several owners found that it costs a bit more than you’d think … the castle fell into a state of disrepair, until the late 1920s, when William Randolph Hearst, owner of several successful magazine titles and newspapers in America, fell in love with it. Mr. Hearst seemed to have an absolute love affair with castles and things medieval, and fortunately for him, had the money to indulge such an expensive habit. Even worse than skiing, for a cost to enjoyment ratio in a hobby! (more…)

Who knew that the immortal and omniscient B-52s, in their 80s anthem Love Shack, would write a line that not everyone could relate to?!!! Impossible for such genius ;-) Seriously though, not many people might have thought about the fact that different cultures view slamming doors or knocking loudly on doors differently… it is always the smaller things that affect you most when you are in an unfamiliar place. For a Thai student in Britain, the constant banging of doors around her living space is driving her understandably crazy!

“…British students and wardens are so insensitive to banging doors. Why or are they insensitive to this thing? Or I, as a Thai who in general prefers soft and gentle approach, am too sensitive about this little thing? Banging doors I have experienced daily start from the reception area of the hall. Everytime the doors shut the loud bang can be heard a hundred yards away. It seems a warden who is in the reception kiosk pays no attention. Or she/he is just get used to it?…”

She must feel stuck in a world where everybody is loud, rude and insensitive, because in Thailand, slamming a door is only done when you are especially angry. I can vouch for the fact that this is the case in Australia, also. I am also sympathetic to the fact that it wakes her up in the middle of the night. As a fellow light sleeper and difficult –to-go-back-to-sleeper, I hate barking dogs and slamming doors!

Aside from this, all the banging jars your handle mechanisms, weakens your hinges and ultimately damages the structure of your door and house! The same problem is sometimes encountered with door knockers… huge heavy ones that make a much louder noise than necessary can both disturb other people, and weaken your door.

Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, I suppose  :-)

Photo credits: The Sound…of silence by Jeremy Plemon