Okay, so this post is not strictly about doors, or even strictly about design … it is strictly about a photographer. But holy crackers, does he make doors look good! As well as chairs, walls, glasses of cordial on persimmon trays, crazy shrunken heads on sticks (okay, they might be made of wood and paint or some such, rather than flesh and bone… boring!). Guido Barbagelata is a 37 year old photographer from Milan, and specializes in products and home interiors, by the look of his portfolio. He can make your home come alive with its own particular palette - every room has its own individual...

We have a biggie for you this month! Some of you may already be Etsy converts, and some may be uninitiated - but Etsy really is a way of life and a great way to accent your home design in a unique way. Etsy is pretty much an open craft fair, but with plenty of products made by professionals, from new materials with excellent skills! Most of the products on Etsy are handmade, but there are some machine made items, or items that are sourced from somewhere other than the direct seller and their ‘handmade’ status can’t be verified. You can choose to search for a term within the...

If you are a period-style home renovator, a modern home renovator, an historian, someone with an interest in architecture, an architect, a man, a woman, black, white or something in between, then you should find this month’s Site of the Month fascinating! We have stumbled upon greatbuildings.com, a searchable database of hundreds of beautiful, striking, odd, crazy, gravity-defying and otherwise amazing buildings, the world over. You can search by a whole host of different criteria, including by Architectural Style, which makes this site an invaluable reference if you are doing your home...

By far the majority of our customers at Architectural Classics are remodeling their homes - that is generally the time when you think about replacing door knobs, knockers and other hardware throughout your home. And if you are like many ‘can-do’ people with only medium-deep wallets, you are probably thinking about doing some of the remodeling duties your self. That is why we have chosen HGTV as the site of the month! HGTV takes the idea that ‘if you are going to do something, you might as well do it properly’, and makes it their own … both with regard to the quality...

  As you’ve no doubt realised, (although only since discovering the Architectural Classics blog!), the Internet is occasionally useful for something other than sales and advertising! Our gem of a site for this month is buildingsofireland.ie, an effectively and simply designed register of architectural heritage in Ireland – home of our headquarters. In the future we’ll be looking at similar sites in other countries … but for now there are enough gorgeously composed, traditional buildings to satisfy any one of you! Part of being a great website is not only having a great idea, but...

Although it is sort of like giving away trade secrets, we felt we absolutely had to include this awesomely detailed, well set-out, clear, concise and above all, useful site in the blog! The BBC’s Homes area contains this very practical page, which details most things that you would want to know about a wide range of period styles, to make your traditional renovation more true-to-form and consistent.They include a range of styles, not just the traditional period styles – and definitely not only English period styles, although the site is, of course, English. Here is the list of decors you can...

You may have noticed recently in some of our product descriptions (if you have been a diligent renovator!), that many of them advise on what sorts of rooms particular pieces will work best in. The delicate and detailed feminine pieces are often linked with rooms filled with flowers and lace – the bold, strong malleable iron and modernist pieces are linked with sparse rooms filled with dark colours and leathery or knobbled fabrics. But! You don’t necessarily need to have those sorts of rooms already in your house to enjoy the pieces … of course you can create your own individual ideas in...

Here at Architectural Classics we know there is more than one way to skin a cat. No, don’t send your cats here! Definitely not! All I mean is that there is more than one way to make your home a testament to what has gone before … and while period door hardware is an endlessly beautiful way to do that, you can also do it with nothing more than a bit of creativity and your neighbour’s garbage bin. You can take that literally if you really want …! Another website that knows the value of junk and imagination is the site of the month, Recyclamps.com. Here you’ll find awesome recycled junk...

One of the stand out features of antique and reproduction pieces is the fact that they use materials that aren’t often seen any more – how often do you see objects made of pewter, copper brass, or even patinated brass in people’s homes? One of the others which has generally been lost to the passage of time is bronze – however at Dinsdale Petch (as well as at Architectural Classics!) the love affair continues. Like a golden or diamond marriage, it is an affair which is only made stronger by the passing of time! Dinsdale Petch make gorgeously detailed figurines, which can complement our...