Mary Ellen Polson

Products of the Week

Hand-sanded and hand-finished solid white oak, cherry, and mahogany cabinets, dressers, tables, chairs, beds, and armoires.

Kitchen Cabinetry

Crown Point Cabinetry offers custom cabinets for period style kitchens, baths, offices, laundry rooms, home bars and more. Styles include Shaker, Arts & Crafts, Early American, Victorian and Transitional.

Cork, Linoleum, VCT, Vinyl Flooring

Leading global player in high-quality, commercial floor coverings and total solution flooring projects that include Linoleum, Vinyl, Luxury Vinyl Tiles, Flocked Flooring Carpet Tiles and Needlefelt.

Simple thumb latches and an H-L hinge look just as authentic as the ancient stairs on this Colonial house.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

The forms of reproduction hardware may look familiar, but the techniques used to make these pieces have changed dramatically.

A quintessential colonial revival entrance hall is complete with a raised-panel wainscot and bold moldings.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

Bare but for a thin skin of paint, modern walls are a stylistic aberration. For most of our history, the lower wall has been decently dressed in decorative paneling and various wainscoting styles.

A custom replication of an 1890 design by Al Bar-Wilmette Platers.

Hardware Guides

What makes one brand of door hardware better than another—especially if they’re all but identical in style?

Despite the amount of glass, these triple-glazed french doors from JELD-WEN could qualify for Federal energy tax credits.

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Looking to cut your energy costs and perhaps score a tax credit? Plenty of period-friendly windows and doors meet the new standards.

Low bell lights add atmosphere and safety to terraced steps. Photo: Chris Considine

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Light the way—and your home’s architectural details—with well-placed landscape lighting.

Inspired by a billiard fixture, the ‘North’ from Rejuvenation is casual yet period over a kitchen counter.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

Whether your taste runs to colonial wire-arm chandeliers or hammered copper with mica shades, period-inspired lighting is easy to love. But are reproductions really functional in this age of halogen lamps and organic LEDs?

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A wainscot of painted blind-nailed planks dates to the 1700s.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

Bare but for a thin skin of paint, modern walls are a stylistic aberration. For most of our history, the lower wall has been decently dressed in decorative wood paneling.

A linoleum floor with a confetti pattern and a simple border is a cheerful complement to this 1940s kitchen.

Kitchen Furnishings & Appliances

The hardest-working surface in the house deserves good cover.

Bathroom Furnishings & Fixtures

Clear glass may not do the trick in a bathroom. But you shouldn’t sacrifice light, ventilation, or beauty in the quest for seclusion—not when so many period-friendly options await.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

The definition of “Americana” has shifted since a first wave of interest ca. 1820, but nostalgic collecting has always been diverse and tied to our enjoyment of artifact.

Flooring takes the brunt of surface wear and tear, but woodwork gets its share of abuse as well. (Photo: Fotolia.com/Ruggiero Scardigno)

Repairs & How To

Old-growth wood trim and flooring may last practically forever, but finishes are ephemeral. They need refreshing when they begin to look worn and dirty.

Repairs & How To

Want a safe, efficient fireplace? Make sure the chimney is in tiptop condition.

Brick is a stalwart, almost always appropriate for use around an old house.

Old House Gardens & Exteriors

Wood columns, balustrades, and even fretwork can last decades provided they’re cut from long-lived, dimensionally stable wood with a low moisture content.

Repairs & How To

Porch season is in full swing—a perfect reason to refresh your garden structures and outdoor railings.

A six-panel door on a colonial-era house is topped with a transom of bullseye glass.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

Whether welcoming guests at the entry or hiding the contents of a closet, traditional doors are a key element of period millwork.

Minimize the impact of a built-in dishwasher by hiding it behind a panel matching the rest of the cabinets.

Kitchen Furnishings & Appliances

Hiding the appliances was standard practice for period-inspired kitchens, but that’s no longer the case. Market innovations allow you to choose among multiple approaches in your design.

Repairs & How To

Three DIY ways to give your front door a new look.

Another task on the Selenys' kitchen to-do list is to re-chrome their vintage Chambers stove.

Kitchen Furnishings & Appliances

Find someone near you who can restore your vintage stove or refrigerator with this state-by-state directory.

In the original great room of an Arts & Crafts house, very plain lamps on industrial arms throw light toward the beautifully stenciled ceiling. Antique lamps add ambiance.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

High-tech lighting illuminates places that period lamps don’t reach.

On new wide-plank pine boards in a ca. 1700 house, the edges were beveled down to make the floor look old.

Interiors & Decorative Accessories

Original wood floors are a prized feature—when they have survived. For those looking to approximate one, our experts explain what an authentic floor should look like.