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		Articles by Leigh and Leslie Keno appeared regularly in every issue of This Old House magazine under Find! On Furniture, Furnishings, Style and Design - and online at www.find-tv.com. Featured Articles Brass and Metal Beds: These Victorian-era favorites retain their charm Windsor Chairs: Simple and sturdy, these American classics still look right at home today He Said, He Said: Charles Honoré Lannuier helped bring 19th-century French tastes to American shores He Said, He Said: Talk about a successful campaign strategy - this furniture style wins hands down American Stoneware: These decorative folk-art objects prove that utilitarian doesn't have to mean plain Iron Clad: Antique hardware resonates with history, and looks as sharp mounted on a door as it does displayed as art Tilt-Top Tea Tables: These 18th-century antiques never went out of style He Said, He Said: A child's chair can sometimes be much more than child's play Shaker Furniture: With their clean lines and simple shapes, these pieces work in a variety of interiors He Said, He Said: A hope chest more valuable than its contents Adirondack Chairs: Facts and fiction about an American classic Antique Cupboards: These practical storage and display pieces add character to any interior Arts and Crafts Furniture: A century-old style that's a favorite once again Mid-Century Murano: Venetian glass from the 50's and 60's is a hot collectible today Collectible Chrome: Art Deco chrome pieces look as modern today as they did in their heyday Plastic Fantastic: Radios from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s have a wonderful retro-modern look Rags to Riches: First crafted from Victorian-era cast-offs, hooked rugs are folk art for the home The Art of the Frame: Carved, gilded, inlaid, or plain, vintage frames are worthy of a place on the wall - whether or not they hold a picture Million Dollar Masterpiece: Oil painting featured on Find! episode brings over $1 million at auction				He Said, He Said: The be-all and catchall for the 19th-century woman of style House Beautiful September, 2002 Before the kitchen junk drawer and the invention of plastic storage containers in every size, style, and color, there was the worktable, a piece of furniture designed with the mistress of the early-19th-century household in mind. Leslie Keno: This Federal mahogany and mahogany-veneered worktable dates from about 1805. Leigh Keno: It's my favorite Federal table. I remember it when it turned up in Southfield, Michigan, during the first year of Antiques Roadshow. We attributed the masterpiece to Duncan Phyfe, one of the most successful cabinetmakers in Federal New York. Leslie: Worktables were often kept in rooms used by the mistress of the household. They typically stored sewing and mending materials as well as writing and drawing implements. This piece is a hybrid - part table, part chest of drawers, part desk. It provided more options than a simple sewing basket or writing table. Leigh: Training in the domestic arts - drawing, painting, sewing, and needlework - was important for young ladies of polite society in early-19th-century America. Worktables became the command center of a woman's household activities. Leslie: When the top is lifted, it reveals an adjustable baize board flanked by recessed compartments, Amazingly, the original glass-and-pewter inkwells are intact. The lockable drawer would have contained paper and perhaps books. Leigh: Maybe a diary, too. If you remove the drawer, a board slides to expose a secret compartment. Perhaps this is where a young woman would have hidden love letters from suitor! Leslie: The storage area below is accessed by a side door that drops open, revealing two sliding trays that almost certainly held cloth, skeins of yarn, and spools of thread. Unfinished handiwork and garments in need of mending could also be stored here. Leigh: For a woman's convenience, the table had to be lightweight and manageable. It was usually fitted with castors so that it could be easily moved, perhaps near a window to take advantage of the light or close to a fireplace in wintertime. Leslie: It also has a candle slide: a recessed tray that extends from one side of the tabletop to support a candlestick. Leigh: The worktable is positively loaded with extra features: trays, lifts, slides, secret compartments, and only expensive mahogany, no secondary woods. Leslie: Not to mention fine exterior design: carved and ebonized animal-paw feet and luxurious patterning created by bookmatched veneers and crossbanding. Leigh: Phyfe was a master not only in making the piece highly functional, but in achieving such an incredible visual effect. His use of classical motifs is exceptional: the paw feet, lion's-head brass pulls, and sarcophagus form of the lower cabinet. This detailing represented the pinnacle of high style and expense in Federal New York. Leslie: If only it could talk! We might learn something about the woman who once displayed the piece in the best parlor of her home.
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