LA Times Home & Garden Roundup 04.11.09Los Angeles

Our Spring Cure's been talking about protein vs. carbohydrate furniture: the stuff that lasts vs the disposable, trendy stuff that looks good for a year or two. This week's Los Angeles Times Home & Garden section takes a look at the former, from a craftsman that constructs furniture the old-fashioned way to a place that can recane the seats in those Thonet chairs you found at the flea market. Plus there's a look at the home of couple in Manhattan Beach and some tips from them on tabletop arrangements. More on these stories, pictures and links to the articles on the Los Angeles Times website, after the jump...

Furniture making unplugged: Patrice Pinaquy, a master furniture craftsman, doesn't only build furniture that resembles fine antiques from the 17th century but uses antique tools and 17th century techniques to keep the legacy of elegant hand-craftsmanship alive. The native of Biarritz, France learned the craft of furniture making because, as he points out, "I didn’t want to make something that came out of Levitz".

Living for art: Homeira and Arnold Goldstein's Manhattan Beach home:
The Manhattan Beach home of Homeira and Arnold Goldstein is overflowing with their vast collection of avant-garde California artists including a sculpture by Lynn Aldrich, a single-engine airplane wing covered with feathers that hangs from the second-floor ceiling over the main floor below.

Homeira Goldstein's tabletop tips: Homeira Goldstein's elegant soirees and tabletop settings -- a mix of high and low, real and fake -- are legendary. Here she shares some of her tips and tricks from place settings to centerpieces, napkins, china and lighting.

Cane & Basket Supply is full of dream weavers: The first in an installment of a new feature profiling the Southern Californians who repair, restore and refurbish elements of the home takes on Cane & Basket Supply which we profiled a year ago.

[images: Stefano Paltera for LAT; Ken Hively for LAT; via LAT and Homeria Goldstein Co.; Jay L. Clendenin for LAT]