I've been there several times and LOVE it! I posted a link a long time ago so it's nice to see it referenced again. Actually, they aren't all wood wood carvings. What Bruno does is find interesting bits of wood and adds clay to them. Bruno is a sweetheart! He's let us watch him work and gives tours of his studio. I also see him every so often at the local flea markets. Marysville is a beautiful town and I even once asked DH if we could move there - it looks like the eastern part of Pennsylvania, very wooded. He's an amazing artist and always adding to his 'garden'. You can spend the whole day there; it's just that peaceful. I've never been there when there were people about so usually me & DH have the whole place to ourselves. Magical.

I don't think there is a quick site solution to what you are asking for. My morning coffee reading for the past two years has started on gardenweb and taken off from there, using links and keyword searches in google. It's been a lot of fun, and I've figured out many things that will be useful to me. One of the first things we did when we bought our house was to have all the old, smoke-stinky wallpaper taken out. It was from the 1980's. If it had been from the 1880's when the house was built, I might have tried to keep it. Anyway, I can't remember if it was apartmenttherapy or gardenweb that put me on to Farrow&Ball paints, but I hate to think what might have happened if I had not used their stabilising primer on my 120 y.o. bare plaster walls. Apparently old plaster can be extremely alkali, and can cause all kinds of problems when you go to paint. The primer I used neutralized and "fixed" the plaster, so that paint systems could go on without being subject to some alkali chemical reaction. Also the colors were great for a historic home. So this was one little tidbit I picked up from my browsing that was a big help. Another think I figured out over time was the use of solatubes. I did not think I could use them in this house, because the main places I would want them (kitchen and conservatory) are on a lower floor of the house. But in my browsing I just recently noticed they can have a 20' run and still be quite bright. And what could be more appropriate for a conservatory than natural sunlight pouring in. (Incidentally, the tube diameter is 10 3/4", a challenge to run through the second floor, but I have a plan to make it work.) So, I don't live on the ocean or operate a lighthouse, but I'm gonna have a least 4 Fresnel lenses in my house. How cool is that? Reading Victorian house blogs has been very useful to me. Craig and Yvonne's, The Devil Queen, and especially the Petch House are all great blogs to check. Greg over at the Petch House is wonderfully meticulous in both his execution and in his writing about it. Some of these blogs have lists of links to other old house reno blogs. Reading about what other people have done to their houses over time has given me a wonderful sense of the flow and natural order of work on these houses, and what some of the unexpected twists and turns might be. From reading these I've decided to have a consult with a structural engineer before I do any more to my house. Also, from reading modvic.com, I decided to have an architect use 3D software to model my house as-is and as-planned, down to plumbing run locations for any remodeling. Modvic was a great restoration, but they did not have a computerized 3-d model of the house, and ran into issues both when placing a new stairway, and some plumbing runs. i think the cost and delay resulting was much more than what it costs to have someone come out and measure and plunk it into a computer program. Lessons learned. I think you might enjoy the renewable energy for the home forum here on gardenweb. I spend the most time in the old house forum, then kitchens and baths, and finally, home decorating. Ah, home decor, that elevated place you get to when all the functions of the house are in order and you can turn your eyes to the icing on the cake. What luxury to think about curtains instead of new 20 amp circuits. "What should I put on my mantel for the most eye-pleasing effect?" instead of "how the heck do I get this fireplace working and mantel restored?" Someday I will be there. And to me, no discussion of home decorating is complete without mention of the Cote de Texas blog. Finally, somebody who writes about home decor in terms that an engineer can understand. Check out her top ten #4 entry on curtains. Finally, I know why something looks right to me, in very clear terms and boundaries. So, I don't think there is one place you can go to read and find what you want to know in an afternoon. I think it's more of an evolving process, and an enjoyable one. Best of luck!

"... is there such a thing as cottagey craftsman farmhouse, lol?" Mine! Although all of the original trim was replaced by the PO in the early 1980's with ... weathered gray barn siding. He even did shiplapped oak barn siding on the walls in the LR, and added gray sculptured carpet to match. With all the gray, that dude was ahead of his time, but I found it depressing, and cleaning that rough siding was not on my to-do list. We covered the shiplap with sheetrock so that the walls would be smooth, and I've used paint in the colors I mentioned above. I have mostly cream-painted cabinets and beadboard in the more cottage-influenced kitchen. The rooms we've added are more cottage style, but I've often thought about adding some wooden 'beams' to the ceiling to make the LR more Craftsman, and replacing the painted barn siding trim with a nice stained wood. My furniture is mostly earth tones, which matches the Craftsman vibe. I'd love to be able to afford some Batchelder tiles for the FP surround.

If I had to guess, I would tell you that what you're looking at is a ribbon striped veneer and I would guess it's Teak. Mineral streaks in the wood appear as stripes of different shades. Teak has proven a very popular interior decorative wood for at least the last fifty years. The important question is whether it's natural or what is called "reconstituted teak", a man-made real wood product that boasts very even stripes, wide or narrow, and very even colors, with no natural defects whatsoever. Made in 4x8 and 4x10 foot sheets, it's a very attractive but relatively inexpensive veneer (compared to solid, natural teak). I'm pretty certain that what you're looking at is a reconstituted veneer applied to a secondary wood that might be almost anything. I agree that the furniture may be "good stuff" but if I'm right that it's a recon Teak veneer, no matter how much you love it you don't want to overpay.