BrianSiano's Profile

Now that ApartmentTherapy's covering Philadelphia, may I give a mention to another, equally great city park?

Clark Park is located in the "streetcar suburb" area of West Philadelphia, a genuine community heart surrounded by Victorian twins. There are massive Farmer's Markets every Saturday run by the Food Trust, monthly Flea Markets run by th Uhuru Solidarity Committee, and summers full of events ranging from music festivals to performances of Shakespeare.

The Friends of Clark Park maintains a website at http://www.clarkpark.info, and for a taste of the place, have a l;ook at a video I made about two years ago:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1474992351211031065

The first, easy suggestion: Rent a storage facility, and urge your wife to move her unused stuff there. That way, she still _has_ it, but it's out of the way.

The second, less-easy suggestion: Read up on "collectors." People who never throw anything away. People who accumulate and accumulate out of what they _think_ is thrift, but isn't. The extreme versions are people with houses stuffed full of ancient newspapers with thin goat-trails between the teetering piles.

Sorry if this isn't polite, but this could become a severe problem for you and your wife.

Minwax stains will work fine, BUT: if you want a really Craftsman/Stickley style stain, with that classic dark grain that makes quarterawn oak look wonderful, do NOT just stain it. They used a method of "fuming" the wood with ammonia, which gets the grain very dark. It's not an easy process, and it's best left up to professional finishers. (http://www.rockler.com/blog/index.cfm?commentID=210)

Woodworking magazines and websites have lots of information on getting that look without fuming. You may want to consult the works of Michael Dresdner on the subject.
http://books.google.com/books?id=hzBxAOfIzosC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=oak fuming dresdner&source=web&ots=nJU-HQK4M1&sig=69qT6KUfxCIXz4HXGIB22M1hFWs

Good luck!