What rooms suit a classical inlay table?

These tables function effectively as centrepieces in entrance halls, living rooms, or studies, where their decorated surfaces remain visible from multiple angles. Occasional and tea tables offer versatile placement options beside seating. Larger console and side tables sit flush against walls, providing a stable surface for lamps or decorative objects while adding architectural presence to a room.

How do I care for inlaid wooden surfaces?

Protect the polished timber from direct sunlight to prevent the natural colour of woods like satinwood and mahogany from fading or shifting unevenly over time. Use coasters and avoid placing damp items directly onto the veneer. Apply a traditional beeswax polish occasionally to nourish the wood and maintain the lustre of the finish, avoiding modern silicone sprays that can damage historic polishes.

How can I tell a Georgian table from a later revival piece?

Georgian tables generally exhibit hand-cut construction details, native timber usage, and structural wear consistent with active daily use over two centuries. The joinery inside drawers and beneath tabletops shows specific manual tooling marks. Revival pieces from the Edwardian period often feature standardised machine-cut components, alternative secondary woods, and crisper preservation states that reflect late nineteenth or early twentieth-century manufacturing methods.

What is the difference between inlay and marquetry?

Inlay involves embedding pieces of contrasting material, such as boxwood, into hollowed-out recesses carved directly into a solid wooden surface. The surrounding timber remains the primary background. Marquetry assembles an entire pictorial or geometric pattern from various veneers on a backing sheet before applying the complete sheet to the surface of the furniture piece.