As you can see from the before-picture of this dining room/living room archway, someone had installed French doors in the entryway. Not being original to the house, the homeowner asked that we remove them altogether. A typical problem, though, resulted from this restoration. Patches of wood had been chiselled out so the hinges could be fit into the grooves. Removing the hinges left unsightly patches of missing wood.

Where have the patches of missing wood gone? We've made them disappear by skillfully "laying in" patches of oak wood, being careful to select wood with similar grain lines as those running through the side posts of the arch. The patch, as you can see, is almost invisible!

This window displays another problem--the problem of missing wood. This can happen because the wood was damaged or because it has weathered, or through abusive use. In this case, we selected a piece of wood that matched the wood that was damaged and we attached it in what is called a "scarf repair."