Fine veneered furniture that has developed cracks can be taken to a restorer, who likely will fill the cracks with melted shellac carefully tinted to match the surrounding wood.

Next to the kitchen there is a bedroom and a sort of living room, used only on special occasions, whitewashed, arranged with veneered furniture from the turn of the 19th century.

Newer veneered furniture usually has glue that cannot be softened and rehardened.

The same neutral carpet but thick-piled instead of thread- bare, the same cream paint but applied that year, not three decades ago, the same veneered furniture but new and waxed and substantial.

In Paris, before 1789, makers of veneered or marquetry furniture (ébénistes) belonged to a separate guild from chair-makers and other furniture craftsmen working in solid wood (menuisiers).

MENDING veneered furniture is a picky job, one tailor-made for whiling away winter weekends.

Fine veneered furniture, particularly antiques, should be taken to a professional restorer.

Today many people are apt to view veneered furniture with disdain because some pieces are made of cheap particle board veneered with a thin sheet of hardwood.

But fine veneered furniture, especially antiques, should be taken to a professional restorer.