Opining on Pine
Everything you ever wanted to know about pine... but were afraid to ask: An interview with Knosen Antiques' Amanda Knorr.
About a month ago, I dragged my family about two (plus) hours from our house, deep into Western Maine, to buy and haul back a nine foot long, pine Shaker bench. Once we got home, the finish, which looked so perfect and lived-in on Facebook Marketplace, now appeared to be just grime after all and well, you know, lived-in. I washed a little corner of it with soap and water and confirmed: dirt. Now confronted with raw, unconditioned, somewhat neglected pine, it occurred to me that I really didn’t know the first thing about how to treat this piece of furniture properly. But, I was pretty sure I knew who did.
If you happen to have occupied a certain, specific corner of the internet over the past few years, as I have, you may have also spent quite a lot of time on Instagram drooling over Knosen Antiques’ incredible collection of English and European pine furniture. Like every other person, it really is the sleigh beds for me. So, I decided to reach out to Knosen’s very own Amanda Knorr to pick her brain about how she started her business, seller’s remorse, and living with antique pine.
First of all, who are you, what is the name of your business, and what do you do?
Hello! I’m Amanda Knorr, founder of Knosen Antiques, an online antique shop based in the Boston-area selling imported English and European furniture.
How did you get into selling antiques? What attracts you to the category?
It all began when I was searching for bedroom furniture for my son’s room. I’m constantly looking for special and unique pieces for our home, which often come in the form of antiques and vintage. For furniture, I gravitate towards antique pine. I love classic English and European styles—timeless and functional pieces with history and charm, ones that look like they came from a storybook. I was on the hunt for an antique sleigh bed here in the states for a long, long time (I’ve had many customers write to me to say the same). Those beds have since really become a staple for Knosen. I really wanted to be able to bring some of those harder-to-find pieces to the US, both for myself and others.
I was a style and beauty writer/editor for years, and then worked in marketing for a handful of independent brands. So my interest in storytelling around design has always been there and is definitely a common thread. Just prior to launching Knosen, I was also taking sustainability courses online and considered getting a masters degree. So this company is really where many of my interests intersect—giving new life to beautiful furniture that already exists in the world, and celebrating the story and history of these pieces.
How long have you been in this business?
I started this business mid-2020, and we all know what was going on then…no one was really traveling and it was a wild time to get involved with imports of any kind! I had to figure out how to do everything from afar, including sourcing, storage, and transportation of the pieces. Originally I was looking to ship only a partial container, but through sourcing, I met a couple who has been in the antiquing industry for decades in the UK—they helped me fill the rest of a full container and they have since become mentors and my trusty eyes and ears on the ground. That first container came over in 2021, and now we’re working on container number 5!
Pine! It’s all (mostly) pine. Please tell us what you find so compelling about this material. In other words: Why pine?
There’s so much to love about pine, let me count the ways... To start, pine had a slow rise to its current stardom. It’s always been used for furniture, but it’s a softwood (as opposed to hardwoods like oak, mahogany, and chestnut), so it’s cheaper and was considered less luxurious and desirable back in the day. Many pine pieces were painted over, sometimes even with a faux grain to mimic the more expensive woods. But I think that same unpretentiousness is what pine has going for it now—not only is it beautiful, especially as it ages, but it’s not too precious either. It’s cozy. It’s friendly. It plays well in the room with others!
When I buy, I like to look at form and function. Some antiques are more collectible and are meant to be looked at and not used too much, but I really stick to pieces that you want to touch, use, and interact with at home, and to me pine fits that bill. That’s how I like to decorate my own home too—approachable and homey, and nothing like a museum.
What are some of your all-time favorite pieces that you’ve found?
I’ve had so many favorites for different reasons. I’m very sentimental so sometimes it will be an emotional connection to a piece—say, the first bed I ever bought overseas, or a piece that represents an interaction I had with someone or a moment in time. Sometimes it’s a piece that just inexplicably speaks to me. That, or a piece that I know is really hard to find like a full-size bed, a giant original plate rack, an intricately hand-carved piece…those types of pieces are especially hard to let go of and I may have a few of those up my sleeve (and in my basement) that will resurface soon on the site because hoarding isn’t cute. Sometimes you get seller’s remorse, but then something else beautiful and really special comes along and you realize that you’ll love again (and again)!
What is your technique for restoring antique pine?
One thing that I think sets Knosen apart is our approach to restoring and refinishing—nearly every piece (and every single bed) is hand stripped, cleaned, and rewaxed, regardless of its found condition, even if it came with its own wax finish to start. So whether that piece was sourced from an individual, a fair, or another trusted dealer, it’s going to get this same treatment. I love the finish on my pieces and I work with a professional refinisher in the UK who is so incredibly talented. He works really hard on every piece, and everything is done by hand. Nothing is done in bulk (nothing is dunked and stripped in a tank) nor left “as is” with a streaky or splotchy finish.
Wood is such a dynamic material, almost like a living, breathing thing. It expands, contracts, warps, and cracks. If you’ve ever laid down new wood flooring in a house you’ll know that it needs to go through an acclimation period, where it just sits there for a bit and gets used to the room’s climate to see if it does anything funky before setting it into place. Antiques can be just like that. Waxing them provides them with a protective barrier that has a really nice feel to it and enhances the grain’s natural beauty. Nearly every piece I bring over is waxed—no parched pine around here! Of course some amount of splitting and dryness at home is just inevitable.
Containers can get really humid on the ships, and so there’s often some amount of condensation on the pieces when they arrive. My first container arrived at my home in February 2021, so it was freezing here in Massachusetts, and those pieces went straight from a cold and humid container on their voyage to a much warmer and drier space. I thought that would be nice for the pieces, thinking: “ohh you poor things come in from the cold!”...but no. You don’t want to shock the pieces. They can even pop loudly as they shift. When I realized this, I was running around opening windows and shutting off my heat so that they could ease in properly. The UK, where most of the pieces have lived their whole lives, is also generally more humid and has less dramatic seasonal changes than Boston, so coming here is a transition no matter what.
What do you recommend in terms of conditioning?
The wax used on my pieces is typically Briwax or Mylands. I honestly have not done a lot of refinishing myself mainly because all of the pieces come to me already freshly waxed. I’ve also found that excellent refinishing really is an art form. That said, I’ve definitely dabbled with touching up a piece or two and applying a new coat of wax. If I like the color of the piece, I will usually go with a clear wax—it’s hard to mess up a clear coat! Unless a piece is being heavily handled, you should be able to go many years without needing to reapply a wax. For tables we typically coat the top with a clear sealant instead of wax, since it guards better against spills.
Any other tips/tricks for living with pine furniture?
I would say if you can avoid it, don’t push wood furniture directly up against a heat source (a radiator, baseboard, or vent blowing warm air). Just create a bit of space/distance to prevent it from drying out too quickly. But also sometimes it can’t be avoided. For instance, my son’s bed is right near a warm air vent because it’s on the only wall that works for a bed, so don’t sweat it too much. If your house is drier you may see cracks grow and some shrinkage happen, but I just try to roll with it—it’s a creature, this pine. And also, I try to remember that if I wanted something “perfect”, it wouldn’t be an antique!
Thank you Amanda!! Pals: Mark your calendars for 11/18 and 12/2, when that fifth container of sweet, sweet, pine goes live on the Knosen Antiques site.
Listings
If you happen to miss that Knosen fifth container (I’m serious about the calendar thing—they sell fast!), here’s some pine in Montecito (LINK), Chicago (LINK), Oregon (LINK), New York (LINK), and Connecticut (LINK).
Would reconsider my (personal, you do what you do) stance on becoming a van mom, if I could have this. (LINK)
Another great sink up here in Maine! (LINK)
I spy a very exciting optometrist’s sign in Philly. (LINK)
Last Thing
I think I was a market editor in a former life because I love gift guides and knowing what all the things are out there in the marketplace. That said—everyone is making gift guides. ‘Tis the season. Not necessarily with that Treehouse perspective and flair you’ve come to expect, nevertheless…