Gemma Comas
China, Crystal, and Silver
What to know: You can usually find the name or number of a china pattern on the back of a plate. Before you approach a manufacturer or a replacement service about matching a piece of cut or etched crystal, take a photo or wrap a sheet of lightweight paper around a glass and make a rubbing of the design with a soft pencil. For silver, take a photo or make a photocopy of both sides of a fork (the back may bear a trademark or other info). Your insurance company may also offer replacement services for these items.
Where to go: Replacements, Ltd. (replacements.com), which offers free searches, claims it has the world’s largest selection of dinnerware―10 million pieces, some more than 100 years old, in 200,000 patterns, all at market prices. If this service doesn’t have what you need, it will notify you if your missing piece is found.
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Gemma Comas
What to know: The manufacturer’s name is key. “Take the fabric apart at the hem or seam and look behind the lining,” says Juliana Catlin, owner of Catlin Interiors, an interior-design firm in Jacksonville, Florida. If the manufacturer is unknown, Catlin recommends taking a digital picture and e-mailing it to major fabric makers (start with the “sources” section at the back of home-decorating magazines) to see if they recognize it as theirs.
Where to go: There are many fabric sites worth a try (thefabricfinder.com, fabrics.net, rickrack.com). If you need help, Catlin suggests making inquiries at upscale furniture or department stores with interior designers on staff. “They’re often willing to take on smaller jobs,” she says. You can also seek referrals on the American Society of Interior Designers website (asid.org/find). If you have the time for the auction site eBay (ebay.com), refine your search by using specific terms (“Michael Miller floral print fabric”).
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Gemma Comas
What to know: Many large paint stores can custom mix a close or even exact match for your color. All that you need is a sample about the size of a quarter. Matching tile is oftentimes a much trickier proposition, although you do have a few options.
Where to go: Lowe’s (lowes.com) and Home Depot (homedepot.com) offer free paint-matching services. “We can make a match 80 percent of the time, or we can find something very close,” says German Rosario, a paint and flooring specialist at the Lowe’s store in Jersey City. If you need only one replacement tile, head to daltileproducts.com, where you can browse through more than 75 tile collections and request a sample from the nation’s largest manufacturer of tile and natural stone products. If you can’t find a match, consider removing a tile from an unnoticeable area, such as a lower corner. (Warning: You’ll probably have to break several tiles for every whole tile you remove.)
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