Researched. Restored. Documented.
Acanthus Home is an independent antique furniture studio on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, founded in 2024. We restore, research, and document one-of-a-kind nineteenth and early twentieth century furniture, and we present every piece with its object record: what survives, what changed, what is known, and what remains unknown.
Why Acanthus Home Exists
I established Acanthus Home because I believe old objects are worth keeping.
Many nineteenth and early twentieth century furnishings were made with a level of care that is difficult to find today. They were not made to follow trends; they were made to remain.
I grew up watching my mother and both my grandmothers move through estate sales, auctions, and private homes. They recognized value where others had stopped looking. That was my first education, not simply in antiques, but in paying attention.
I later studied anthropology and spent two decades in aerospace and defense, where observation, documentation, and disciplined decision-making were part of everyday work. Those habits continue to shape how I approach every object that enters the collection.
Acanthus Home took shape during COVID, when I began using my grandmothers' china and crystal every day instead of reserving them for special occasions. My children quickly accepted what had once seemed unusual. Those objects became part of ordinary family life, and ordinary days became richer because they were used rather than protected. That experience changed how I thought about heirlooms. They are not meant to wait for important moments. They become meaningful by remaining part of everyday life.
That belief is the foundation of this studio. Every object here was part of a life before it was part of a collection, and the work is to make it ready for another.
How We Work
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Every object is examined in hand before any work is considered. Construction, condition, evidence of use, and later alterations are read first, because an object carries its own account of how it was made, how it was used, and how it has continued through time. Sometimes its history is documented. Often it is not. Where the evidence ends, interpretation ends with it.
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The goal is never to make an object look new. Some pieces require structural restoration. Others ask for very little, because age and use remain part of what they have to tell us. Missing elements are replaced when their absence interrupts how the object is understood or used. Every decision is made individually, with the object setting the direction, and every intervention is disclosed.
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The collection is assembled one piece at a time. Each object is researched, restored when appropriate, documented, and then presented. The object record travels with it, so the next owner receives not only the object itself but what has been learned about it.
Where We Are, and How Buying Works
Acanthus Home is based on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California (our mailing address is in Rolling Hills Estates, one of the four cities on the Peninsula). We do not currently maintain a public showroom or offer in-person appointments; every piece is presented, discussed, and purchased online, with complimentary white-glove delivery throughout the contiguous United States.
Buying an antique online should never require guesswork. We are glad to send additional photographs of any detail, and for any piece we offer a live video walkthrough, on camera, drawers open, so you can examine it as closely as you would in a showroom. Our return policy applies to every purchase.
If you have questions about any piece in the collection, I welcome your inquiry. Every email is answered personally.
Shira
Founder, Acanthus Home Palos Verdes Peninsula, California
