Not-so-oldies but ‘Roadshow’ goodies

So the chair that once belonged to your great-great-grandfather didn’t turn out to be a Chippendale, and the bronze pig that your aunt bought at a yard sale last week for $10 is actually worth ... 50 cents. How else to get the true “Antiques Roadshow” experience?

For starters, Carol Prisant’s “Antiques Roadshow Primer” (Workman Publishing Co., $19.95) features examples of finds from the TV program and offers tips on determining the value of everything from jewelry to rugs. Fans of card games might want to seek out Antiques Roadshow: The Game, which tests players’ appraisal skills, and has itself become a somewhat hard-to-find item since Hasbro stopped making new copies of it last year. And, of course, there’s the show, now in its seventh season on PBS.

But if you really want to eat and sleep “Antiques Roadshow,” the Pulaski Furniture Corp. offers a 65-piece collection inspired by the series, and it’s set for a 40-item expansion to be announced this month.

The furniture line includes reproductions of valuable items discovered among the flotsam and jetsam lugged in by “Roadshow” fans, such as a Louis XV-style curio cabinet that surfaced at a stop in Las Vegas in 2000. Other pieces are originals that merely riff on antiques, such as a pine accent chest with scrimshaw cameos done on a composite material instead of whalebone.

Each piece comes with a hangtag featuring a photograph and brief history of the classic that inspired it. Prices range from a few hundred dollars to $4,350 for a grandfather clock based on an 18th century timepiece.

The Virginia-based company’s Web site, www.pulaskifurniture.com, claims they will be “the heirlooms of tomorrow.” Set your TiVo for sometime early next century to see if that comes true.

The next time you walk into a room and wonder whence that citrusy scent is coming, don’t assume it’s one of those plug-in air fresheners or, heaven forbid, actual lemons and oranges. Instead, it could be emanating from the walls and ceiling.

At least that’s the hope of Scentco, the maker of Paint Pourri, a product that can be added to latex or latex enamel products for what it calls some long-lasting “A-Room-A-Therapy.”

Simply stir the 1-ounce package into a gallon of paint, apply and you’ll have a space that smells like citrus, vanilla, wildflowers, lavender, the ocean, “tropical winds,” “airy fresh” or “simply clean.”

Though it might sound like a good idea for those who hate the smell of fresh paint, make sure you’re willing to live with the masking scent for a while: In large areas, the fragrance can last six months and in smaller areas up to a year, according to the company.

-- Scott Sandell