Tim Heffernan and Clark Hodgin

After restoring wood in April’s D.I.Y. column and refinishing metal in May’s, I joked that we might stick with the elemental theme and do earth next. Well, here we are: This month we’re getting into the dirt with indoor and outdoor gardening projects that you can accomplish whether you live in an apartment or a

Last month in this column, we restored an abandoned wood desk to its original glory with some sandpaper, a couple of stain pens and a putty knife. It looked great and was a lot of fun to do, so this month I thought we might try refurbishing the various metals you’ll find around your home.

So far in our D.I.Y. series, we’ve hung things on walls, patched the holes we’ve made, and fixed squeaky floors. It’s time to have a little fun. This month, we’ll bring some old furniture back to life.You probably have a piece of furniture that’s in need of a little T.L.C. — a family heirloom, or