Brian Miller entered the finishing business in 1975 when he learned the intricacies of mixing colors while working at All West Paint in Reseda, California. Eventually, Brian started his own contracting company specializing in wood finishing and custom painting.
In the early 1990s, Brian taught himself all about chemicals and dyes after reading George Frank’s fascinating landmark book, Classic Wood Finishing, on the topic. He bought dozens of additional older books (some from the 1800s) to learn more and also spent countless hours in his garage experimenting with recipes. A tour of the Gamble House in Pasadena—a national historic landmark designed in 1908 by Charles and Henry Greene and long considered a jewel of the American Arts and Crafts movement—inspired Brian to expand into historical preservation work.
Among the many architectural treasures he has restored are several Greene & Greene homes, including the interior and exterior of the famed Blacker House, as well as Charles Greene’s personal home. For the Huntington Library and Museum in Pasadena, Brian did the finishing work for a permanent exhibit featuring a reproduction of the dining room designed by the Greene brothers for the Robinson House. He has also restored the woodwork on several of the Wright family’s homes (both father Frank Lloyd and son Lloyd).
Currently, Brian’s work entails both historical preservation and new projects. His unrivaled ability to match colors and patinas keeps him in demand as both a painter and wood finisher.
Since 2002, Brian has been an adjunct faculty member in the Woodworking Technology department at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California, where he teaches a wood finishing course he designed.
Both the California state legislature and the Pasadena Historical Society honored Brian in 2016 for his historic wood preservation work.
Marci Slade Crestani is a former lifestyle columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News. As a freelance journalist, she wrote for Family Circle, Bride’s, and Popular Woodworking, among many others. She has served as executive editor of Flowers—a magazine for the floral trade industry—and as acquisitions editor for numerous medical trade magazines.
Her recent book, Halfway to Dead: After 50, You Just Have to Laugh, is a collection of thought-provoking and humorous essays on all aspects of aging.
In 2008, Marci enrolled in an Introduction to Woodworking class at Cerritos College to indulge her curiosity about making something out of wood. Intending to take just this one course, she is still a student there—admittedly a very slow one. She eventually took Brian Miller’s wood finishing course and he gave her the knowledge (and more importantly, the courage!) to take her projects to the next level by coloring them.
Marci attributes her love of reading and writing to her mother, Carol Slade, and her love of woodworking and craftsmanship to her father, Gordon Slade.
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