When paint gets old it crackles -- sort of like my brother's varicose veins. And since someone is always trying to come up with ways to make things look old, it's only natural that paint would somehow be included. One of the easiest-to-achieve antique paint effects is crack-painting. All you have to do is spread a coat of wood glue onto any surface, wait about an hour, but not more than four hours, and apply a coat of flat latex paint over the glue. Flat latex paint is the only kind of paint that is guaranteed to crackle, and will do so within minutes. The fresh paint will begin to crackle and appear as if it had been there for a century or more. If you're uncomfortable using white or yellow wood glue, you can purchase a product called "Crackle Medium." It's used in the same way as the glue is, but costs about three times as much. Basically it's glue. And that's the On The House tip for today.