| When you chat with a home decorator about the | | | | Chippendale (name of a furniture maker): : This |
| various styles that have been popular throughout the | | | | furniture was designed to a generous scale - the |
| years, you hear a lot of terminology that you might not | | | | Chippendale chairs are considered more "masculine" |
| be too familiar with, or that you've only read about in | | | | than the Queen Anne chairs. |
| books. | | | | Hepplewhite and Sheraton: These two furniture |
| These classic styles are old - from 500 years onward | | | | makers were competitors fro a time. Their furniture |
| - but there is an old saying... everything old is new | | | | was made from 1775 to 1800. Hepplewhite featured |
| again, much as with clothing styles. Any of these styles | | | | "Well-scaled" chairs with a distinctive shield-shaped |
| can be combined with the more modern styles to | | | | backs, while Sheraton furniture is delicate, with |
| create wonderful living spaces. | | | | "neoclassic elements and design motifs." |
| In this article I discuss classic styles from England and | | | | Adam is in the reference books, but I've never heard it |
| France. | | | | described in the classic cozy English murder mysteries |
| Styles from England The Renaissance style from Italy | | | | that I read so avidly. However, their furniture is |
| didn't reach England until about 100 years after they'd | | | | described as "finely designed, delicately scaled, and |
| already had their day in Italy...arriving during Tudor and | | | | elaborately detailed." The colors are their most |
| Elizabethan times. (Tudor times start from Henry VII, | | | | distinctive feature - dulled blue, pale yellow-green light |
| who obtained the throne in 1485, and Elizabethan times | | | | grey, and lavender. |
| started when Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, | | | | The Victorian period, named after Queen Victoria, of |
| and ended with her death in 1603). | | | | course, started the trend toward factory-made, rather |
| These styles are identified by its furniture: | | | | than hand-made furniture, thus making it affordable to |
| Queen Anne (1702-1714): The furniture created in this | | | | the newly arising middle class. |
| decade featured curvilinear design and Oriental | | | | Styles from France Louis XIV: Characterized by |
| influence. | | | | large-scale furniture, lots and lots of ornamentation, and |
| Georgian (named after King George): Again, those | | | | a strong color contrast. |
| classical details from Greece and Rome, influenced | | | | Regency: According to experts, this style lasted from |
| these designs. (In actual fact, Rome borrowed its | | | | 1700-1730. Economy of design was the watchword, |
| designs from the Greeks.) | | | | graceful scrolls and curves. |