Period Rooms, Interiors & Period Decoration It is mainly in living room furniture arrangement that we meet with period requirements, for in the general run of modern houses there is little or no attention paid to the strictly period room, and if any period decoration is considered, it is restricted generally to the living room and dining-room. The fundamental principles apply to all period rooms. The architectural background and the lines of the furniture should harmonize. For example: Jacobean oak furniture goes into an Elizabethan oak paneled room, likewise Italian and Spanish furniture which conforms to the same general outline and style. The lines are simple, direct and rectangular. There is a kinship or a harmonizing contrast that gives the room character. Because their construction is massive, all-over upholstered pieces are well suited to such rooms. In fitting furniture to its architectural background there are to be considered the points of (1) contour and proportion; (2) design and decorative detail; (3) color of wood. The first two points are obviously necessary; it is in the last that the furnishing of many rooms fails. Oak and mahogany do not mix amicably; one does not set off the other because there is not sufficient contrast, nor are they closely enough allied to harmonize. On the other hand, black ebony and yellowish burr walnut, such as is used in inlaying seaweed pattern in oak, are examples of harmony gained through contrast. If one has mahogany furniture and is obliged to mix it with walnut or oak, there is only one solution for the problem: scrape the mahogany and finish it in walnut stain. Next Page: Drawing Room Furniture. |
