Youtube: Victorian Interiors

I liked this video a lot because she went in different Victorian style homes and talked about their different interior styles. She talked about the Industrial Revolution and how that led to them having a lot of ornate furniture since it was all quickly made by machines.They also used tall doorways and grand staircases. They continued to talk about how Victorian style liked to use patterns which was commonly found in wallpapers and stain glass windows. The part I found most interesting was when she talked to someone about how Victorian style houses used a lot of fake materials.

American Period Blog Response

This week I looked at Lindsay and Megan's blogs.

I liked how Lindsay's blog talked about the different countries and styles that inspired American style. I had never thought about this before so it was interesting to read about. I especially like the Spanish inspired homes. The Colonial Spanish house she pictured was my favorite.

Colonial Spanish house from Lindsay's blog.

Megan's blog focused on Colonial American style. I liked how she focused on the specific types of houses from this time such as the plantation houses, French Colonial houses, and Dutch style houses. My favorite were the plantation style houses. I love all of the columns on the front of the building.

This was my favorite of her plantation style house pictures.

American Period: Furniture

What I Learned

Furniture was a huge part of the American period so I decided to focus my blog entry on that aspect.

Some characteristics of Federal American furniture include arm chairs that have curved armrests and straight legs. Daybeds were also popular at this time as were some neoclassical motifs such as lyres, harps, and crowns of laurel leaves. The American eagle was also popular at this time. 

Duncan Phyfe was a popular furniture craftsman. He was a Scotsman who was best known for Regency-Empire style. Daybeds were one of his specialties. He used ornamental fittings on his furniture such as metal claw foot tips on table legs. He was known for creating a simplified Klismos chair and sofas with rolled ends. He liked to use the lyre motif and cornucopia legs. Here are some examples of Duncan Phyfe chairs:

Lambert Hitchcock was another famous furniture maker from this time period. He was one of the first to employ production-line methods. Some of his chair characteristics included: black with gold paint, woven cane or rush seats, and stenciled designs of fruit, leaves, arrows, flowers, and eagles.

Hitchcock Chairs

Shaker style was also popular at this time. They believed in hard work and discipline as well as political and religious freedom. Shaker style had ladderback chairs which hung from rows of pegs 6 feet from floor and followed the principles of honesty, utility, and simplicity.

Ladderback chairs

My Favorites

Modern Applications