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Styles of Furniture

blog.lostartpress.com

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Re: Styles of Furniture

#11

Post by rrr_oh_man »

AndrewDavis wrote: post #7
nkrisc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my personal experience, it’s about 50/50 this and lack of home ownership. Whenever I talk to someone 60+, with kids, who is downsizing out of the old family home they inevitably mention having to sell (or more likely scrap or donate) most of their old furniture because their kids either don’t want it or don’t own a home to put it in (and are renting somewhere too small). Many of their kids, people in my peer group…

I think it's a bunch of reasons but agree it's probably 50/50. I can certainly relate to having no where to put stuff when my grandparents passed away, so I took one item I could fit into my bedroom. Another reason is, the craftspeople to maintain this furniture is much rarer. I have a dressing table that was my great grandmothers. It's a beautiful piece and solid as a rock but it's showing wear and tear of daily use…

Wood working is much easier than it might look.

And it’s fun!

Re: Styles of Furniture

#12

Post by pmlnr »

TylerE wrote: post #3
tmnvix wrote: post #2

I find the history of furniture really interesting. Not just the changing styles, but also our relationship with it. As I understand it, it wasn't that long ago that a new homeowner would essentially go out and purchase a full set of furniture for their home and that was that. It was expensive. They kept it throughout their lifetime. It lasted. Sometimes furniture was inherited. It had real value and was considered a…

A lot of that furniture is just sorta irrelevant. 21st century adults don’t need secretaries or China cabinets, and most don't want any formal living room or dining room furniture. We don't have ROOM for it. We aren't our parents or our grandparents. We don't own 3000 sq ft detached homes.

> don’t need x

> don't have ROOM

These are not the same.

Re: Styles of Furniture

#13

Post by qq66 »

What I find most interesting is the pure literacy on display. This cabinetmaking instructor, admittedly a senior one, writes with more fluid grace than the average Harvard graduate today.

"At various periods during the history of this country, circumstances, and the skill of the craftsman, have combined to produce furniture and interior woodwork of distinctive styles, surviving examples of which are to be seen in museums and elsewhere. The artistic merit of much of this old work appeals to the taste of many people, who appreciate the use of its features in furniture and interiors, even in these days of novel design and ample choice."

Re: Styles of Furniture

#14

Post by morsch »

qq66 wrote: post #13

What I find most interesting is the pure literacy on display. This cabinetmaking instructor, admittedly a senior one, writes with more fluid grace than the average Harvard graduate today. "At various periods during the history of this country, circumstances, and the skill of the craftsman, have combined to produce furniture and interior woodwork of distinctive styles, surviving examples of which are to be seen in mus…

I agree that it's nicely written. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be reading about it 85 years later. So I wouldn't draw any conclusions about the average writing competency from it (survivorship bias).

Re: Styles of Furniture

#15

Post by navane »

panzagl wrote: post #5
TylerE wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of that furniture is just sorta irrelevant. 21st century adults don’t need secretaries or China cabinets, and most don't want any formal living room or dining room furniture. We don't have ROOM for it. We aren't our parents or our grandparents. We don't own 3000 sq ft detached homes.

I've thought about this for awhile and can't decide if it's because we've rightfully shaken off an uptight bourgeois culture of dinner parties, china, and china cabinets, or if it's because the people who think they're middle class have fallen so far down the well that they can't afford to even pretend they're rich any more.

We're all poor people in tiny homes who can't afford a room where we won't be -- just a room with nice things in it.

Re: Styles of Furniture

#16

Post by ghaff »

TylerE wrote: post #3
tmnvix wrote: post #2

I find the history of furniture really interesting. Not just the changing styles, but also our relationship with it. As I understand it, it wasn't that long ago that a new homeowner would essentially go out and purchase a full set of furniture for their home and that was that. It was expensive. They kept it throughout their lifetime. It lasted. Sometimes furniture was inherited. It had real value and was considered a…

A lot of that furniture is just sorta irrelevant. 21st century adults don’t need secretaries or China cabinets, and most don't want any formal living room or dining room furniture. We don't have ROOM for it. We aren't our parents or our grandparents. We don't own 3000 sq ft detached homes.

I'm not sure how common 3000 sq. ft. detached houses were in grandparents' days unless they were quite wealthy.

As you say though, a lot of furniture is sort of irrelevant. I have a decent-sized house (about 2000 sq. ft.) but don't really have a good place to put a large enough dining room table for more than a small group. My parents regularly had dinner parties for a dozen people in a formal dining room.

I do have moderately-sized groups over now and then but people either eat on their laps/at the coffee table in my smallish den/living room (old New England farmhouse which has been opened up somewhat but still tends towards smaller rooms). I have a couple of big heavy pieces of furniture from my parents but they're just out of the way upstairs to essentially store stuff. The main reason I even still have them is that they're out of the way and provide some useful storage.

Re: Styles of Furniture

#17

Post by JR1427 »

vundercind wrote: post #9
showerst wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two other big things: 1. Old well built furniture is _heavy_. This goes from being an asset to a liability if you're moving reasonably often. 2. Furniture tastes among the middle class changed dramatically sometime after maybe 1980? A large ornate wooden cabinet that would've been 'normal' if a little old fashioned any time from the 1880s to the 1970s suddenly looked terribly mismatched in a room full of minimalist w…

> 1. Old well built furniture is _heavy_. This goes from being an asset to a liability if you're moving reasonably often. Ehhhh… sometimes. Solid wood’s usually way lighter than the same thing built in particle board or plywood, though.

But you can usually take apart (at least a few times) modern flatpack furniture, making it easier to transport.

Re: Styles of Furniture

#18

Post by [deleted] »

TylerE wrote: post #3
tmnvix wrote: post #2

I find the history of furniture really interesting. Not just the changing styles, but also our relationship with it. As I understand it, it wasn't that long ago that a new homeowner would essentially go out and purchase a full set of furniture for their home and that was that. It was expensive. They kept it throughout their lifetime. It lasted. Sometimes furniture was inherited. It had real value and was considered a…

A lot of that furniture is just sorta irrelevant. 21st century adults don’t need secretaries or China cabinets, and most don't want any formal living room or dining room furniture. We don't have ROOM for it. We aren't our parents or our grandparents. We don't own 3000 sq ft detached homes.

[deleted]

Re: Styles of Furniture

#19

Post by mauvehaus »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #11
AndrewDavis wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a bunch of reasons but agree it's probably 50/50. I can certainly relate to having no where to put stuff when my grandparents passed away, so I took one item I could fit into my bedroom. Another reason is, the craftspeople to maintain this furniture is much rarer. I have a dressing table that was my great grandmothers. It's a beautiful piece and solid as a rock but it's showing wear and tear of daily use…

Wood working is much easier than it might look. And it’s fun!

Refinishing, on the other hand, is mostly not fun. The chemistry ranges from slow and ineffective to fast and not great to spend a lot of time around (and increasingly hard to buy as a muggle). Veneers on anything even semi-modern are paper-thin and you risk sanding through them. Nooks and crannies are a pain to get old finish out of, even with the help of chemistry.

And there's always the risk that someone used Pledge (or something else with silicone oil in it) on the piece in the past. Which you won't discover until you get the first coat of new finish on and get fisheye.

Upholstery, at least, can be fun. A lot of upholsterers do reupholstery work, and many are quite good at it. If at first you don't find someone who can do tied springs, keep looking; they're out there.

Re: Styles of Furniture

#20

Post by mauvehaus »

AndrewDavis wrote: post #7
nkrisc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my personal experience, it’s about 50/50 this and lack of home ownership. Whenever I talk to someone 60+, with kids, who is downsizing out of the old family home they inevitably mention having to sell (or more likely scrap or donate) most of their old furniture because their kids either don’t want it or don’t own a home to put it in (and are renting somewhere too small). Many of their kids, people in my peer group…

I think it's a bunch of reasons but agree it's probably 50/50. I can certainly relate to having no where to put stuff when my grandparents passed away, so I took one item I could fit into my bedroom. Another reason is, the craftspeople to maintain this furniture is much rarer. I have a dressing table that was my great grandmothers. It's a beautiful piece and solid as a rock but it's showing wear and tear of daily use…

If you're in the northeast US, I can put you in touch with an upholsterer who does the kind of work you're describing. My email is in my profile.
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