Styles of Furniture(blog.lostartpress.com)
blog.lostartpress.com
Styles of Furniture
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2024/05/05/the-styles-of-furniture/
39 comments
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 white and light wood items. The later success of IKEA and chains like Crate & Barrel only accelerated this.
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 white and light wood items. The later success of IKEA and chains like Crate & Barrel only accelerated this.
> 1. Old well built furniture is _heavy_.
My grandfather had an old dresser that was so heavy that me and another big dude couldn't pick it up. It was on the second floor and measuring the stairwell we realized we could not get it down. It was assembled with complex wood joinery and barely any screws were visible. Wound up having to smash it to pieces with a sledge hammer which mostly bounced off of it. We felt so bad having to do that but the house was being sold and no way was that thing was going down stairs. That thing was incredibly well built.
Compare that to a shitty particleboard Ikea book case I got 2nd hand from a friend where upon assembly a shelf fell and smashed every other shelf going down tearing the pegs from the particleboard essentially self destructing. Took me hours to glue it back together. Light though.
My grandfather had an old dresser that was so heavy that me and another big dude couldn't pick it up. It was on the second floor and measuring the stairwell we realized we could not get it down. It was assembled with complex wood joinery and barely any screws were visible. Wound up having to smash it to pieces with a sledge hammer which mostly bounced off of it. We felt so bad having to do that but the house was being sold and no way was that thing was going down stairs. That thing was incredibly well built.
Compare that to a shitty particleboard Ikea book case I got 2nd hand from a friend where upon assembly a shelf fell and smashed every other shelf going down tearing the pegs from the particleboard essentially self destructing. Took me hours to glue it back together. Light though.
> 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.
Ehhhh… sometimes.
Solid wood’s usually way lighter than the same thing built in particle board or plywood, though.
It sounded counterintuitive to me, but particle board seems in fact to be denser than its solid wood counterpart.
Thank you for this learning opportunity!
Thank you for this learning opportunity!
Old furniture isn’t engineered to use the minimum amount of material like modern furniture.
A lot of modern flatpack furniture isn't even particle board or plywood, it's structural cardboard. eg. https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/ka4jl6/t...
Modern solid-wood furniture makes use of lighter materials too. Sometimes the backboard will be thin particle board, or certain planks will be pretty thin. Or the drawers are made of much lighter wood, possibly veneered. Also, the designs are much less ornate.
So in general, your modern solid wood furniture AND cheap, flatpack stuff will be lighter that old well-built furniture.
Modern solid-wood furniture makes use of lighter materials too. Sometimes the backboard will be thin particle board, or certain planks will be pretty thin. Or the drawers are made of much lighter wood, possibly veneered. Also, the designs are much less ornate.
So in general, your modern solid wood furniture AND cheap, flatpack stuff will be lighter that old well-built furniture.
But you can usually take apart (at least a few times) modern flatpack furniture, making it easier to transport.
This is true—an IKEA Billy, say, is really heavy for the volume of material involved (compared with the same amount of oak, for example) but is designed for cheap + packs-flat, not to minimize weight. It does win on size and stackability, when disassembled.
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I'm sure there is still plenty of quality furniture being made, but being on a budget in my 20s they were out of reach. I brought a lot new furniture when I brought my first home and almost all of it fell apart within 10 years, some in a matter of years. Specifically Veneered MDF would chip and would often fall apart at joins. Plastic drawer rails would snap. If a kid climbed on them they had no structural strength and would bits. The thin back panels of cabinets would come away from the body or break off and reattaching every few years.
In recent years we've instead been picking up old furniture people are getting rid of (for free) and refurbishing it. The only thing I look for is that it's made of quality materials which isn't hard to find if the furniture is 30+ years old.
I think some people don't want old furniture because it looks dated, but the nice thing about refurbishing is that you can quite easily add modern touches – or just whatever style takes your fancy. Chairs can be equipped with modern pillows and a new finish. Or old cabinets can have new door handles, hinges and a modern paint job, etc. Apart from the furniture we want to look older, I doubt most people would even realise it's all 30+ years old.
Additionally all the furniture we have now can be refurbed when we want a new look and they actually last... It's more effort for sure, but it's nothing an amateur DIYer can do with a few tools and a bit of creativity. And if you don't need them anymore (because you're moving etc) people will happily pay good money for quality refurbed furniture. What people won't buy is some crappy 10 year old Ikea cabinet.
In recent years we've instead been picking up old furniture people are getting rid of (for free) and refurbishing it. The only thing I look for is that it's made of quality materials which isn't hard to find if the furniture is 30+ years old.
I think some people don't want old furniture because it looks dated, but the nice thing about refurbishing is that you can quite easily add modern touches – or just whatever style takes your fancy. Chairs can be equipped with modern pillows and a new finish. Or old cabinets can have new door handles, hinges and a modern paint job, etc. Apart from the furniture we want to look older, I doubt most people would even realise it's all 30+ years old.
Additionally all the furniture we have now can be refurbed when we want a new look and they actually last... It's more effort for sure, but it's nothing an amateur DIYer can do with a few tools and a bit of creativity. And if you don't need them anymore (because you're moving etc) people will happily pay good money for quality refurbed furniture. What people won't buy is some crappy 10 year old Ikea cabinet.
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.
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.
> 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 think the implication you're making that previous generations had much more living space is false. My grandparents lived in a rural area in a pretty small home with one bathroom. If you look at 50s tract homes, they're all small by modern standards.
I think the implication you're making that previous generations had much more living space is false. My grandparents lived in a rural area in a pretty small home with one bathroom. If you look at 50s tract homes, they're all small by modern standards.
The "modern standard" is starting to look a lot more like a bedroom in a shared apartment, or a studio, not a tract home.
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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, are in their 30s to early 40s now and still aren’t married and don’t have kids and don’t own a home.
I’ve got a family and a house and I still wouldn’t want any of the old, quality furniture my parents have. It’s just not anything I have a need for.
Many of their kids, people in my peer group, are in their 30s to early 40s now and still aren’t married and don’t have kids and don’t own a home.
I’ve got a family and a house and I still wouldn’t want any of the old, quality furniture my parents have. It’s just not anything I have a need for.
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 every day of my life (and who knows when it was previously restored). Finding someone capable of restoring it is hard, and it's a long manual process which would cost substantially more than buying a new piece. I'll never part with the thing but I doubt I'll ever get it restored either.
My mother has an old settee that was her aunts. It's falling apart needing new springs and upholstery. She's been on a waiting list to get it repaired for years, and the upholsterer isn't taking more clients as he's past retirement age and now does it just a few days a week with a backlog of years.
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 every day of my life (and who knows when it was previously restored). Finding someone capable of restoring it is hard, and it's a long manual process which would cost substantially more than buying a new piece. I'll never part with the thing but I doubt I'll ever get it restored either.
My mother has an old settee that was her aunts. It's falling apart needing new springs and upholstery. She's been on a waiting list to get it repaired for years, and the upholsterer isn't taking more clients as he's past retirement age and now does it just a few days a week with a backlog of years.
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.
Wood working is much easier than it might look.
And it’s fun!
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.
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.
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.
I mean, I don’t see how the second is in the slightest bit debatable. Fifty or sixty years ago you could afford a car, a smallish but not tiny home (with a yard!) and support kids with a single income - at a factory or other not overly skilled job.
Now many college grads have room mates… and I’m not talking about 20-somethings.
Now many college grads have room mates… and I’m not talking about 20-somethings.
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.
My Grandmother , 96 years old, got her Furniture from her Grandmother. That furniture is more then 100 years old and still in good condition. The downside is it sucks hard. People at that time liked good looking things that where rly uncomfortable and impractible compared to furniture today.
> Then sometime in maybe the last 50 years or so we started buying and manufacturing much cheaper furniture that wasn't expected to last.
I agree with the not-expected-to-last-ness, but I don't know about cheaper. Anecdotally, in recent years, quite a number of my friends became new home owners, and many purchased expensive furniture from big brands, which don't seem to be really all that more durable at all. They are like 10~100x times the price of an IKEA's equivalent, but marginally better in build quality. Some of them are even less well-made than IKEA. (Dining table with a surface that you can't put hot thing on, circular things that aren't perfectly circular, sofa cushions that start sinking within a year of use, etc.)
One of the couple-of-thousand table is less than two years old, and has chipped veneer, loosened screws, and is just generally flex-y and wobbly. The table top has already been replaced once, and it took 6 months for the replacement to arrive. Meanwhile, I have a nearly 10-year-old IKEA table with minor cosmetic scratches, no wobbling, nothing loose, steady, and practical.
I feel like if I ever buy a house, it will be either IKEA or custom made from someone I trust.
I agree with the not-expected-to-last-ness, but I don't know about cheaper. Anecdotally, in recent years, quite a number of my friends became new home owners, and many purchased expensive furniture from big brands, which don't seem to be really all that more durable at all. They are like 10~100x times the price of an IKEA's equivalent, but marginally better in build quality. Some of them are even less well-made than IKEA. (Dining table with a surface that you can't put hot thing on, circular things that aren't perfectly circular, sofa cushions that start sinking within a year of use, etc.)
One of the couple-of-thousand table is less than two years old, and has chipped veneer, loosened screws, and is just generally flex-y and wobbly. The table top has already been replaced once, and it took 6 months for the replacement to arrive. Meanwhile, I have a nearly 10-year-old IKEA table with minor cosmetic scratches, no wobbling, nothing loose, steady, and practical.
I feel like if I ever buy a house, it will be either IKEA or custom made from someone I trust.
Modern furniture (even those "fancy" new DTC brands you hear on podcasts) has taking a nosedive since it's been offshored: https://wapo.st/4bnkYl6
These days, if you want quality, you pretty much have to make sure it's made in America or Europe.
These days, if you want quality, you pretty much have to make sure it's made in America or Europe.
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."
"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."
Not the author you quote, but Christopher Schwartz, who runs Lost Art Press (which printed what you quoted) can also write a heck of a wood-working book:
"The journey to the summit of Mount Vesuvius has all the romance of visiting an unlicensed reptile farms..." - opening line to _Ingenious Mechanicks_, which is a history of early workbenches.
(One thing I found fascinating about this book is that it uses religious art to infer details about workbenches, because Yeshua Bin-Maryam was thought to be a "carpenter", and medieval artists drew contemporary medieval workbenches in pictures of the child Yeshua.)
"The journey to the summit of Mount Vesuvius has all the romance of visiting an unlicensed reptile farms..." - opening line to _Ingenious Mechanicks_, which is a history of early workbenches.
(One thing I found fascinating about this book is that it uses religious art to infer details about workbenches, because Yeshua Bin-Maryam was thought to be a "carpenter", and medieval artists drew contemporary medieval workbenches in pictures of the child Yeshua.)
As a counterpoint, he has a background in magazines, which is often at odds with producing books.
Yes, I'm still upset that I purchased a copy of:
https://lostartpress.com/products/virtuoso
and found it rife with errors (they mis-spell Henry O. Studley's name on the inside front cover), including a duplicated photo (a pair of flat pliers is shown a second time where instead there should be the iconic pair of jeweler's pliers) --- see the excerpt:
https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/virtuoso_ex...
(which also shows the naïve typesetting of dimensions and that uni-directional quotes are used where primes should have been).
Any reputable book publisher would have issued a cancel for the photo, and no decent composition house would have set dimensions thus.
Yes, I'm still upset that I purchased a copy of:
https://lostartpress.com/products/virtuoso
and found it rife with errors (they mis-spell Henry O. Studley's name on the inside front cover), including a duplicated photo (a pair of flat pliers is shown a second time where instead there should be the iconic pair of jeweler's pliers) --- see the excerpt:
https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/virtuoso_ex...
(which also shows the naïve typesetting of dimensions and that uni-directional quotes are used where primes should have been).
Any reputable book publisher would have issued a cancel for the photo, and no decent composition house would have set dimensions thus.
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).
I think a lot of the style in older and modern pieces comes from the technology of the time.
Lots of those cabinets are ornate, because designing with panels allows for the growing and shrinking wood with temperature and humidity. The joints were also complicated, for the same reasons and to deal with the limitations of fasteners.
Centuries ago, if someone had duplicated an ikea design out of solid wood, it might come apart quickly because of the wood growing and shrinking, and the limits of old fasteners and simple joints.
It's ok to dislike ikea furniture, but remember that it is sophisticated in many hidden ways. The materials used are dimensionally stable, the fasteners are advanced, everything comes in a large flat boxes, and it can be assembled by most purchasers.
That said, there is some amazing furniture that has been built by hand. I also like those "hidden compartment" pieces you sometimes see.
Lots of those cabinets are ornate, because designing with panels allows for the growing and shrinking wood with temperature and humidity. The joints were also complicated, for the same reasons and to deal with the limitations of fasteners.
Centuries ago, if someone had duplicated an ikea design out of solid wood, it might come apart quickly because of the wood growing and shrinking, and the limits of old fasteners and simple joints.
It's ok to dislike ikea furniture, but remember that it is sophisticated in many hidden ways. The materials used are dimensionally stable, the fasteners are advanced, everything comes in a large flat boxes, and it can be assembled by most purchasers.
That said, there is some amazing furniture that has been built by hand. I also like those "hidden compartment" pieces you sometimes see.
When we first came to Australia in '91 - there was a store - "KC Country Furniture"(which is now no longer here of course)....my dad bought a 6 seat dinner table, and a large buffet for close to $3K, made out of solid teak.
Its now 2024 - and on many occassions he's mentioned to me wanting to sell this stuff, and replace it. I've argued that these are now "family heirlooms"...and that i'd be very upset if he did that.
I've refinished both of these pieces once every 2 years (once i got old enough to) Its 2024 and they have no sign of deterioration. In fact - every time i finish them - i feel pride, and marvel at the glass-like finish.
In comparison - i bought a black 4-legged table for a turntable in my studio a few years ago - and reading that it was "made with cardboard"...just made me a little sad...also considering if i took it apart it was most likely toast...made me even sadder.
Its now 2024 - and on many occassions he's mentioned to me wanting to sell this stuff, and replace it. I've argued that these are now "family heirlooms"...and that i'd be very upset if he did that.
I've refinished both of these pieces once every 2 years (once i got old enough to) Its 2024 and they have no sign of deterioration. In fact - every time i finish them - i feel pride, and marvel at the glass-like finish.
In comparison - i bought a black 4-legged table for a turntable in my studio a few years ago - and reading that it was "made with cardboard"...just made me a little sad...also considering if i took it apart it was most likely toast...made me even sadder.
Lost Art Press, it's founder Chris Schwarz, and staff are an amazing resource for woodworkers. They publish excellent books on how to do good woodworking.
Several of his books are available as free PDFs too
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-workbench
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-design-book
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-workbench
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest
https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-design-book
He was also a regular guest on the Woodwrights Shop with Roy Underhill, and both of their hand plane collections are quite nice.
> 1745-1780 Chippendale. 1760-1792 Adam. 1760-1790 Hepplewhite. 1790-1810 Sheraton.
More often George II/III, as far as I've seen in the UK, at auction for example. (Don't think I've even heard of Adam or Hepplewhite before, not that I'm big into furniture periods.)
More often George II/III, as far as I've seen in the UK, at auction for example. (Don't think I've even heard of Adam or Hepplewhite before, not that I'm big into furniture periods.)
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 an asset.
Then sometime in maybe the last 50 years or so we started buying and manufacturing much cheaper furniture that wasn't expected to last.
I can remember reading maybe 10 years ago that the bottom was falling out of the secondhand furniture market because of a flood of old furniture being sold. Apparently these were often items that had been handed down through generations that young people weren't interested in keeping. Not so much because of the style, but because they simply had nowhere to put it. No permanent home for themselves let alone large pieces of furniture. Quite sad really.