Style Guide

Jun 15, 2009

Chippendale

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Named after British furniture designer and cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, this graceful and refined style emerged following the 1754 publication of his furniture designs in “The Gentleman and the Cabinetmaker’s Director” and prevailed until 1790. (more...)

Jun 12, 2009

Mid-Century Modern

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Describing a style that reigned from about 1933 to 1965, Mid-Century Modern built upon the foundation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles of organic architecture and the simple forms that characterized the International Style and Bauhaus movements. (more...)

Jun 11, 2009

Hollywood Regency

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The Hollywood Regency style was characterized by high glamour and glitz and emerged through the work of interior designers, such as Dorothy Draper, Elsie de Wolfe, and William (Billy) Haines, who decorated the homes of film luminaries in Hollywood’s Golden Age of the 1930s. (more...)

Jun 1, 2009

Biedermeier

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Biedermeier style shed the grandiose flourishes and monumentality that had characterized the Empire style (more...)

Mar 23, 2009

Neoclassical

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By Donna Sapolin In the second half of the 18th century, attention to the ruins of Andrea Palladio structures in Rome and Athens along with architectural discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii prompted a Greco-Roman style revival in the furniture of France and England. The style contrasted with and reacted against the (more...)

Feb 28, 2009

Art Deco

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The Art Deco style, which was popular from 1925 until 1939, derived its name from a design exhibition held in Paris in 1925-the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. (more...)

Jan 28, 2009

Baroque

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Taking root in Rome and then spreading throughout Europe between 1600 and 1750, the Baroque style aimed to inspire and rouse the emotions through dramatic and flamboyant design. English designers derived their design (more...)

Nov 25, 2008

French Empire

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Sumptuous and elaborate, the Empire style originated during Napoleon’s First Empire (1804-1815), and combined the grandeur and martial symbols of Rome with ancient Egyptian motifs and the elements of Greek architecture. (more...)

Nov 18, 2008

Sheraton

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The Sheraton style, named after English designer Thomas Sheraton, predominated from 1780 to 1820. It was marked by a refined delicacy derived from straight lines, convex corners and detailed carved designs incorporating shields, urns, fan shapes, lyres, leaves, and stars (more...)

Nov 11, 2008

Victorian

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During the Victorian Age (1837-1901), which derives its name from Queen Victoria and her reign, design ideas were plucked from the past. (more...)

Oct 28, 2008

Jacobean

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The Jacobean style of furniture prevailed in England during the reigns of James I and Charles I from 1603 to 1700; it was produced for the middle class. (more...)

Oct 14, 2008

Hepplewhite

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The Hepplewhite style was created by British furniture maker, George Hepplewhite. Very little is known about the man but in 1788, 300 of his designs were published by his wife two years after his death in “The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide”. (more...)

Oct 7, 2008

Queen Anne

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Named after Queen Anne of England, American Queen Anne was a colonial (pre-Revolution) style popularized between 1750 and 1780. Characterized by delicate, curvilinear forms and restrained decoration, the furnishings of this style were far lighter than their predecessors. (more...)

Sep 22, 2008

Regency

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When King George III of England fell victim to madness, power was transferred to his son George, Prince of Wales. Regency Style was named for his reign, which lasted from 1811-1830. (more...)

Sep 9, 2008

Arts and Crafts

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Photo courtesy of Stickley. The Arts and Crafts style emerged in the 1860s as a reaction against the increasing industrialization and dark and cluttered tastes of Victorian Britain. William Morris was the central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement and his company, founded in 1861, produced a wide range of decorative objects for the home [...] (more...)