Interior Decorating Styles – Part Four – The Mid 19th
Interior Decorating Styles – Part Four – The Mid 19th and Late 19th Century
Obtaining information on your preferred decorating style will allow you to know why you like what you like. If you’ve ever gone furniture shopping and had difficulty expressing to the salesperson what style of sofa, bed, or whatever you wanted, the information gleaned in this series will help you.
In part four we will continue to look at a few of the decorative styles that became popular in the Mid 19th and Late 19th Century. This five part series on interior decorating styles will give you a good working knowledge of the contributions offered to the decorating industry.
In the Mid 19th Century the Eclectic style became vogue. The eclectic styles of the Mid 19th Century were rivals of popular styles from previous centuries that were talked about in the first three parts of the series. During the Mid 19th Century it was common to see different decorating styles in different rooms of the same house. And, that’s probably how your house is today. For example, I love 18th century furniture because I am very traditional at heart. Traditional is my preferred decorating style although, as a professional interior decorator, I definitely appreciate the beauty in all decorating styles. My master bedroom is decorated in the traditional style, but my living room is French inspired or French Provincial and that’s my favorite place to have a cup of coffee on a early Saturday morning. However, today, meaning in the 21st century, the eclectic style has come to mean showcasing different styles in the same room or space as opposed to different rooms in the same home. That is perfectly fine because style is essentially about creating a space that is uniquely yours and fits how you live.
During the Late 19th Century, it was still popular to use different historical or period styles of decorating in different rooms of the same house. In the late 19th century, eclectic meant, for instance, having a Medieval dining room, a Louis XV study, and maybe a Roccoco style parlor. In the late 1860s designers began to want to re-introduce a more streamline decorative style. They wanted to reduce the clutter of Victorian interiors. The two styles that were prevalent to this reaction to the Eclectic style were the Aesthetic and the Arts and Crafts styles. These were movements that arose to combat the cluttered look of the Eclectic style. Both of these styles, Aesthetic and Arts & Crafts, were primarily dependant on color and pattern rather than any particular architectural style. These styles could be applied to different types of homes because the shell of the house or architecture of the house was not as important.
The motifs and imagery on Aesthetic and Arts & Crafts style wall paper, tiles, and furniture were taken from Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, and Chinese influences, to name a few. The Aesthetic and Arts & Crafts style was identified by good craftsmanship. In the 1890s, Art Nouveau emerged in Europe and Britian. It peaked in popularity around the turn of the century, but by 1910 was not so popular anymore. Two new style paths were taken. One was based on very elegant, elongated, linear forms with tight, precise floral ornament. The other was composed of wild, flowing, curvy elements characterized by splashes of lines. So, they were very much on opposite ends of the spectrum. During this time stenciled decoration was used again. The colors chosen were olive, sage green and mustard, including browns, lilacs, violets, and muted purples. Window treatments were simple with curtains made of plain or multi-patterned fabrics or sometimes window treatments were not used at all.
In the fifth and final part of this series on interior decorating styles we will briefly discuss the 20th and 21st Century.
©Rena Bullard 2010This article may be reprinted, in its entirety, with copyright information.