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Style Guide - Furniture Style Guide

Basic styles of home decor and furniture are usually separated into genres based on the time that the furniture was most popular or when it was designed.  There are specific sub-categories to each style of design, but depending on your tastes, you can discover the furniture you are in the top 5 fundamental designs for the home found below.  Usually, style guides go into too much verbiage and terms that overwhelm the reader, we hope you will find our guide more straightforward and concise.  Email me directly at ericl@visiondecor.com if you have any questions or comments regarding our style guide.
Primary Styles

Retro
Traditional
Contemporary
Modern
 

 Featured Substyles

Queen Anne | Louis Philippe | Chippendale | Victorian | Mission | Country | 50's Diner | Eames | Designer Retro | Soho | Westminster | Parsons | Cape Cod | Modern | Asian Influence

Traditional:

  • Time Period - Includes both Antique (17th Century) to Americana (mid-1900s) designs

  • Main Characteristics - Intricate carved details, accessory designs, curved frames and legs, wood, bold and heavy frames, wood themes (i.e. cherry, walnut, oak, etc.), patterned fabric (damask, ivory, toile, etc.)

  • Popular Keywords
    Queen Anne - if you've seen a Cherry Wood and curved leg, you know what this style is all about.  With ivory damask fabric, a Queen Anne piece adds a touch of class.
    Louis Philippe - surrounds you with traditional French style furniture that has "moldings" around the tops, bottoms, and edges which accent the piece to stand out in a set for a themed room.
    Chippendale - with the signature internal carving design, it also uses a Queen Anne Style or Ball and Claw foot carved leg design.  It's a more informal traditional piece that caters to more varied tastes in the traditional antique style.
    Victorian - is from the era where antique style English furniture was popular and in demand.  It ranges from heavy metals of grandeur to intricately carved heavy wood pieces that display the Victorian characteristics.
    Mission - An Americana icon, Mission style was a movement of artisans that designed furniture to move away from the "cookie-cutter" manufactured wood styles.  You may recognize the style where it uses a dark wood stain finish and the wood slats on sidings of beds and tables.
    Country - very close to the Mission style, Country utilizes a lot of oak wood or more neutral wood finishes in the structures, and accented with iron handles.  Iron castings and wood combinations are also popular in country designs.  This includes pieces like Southwestern, Windsor, Shaker styles that involve more siding details, white wood colors, and different wood constructions..

Retro:

  • Time Period - 1950s

  • Main Characteristics - Chrome frames, formica tops, vinyl fabric coverings

  • Popular Keywords
    50's Diner - a very popular term that people find in demand where they can decorate their kitchen or dining area just like you see in the movies or traditional diner's look.
    Eames - amazingly, in the 1950s, retro furniture also applies to sleek designs that look similar to today's modern styles in Europe. 
    Designer Retro - Eames and designer are just a few examples of the eclectic and "cool" looks from the past.

Contemporary:

  • Time Period - Post 1950s to late 1900s

  • Main Characteristics - more warm and soft colors, micro fiber fabric, clean lines, wood

  • Popular Keywords
    Soho - cappuccino and espresso finished woods that use clean smooth surfaces with mild moldings of wood along the sides and edges of the furniture pieces.  Hands are usually made of metal with a silver or clean matte brushed finish for a clean contemporary look.
    Westminster - dark and heavy woods that are bold but not yet to the point of traditional furniture.  The contemporary look goes well like pieces of furniture you find familiar in high end model homes across the country.
    Parsons - leather and micro fiber fabric, mostly used to describe chairs of this style, but go very well in bolstering dining room decor.
    Cape Cod - a taste catered to coastal furniture, with aged and white wood painted finish pieces.

Modern:

  • Time Period - late 1900s to Current

  • Main Characteristics - straight clean lines, metal, cold colors, glass, functional, modular, leather

  • Popular Keywords
    Modern - style is been most popular in Europe and found in most styles such as furniture you see at Ikea furniture stores.  Mostly functional to save space in the modern needs of the condo and apartment, modern style furniture is more of a formal look that is less bold compared to traditional and contemporary furniture.
    Asian Influence - the modern style is many times influenced by Asian designs that bring a twist to modern time furniture.  Which provides for functionality and a style that people like to have in their home without it being overwhelming to the overall decor.

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