Posts Tagged ‘Furniture’

Think Local Washtenaw County

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

The revolution has begun.  Organizations across the United States are encouraging their communities to “Think Local”.  As we heard numerous times in the past year, the economic recovery will come on Main Street, not Wall Street.  As such, local business leaders have taken up the banner in support of their locally-owned, independent businesses.  Many small, [...]

Death of the American Parlor (And Rise of User-Friendly Furniture)

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

The American parlor was once a staple in large homes. The room was used for visiting with guests, and for hosting funeral wakes (or viewings), weddings and receptions. Despite its various uses, the parlor became associated with death and mourning. The room’s formal décor only helped to perpetuate this pairing of parlors and death.
The Furniture
This [...]

The Economics of Pattern, Textures and Colors – Powerful & Affordable Decorating Tools

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Everything in your home has some sort of pattern or texture and is a color. The chances are high that you selected your custom Amish built furniture’s specifications based on what you liked about the color of the stain and the grain or pattern of the wood. These elements play together to give each piece, [...]

Keeping The Faith in Furniture with the Shakers and the Amish- How Religion Influenced Designs in America (part 2)

Monday, July 27th, 2009

 The Amish arrived in America around 1730. A group of the descendants of the Anabaptists, which include Amish and Mennonites, settled near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  William Penn had began a ‘holy experiment’ in religious tolerance and welcomed these European immigrants. Although the most popularized, the Pennsylvania Amish are not the largest group of U.S. In [...]

Keeping The Faith in Furniture with the Shakers and the Amish- How Religion Influenced Designs in America (part 1)

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

 Historians following the trends of the furniture industry can attest that furniture styles and their designers are virtual archives of an era. The economy of the time, the availability of supplies and tools and most surprising, the politics and religion of the time all influenced home décor. Religion and the organizations that formed around each [...]

A Brief History of 19th Century Eclectic from the Civil War to Modernism

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

 
The years surrounding Civil War was not just a separation of tastes politically but one in interior décor. The last part of the 19th century in North America saw the blending of many very strong interior design tastes within one home. Many consider this to be the Eclectic period in American history. This eclectic collecting [...]

A Brief History of The Use of North American Hardwoods

Monday, July 13th, 2009

 
Hardwood as a natural resource that has helped shaped not just communities but the evolution of societies in to countries such as the United States. Natural resources have always been a major factor in determining how well an environment can sustain people but wood has an influence that runs deeper than everything but food and [...]

A Brief History of Federal Furniture: Collecting a Revolutionary Design

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

                                                                          Perhaps it was the birth of a new nation that spurred great interest in both furniture and architecture during what became known as the Federal Era. Federal was an American period that existed from the end of the Revolution (1780) to post-Revolutionary War (1830). It was the end of the Colonial Period in [...]

Creating the Happiest Place in Your House with a Disney Themed Bedroom

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Solid built Amish bedroom and children’s furniture is the perfect foundation for creating a childhood full of Disney memories. In 1955 Walt Disney looked at a blank canvas of real estate and saw the fantasy world the globe has grown to love. Just as you were as a child your child is captured by the [...]

Rent To Own Furniture versus Buying Furniture : Why Renting Furniture is Not Good Economics

Monday, June 1st, 2009

 Renting furniture seems like a viable option in a bad economy that is suffering from a credit crisis. In fact renting home furnishings is usually a losing investment in most circumstances and not an answer to no or bad credit. Investing in high end, solidly built heirloom quality furniture, if only a piece at a [...]