The years surrounding Civil War was not just a separation of tastes politically but one in interior décor. The last part of the 19^th 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 may have resulted from the easier access to more thanks to the Industrial Revolution. Machine made products kept products flowing at a much less expensive rate. Large scale manufacturers in Grand Rapids, Michigan were pumping out furniture to the common man at easy to pay for levels.

BRIEF INTERESTING FACTS FROM THE LATTER 19TH CENTURY ECLECTIC ERA-

• In rapid sequence designers birthed first Gothic then Elizabethan and finally rococo. While these co-existed in popularity in the mid-century they did not co-exist under the same roof. All three were used and admired but not blended.  
• The latter half of this century saw even more design styles, like the Renaissance style, emerge but none truly retire.
• This was the era of the kings; from France to England and from Louis to Henri.
• The big English furniture designers Chippendale, Sheraton and Hepplewhite shined brightly in the Victorian days. Colonial, Centennial Revival and Empire became common by the turn of the century.
• In large part thanks to William Morris and his Arts and Crafts philosophy and followers furniture was being influenced by far away lands like Turkey, Japan and Persia.
• Charles Eastlake agreed with Morris and Lewis Day on their discrimination against mass produced furniture and wrote a book touting the belief that home furnishings should be made by hand or machine workers that truly took artisan pride in their work.
• During these decades many felt a prejudice towards keeping it American and a cry went out to create a style distinctly American.
• Very distinct designs and designers emerged during this time and many published books that became hard and fast bibles used by designers, cabinetmakers and other furniture builders.
• Almost always if a design style became popular the wallpapers, rugs and accessories  appropriate to that style became available.
• No matter how modest the home it was believed that there should be a library, a sort of retreat for the family.

The 20^th century saw less desire for homes to be so eclectic. A yearning for something more simple in American homes was emerging. The birth of styles like Modernism had brought a sense of more efficient and less cluttered designs like the contemporary designs found from Amish-Furniture-Home.com.

                                                                         

Federal is a very classical design style that also saw the designer Duncan Phyfe and his earliest works. Mahogany was the wood of choice used in presenting the best Federal pieces, although some are found in curly maple, rosewood, cherry and other fruitwoods. While some glass and china knobs were used the ornamentation best suited for such formal pieces was brass and to represent the new mascot of the nation, eagles were popular accessories. Another symbol of a strong, dominant young nation was the lion and lion’s paws and heads were proudly displayed. To suggest the bounty found in the new world object such as cornucopias were applied or carved. The welcoming sign of the times was the pineapple, often seen in Williamsburg and known as the Williamsburg pineapple, was also used.

Many connoisseurs of fine furniture see many design influences in Federal furniture. Obvious influences include Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Duncan Phyfe (the big three designers of the time, still popular today), Adam, English Regency, French Directoire and Louis XIV and finally the heavier Empire, the furniture that finally succeeded Federal in popularity by the 1830s.

An interesting, yet debated, piece of trivia about case goods such the Federal secretaries and cabinets is the presence of thirteen panes of glass. Many of these pieces have doors in which each door is composed of 13 pieces of glass with a mahogany lattice work or frames surround them. While no one can substantiate this theory, especially since most English secretaries from other makers comprise the same 13 pieces of glass, it does make for a good tale when showing your Federal desk to friends.

Like the designers and builders of the ever popular Federal furniture, the Amish craft heirloom pieces in solid wood to pass down to the next generation. Bookcases, desks, and many other fine pieces can be built and stained to fit your home and compliment the fine Federal antiques you have painstakingly collected.