Choosing a furniture style might seem daunting, but it's actually easy. There are two basic styles; Traditional or Contemporary. What you tend to lean toward in style depends a lot on your personality type. When choosing a furniture style, think about your lifestyle and what you enjoy. Are you into clean, sleek lines? Are you drawn to ornate wood? Do you enjoy the look of timeless treasures, or love modern geometric designs? If you like a little of both, the trend today is to mix and match between the two styles for a look that's as unique as you are.
If you like: Lots of wood and a look that echoes of ages past, you're Traditional. Traditional takes pieces from historic eras in furniture. For example, Victorian décor is named for the era of furniture during the reign of Queen Victoria in the mid-late eighteen hundreds. Outfitting an entire room in one era takes a painstaking effort and is usually rigid in form and style. Traditional furniture lines tend to mix gentle curves with horizontal and vertical axis. An example of this would be a desk with curved, clawed legs and a very orderly line to the tabletop. Traditional colors tend to run in the mid-range, but can be darker or lighter. For example, a light pink floral might be paired with a darker plaid. However, you won't see neon greens and blacks paired together!
Single Sofa Bed Chair
The great thing is that you can mix and match period inspired pieces and without much worry. You can choose items that are in the same visual family, such as woods of the same color and level of embellishment. An ornate Victorian sofa would pair beautifully with a simple Shaker sofa table. If you're looking for the rustic or cabin look in your home there are gorgeous pieces that would look great with traditional or contemporary styles.
Tips on Buying Wood Furniture: Solid Wood means that all exposed parts of the furniture are made of solid board, either softwood or hardwood lumber. No veneers or particle boards are used.
Tip: By following a seam to the end you can always identify solid board, where you will find the "end" grain. Veneers are glued over the edges to look like solid wood, but are always faced on the end and show no end grain.
Remember: "All-wood furniture" is not necessarily solid wood.
If you like: Sleek lines and a modern, efficient look then go Contemporary. Contemporary furniture tends to have sleeker lines and a mixture of materials such as glass, iron and plastic that you may not see in traditional furniture. Less is more is the main motto of contemporary, meaning little clutter or fuss so that the important items are showcased. Expect to see black and/or white as a base color, with brighter colors and prints thrown in to jazz it up. Textures can be normal to unusual, such as shag carpeting, satin pillows or leather sofas. Wild or unusual lines can be thrown in as a focal point, such as an unusual lamp, or a wire modern wall decoration.
How to Mix All one style of furniture can look stuffy, fake and commercial. Mixing furniture styles gives a warm, inviting feel. The trend originated when the big furniture designers like Ethan Allen and Ralph Lauren began designing expensive single pieces because a lot of people couldn't afford a collection. Today, one way to save on expensive pieces is to go the unfinished furniture route. Both traditional and contemporary unfinished pieces can be purchased and finished in the comfort of your home.
Size Matters You can follow in our ancestors' footsteps by assessing the needs of your room first so you know what to buy. You also want to balance pieces in your room by visual weight and size, taking the dimensions of the room into consideration as well. For example, if you'd like to purchase new seating areas in a smaller living room, consider two smaller sofas, or a collection of love seats and chairs instead of a massive sofa and nothing else.
Choosing Furniture Is Easy! The style you choose for your furniture depends on your personality as well as your needs. If you like a fun mixture of contemporary and traditional then go ahead and mix the styles. Shopping online is a snap: you can compare and order your favorite furniture from the comfort of your home. You'll end up with a style that's as unique as you are without breaking a sweat!