The Opelousas courier., 1889-05-11
FANcIEs IN FURNITURE.
Changes In the Popular Demand for Ger
tain Woods or Designs.

Changes in the Popular Demand for Ger.
tain Woods or Designs.
'sStyles come and go in furniture al
most as rapidly as in millinery" said
q leading manufacturer, in reference to
the trend of taste in house-furnishing.
every little while there is a popular
craze for some particular wood or
design, and even though there be no
pronounced demand of this sort there
is alwaysa reaching out after novelties.
Thus every manufacturer is obliged to
get out new designs periodically to
hold custom. All we can do is to make
suggestions; it is the public that passes
Judgment and creates style. AS Il rule
the more unique the designs are the
better they take, but in the best line
of goods | think taste is taking a de-
cided turn to the better.
''In the new styles of furniture the
designs are simpler and the ornamen-
tation less elaborate and chaste.
The same principles are now followed
in cabfnet-making as in architecture.
Barring special cases, which may be
regarded as exceptions, there is a
growing disuse of ornamentation, pure
ly as such. Designers are seeking o
and more the beauty that results from
simple, even severe, lines and fine fin
ish. In some styles, especially of ta-
bles and bedroom sets, this is almost
carried to excess. The aim, of course,
is to produce striking effects without
such an expenditure of labor in manu-
facture as to prohibit sale, and in SO
far as designers now sin in this respect
/ think they sin on the right side.
Taste is now gravitating toward
the antique. With the exception of a
few patent devices, such as folding
beds, office furniture and revolving
bookcases, nothing really new has
been got out for years. The Eastlake
patterns, so popular some time ago,
were nothing but a crude adaptation
of the gothic. Painted furniture, once
so popular. was novel only in its finish.
So, too, with stained woods, which are
used only for cheap goods. All these
are now out of date, and designers are
busy working over R~omanesque, re-
Nuisance, Louis ", and colonial pat
terms. We adapt and unite the differ
ent types just as modern architects
combine different styles of architecture,
and many of our most pleasing effects
are obtained in this way. The popular
fad keeps US within the leading strings
of the antique, and so far as the re-
quirement is met we are free to make
as many violations or combinations OF
art principles as we choose.
Lack of o~rnamentatiOn in no wise
means cheapness Of make. Carving is
a cover for defective wood and often
careless workmanship, but in the
smooth, natural finish of woods the ma
terial must be perfect and the work
manship faultless. Natural finish, de-
signed to bring out the beauty OF the
material, is now the rage, and it is
doubtless 81 step in the right direction
I'm the matter-of woods, oak has
precedence. Cherry probably follows
| next. Birch and curly maple are much
used, since they give pleasing. dainty
| effect. Walnut, which for some time
has been out Of favor, is gradually
| coming back again. Oak and cherry
are now what walnut used to be-the
staple goods-and l presume it will
| not be long before they, too, will yield
to the popular fancy and take the OBJ
| scure Of retail establishments.
Good furniture to-day is much
| cheaper than the same quality of goods
was a few years ago The secret of the
| matter is not because wood or labor is
| cheaper, for material is actually more
expensive and labor not essentially
| changed, but because machine-work is
more largely taking the place of hand
work, even in the best goods,1and
because, as l said before, beauty is
| sought on different lines. A large
share of the carved work now G on
furniture is done quickly and cheaply
by machines which are little less than
a curiosity in the way they work out
designs. There are some classes Of
furniture. of course, such as uphol-
stored chairs and sofas, in which there
is not so noticeable a change either in
style or price. Tapestries and pushes
are now in vogue, Is heretofore. and
there is no difference in these radical
enough to deserve notice. Leather is
used chiefly for library and dining-r3om
furniture. Brass trimmings n on the
urnnaN Ehicnmn NamS