The Russellville Democrat., 1889-03-28
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.
 Styles come and go in furniture al- most as rapidly as in millinery" said leading manufacturer, in reference to the trend Of taste in e-furnishing. Every little while there is popular craze for some particular wood or design, and even though there be no pronounced demand of this sort there Is always reaching out after novelties. Thus every n.;suufacturer is obliged to gst 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 rule the more unique the designs are the better they take, but in the best line of goods think taste is taking de. cided turn to the better.
 ''In the new styles of furniture the designs are simpler and the ornamen- tation less elaborate and more chaste. The same principles arc now followed in cabinet-making as in architecture. Barring special cases, which may be regarded as exceptions, there is growing disuse of ornamentation, pure ly as such. Designers are seeking more 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 I think they sin on the right side.
 Taste is now gravitating toward the antique. With the exception of 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 tims ago, were nothing but a crude adaptation of the gothic. Painted furniture, once so popular, was novel only in it's 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 All these are now out of date, and designers are busy working over Romanesque, re- naissance, Louis w., and colonial pat terms.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 ornamentation 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 fauitless. Natural finish, de- signed to bring out the beauty of the material, is now the rage. and it is doubtless a step in the right direction
 "In 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 I presume it will not be long before they, too, will yield to the popular fancy and take the ob- scure corners of retail establishments.
 "Good furniture to-day is much cheaper than the same quality of goods was 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 because, as I said before. beauty is sought on different lines A large share of the carved work now seen 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 stered chairs and sofas, in which there is not so noticeable change either in style or price. Tapestries and plushes are now in vogue, as heretofore, and there is no difference in these radical enough to deserve notice. Leather is used chiefly for library and dining-room furniture. Brass trimmings are on the wane. ."-Chicago News.