South Bend news-times., 1915-07-28
Women Finish
O,Ur1 Furniture
Vogue for Painted Furniture
Gives Clever Woman
Her Opportunity.

The manufacture of unfinished fur
niture is due 10 one woman, or at
least that is what a manufacturer de- |
cIares UD TO a few years ago this
man made nothing but kitchen chairs
plain, strong hardwood kitchen
chairs. one day there walked into
his office a woman who asked him
70 sell her an unfinished chair.
Though il was against his policy 10
sell chairs at retail, for the sake OF
accommodation he considered her
nroposition. She explained that she
wanted a chair that had not been
painted or touched by varnish.
A woman friend. she told the manu-
facrurer. had inherited a genuine CO.
Ionial painted chair. She wanted one
like il. The lines were very similar
TO those turned out by his factory.
and if she could get one unfinished
She would be able 20 paint il without
going to the trouble of having it
scraped. OF course she got her unfin-
ished chair.
came with the same request. The first
had reported that unfinished chairs
were 10 be had at the factory. Almost
before the manufacturer knew it his
trade in unfinished chairs had grown
TO hundreds; then it bounded into
thousands.
With many of the orders for untin-
ished chairs came inquiries about other
pieces of furniture, unfinished. AS the
fashion Of more color in the home
took stronger hold on the public the
demand for painted furniture IN
creased.
To meet the demand for other pieces
of unfinished furniture the manufac-
turer began to turn his attention TO
other things besides chairs.
Unlike the painted furniture of the
Austrian peasant type and the painted
mission furniture in this country, this
unfinished American furniture is an
example of sympathetic adaptation,
both in construction and coloring.
Several of the models are exact repro
ductions of old pieces so far as shape
and size go, the difference being in the
wood and the painting, for one OF the
charms of this furniture is that ii can
be had in several varieties Of wood
painted or finished TO order when ii
| is not wanted unfinished.
other pieces not exact reprOduc-
tions are undisguisedly adaptations Of
furniture popular in this country at
various periods. Two interesting and
comfortable chairs are variations of
the old Windsor chairs, which up TO
the middle Of the 10Th century were
widely popular in the United States
and are still much used in the old
home of New England and the south
ern states.
And<Aer variation OF the Windsor
| type reminds one strongly of the high
back chair which, according to text
books on period furniture, was a fa-
vOrite with Thomas Jefferson. Here
again the designer has shown his ap-
probation Of the present-day tendency
TO rest against the back of the chair
rather than 10 sit bolt upright. In the
original Thomas Jefferson chair,
! broad armchair with a tall, straight
! dOuble-decked back, a person of me-
dunn height had to sit straight or
| suffer the penalty in the region just
under the shoulder blades. Resting
| ones hands on the straight and none
| too wide arms is about the only re-
| Taxation permitted by chairs of the
| jefferson pattern.
The new American adaptation does
only is without the Objectionable ridge
across the back, but ii has rockers.
Besides the back is gracefully curved,
! so that a woman may comfortably
rock her baby in ii without disturb
ing the present arrangement of her
| hair.
Since the first object of all this un-
painted furniture is its use in the
| home, the question of its comfort has
| been a major consideration. Before a
| design is accepted the manufactures
requires that it must be comfortable.
His kitchen chairs were comfortab BILE
| as we'll as strong, he declares. The
fact that they are pleasing in outline
! and finish, he believes. has been amply
proved by the fact that women who
wished TO beautify their homes Sc
lected them to decorate with hand
painting.