The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-04-26
COLONIAL TYPE
FORN|TURE.|S
POPULAR
Designs Originating in Europe
Are Absorbed Into
Colonial Life.
By MARIAN MOORE.

By MARIAN MOORE.
The public taste is a tickle thing!
e is never still, but swinging con.
Dtantly like the pendulum of a
clock. We are inclined to thank
the fates which have decreed that
this must be so, when we consider
the prevailing vogue for all things
Colonial in our modern homes. We
are indeed grateful that popular
favor swung away from the hideous
Victorian era, when the carpets
were covered with scrawls and
Gravity things; when the sofas had
high backs ornamented (so-called)
with applied things which might
be birds or snakes or both; land
when every self-respecting living
room had it's artificial flowers and
what-nots with their trashy messes!
All these items were quite the
thing" in those days, SO we welcome
with joy the simplicity Of chairs
and other furnishings which we
know as Colonial.
The trend for things Colonial has
extended to the architecture Of
homes-architects tell us there
have never been so many requests
Tor Colonial homes. If that vogue
continues, how much more interest
ing will our towns and cities be-
come, when homes with simple,
classic beauty have supplanted the
hideous inharmonious houses with
turrets and fantastic outcroppings
OF wood and glass.
Colonial Is Misleading Name.
E. The furniture Of colonial days
10, of course. the, first thought
Of the housewife when she starts
furnishing a colonial home or
colonial room. To speak of Amer.
lean colonial period furniture is
to use form which is not strictly
true. The colonists did not make
their furniture designs-there was
too much else to be done. But
they did take the designs brought
over from England, France and
other countries, simplifying them
If any changes at all We're made
and absorbed them into their
homes so completely that they
became part Of the history of
colonial days.
The housewife instinctively turns
TO these beloved chairs and tables
when she starts furnishing the
colonial room.
The Duncan Phyfe sofa-which
Is most appropriate, for Duncan
Phyfe was a real American de-
aigner-should be one of the first
things put into the room. 1t is
really comfortable, and the curv-
ing legs whose graceful sweep was
copied from the lines of a Roman
chariot, made it a handsome piece
CT furniture. If another large
niaPp 10 nnodod -, fho
grouping, the housewife can find
straight, high-backed settle, which
has been softened with cushions
and given IA wee difference in
proportions, so it has become real
~ comfortable as well as appro-
pirate in such a room. do not
believe in sacrificing comfort for
appropriateness, but I do think
they can be combined if the man.
ufacturers use good Judgment.
The tall fireside chair, with the
deep wings, is another typically
Colonial piece, for it was used by
the Colonists to protect their sides
and backs from the draughts of
the room as they sat before the
fireplace. Other upholstered chairs
whose feet or lines reflect the pc.
RODS OF William and Mary or the
ASN~S NSOAGo AAo "a OLlCTdLOIl AQdIl
are also appropriate and indeed
necessary in these days when
homes must be comfortable.
But the beautiful Windsor chair
10 the first item we recall when
Visualizing a Colonial room. The
graceful sweep of the back with
the multiple spindles, sometimes
varied by a pierced splat, is the
very essence of Colonial simplicity
and unstudied grace, in our esti.
nation. The real truth of the mat.
ter Is that the Windsor chair was
the first located ~ a great English
castle, where it caught the fasci-
mated eye of king of the Georgian
period and was forthwith copied
for the royal castle.
The colonists found them uuife
in keeping with their own homes.
anu they became SO numerous that
we have forgotten they were lever
used elsewhere.
The 'adder-backed chair, with
the rush seat. Is another colonial
chair which should have a place
IN the colonial room. The ladder
back was product of Chippen-
dale's genius, but his chairs had
q Chimes note of line and decora.
tion-for China vas a mysterious,
wonderful country-which the colo.
nists eliminated in our simple
country.
The gate-leg table is another
item. OF furnishing which is quite
at homie in the colonial home, but
It also was not a colonial product.
1t came down to the colonists from
the old Jacobean period, and has
continued down to us practically
unchanged,
One great reason for the popu-
Iarity Of colonial rooms is the on.
portunity they afford for putting
IN an abundance of color. The
walls may be papered with gay
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