Archive for the ‘Furniture’ Category
Louis XV Antique Furniture
Louis XV was the grandson of King Louis XIV and ruled France between 1715 and 1774. He is most commonly known for being one of France’s most unpopular kings. During his reign, he managed to upset almost every social group in his country, yet surprisingly, in its own exclusive way, that segregation from his people has led to the Louis XV period antique furniture being some of the most sought after French furniture in the world.
Due to the unbalance of his country, the remaining Louis XV furniture is seen as a great treasure that heralds from a time of grave public unrest in France and symbolises the determination of its people as a whole but, in particular, in its furniture designers to continue to inspire, create and deliver a legacy of beautiful, intricate and detailed furniture which remains to this day a coveted style of design.
For all the things that went wrong with Louis XV’s reign as King of France, one thing that is undeniable is the detailed quality of the furniture that rose from this dark time in France’s history to reer a head of something quite the opposite, both elegant and flowing, in a time of bleak misery.
What Makes Louis XV Furniture Louis XV Furniture?
There are a number of tell-tale design characteristics that articulate this style of design. It is quite common to hear or see pieces of furniture incorrectly described as Louis XV, when in actual fact, they are Louis XIV. What separates the two is actually quite distinctive, and I’ll list them below.
* Designed more curvaciously
* Free flowing forms and shapes
* Not made with straight lines, straight cuts or anything that looks angular
* Intricately carved and seemingly infinitely detailed
* Hand painted
* Shells tend to form the focul points of each design
* Symbolic of romance, sensuality and love
* Light and gracefull
Louis XV Furniture is not:
* Reliant on presence to state its claim, such as Gothic Furniture
* Made with straight cuts
* Big, bulky or angular
* Strong and masculine
* Machine painted
* Machine cut
You will find that Louis XIV furniture is quite the opposite in style to Louis XV, and where I’ve listed the points above that are not associated with Louis XV, you will tend to find these same characteristics present in Louis XIV furniture, for example, it will be more angular and less graceful, more inline with a masculine strength of style than a graceful, romantic wisp as seen in Louis XV furniture. It is a very common mistake, most probably due to the similarities in name, but it is vital when identifying your antique furniture to get the periods correct as unsurprisingly, it can cause chaos for the buyer at auction!
source: ezinearticles.com
Economize Your Furniture Purchase
Perking up your home could cost you a fortune. And this is especially the case when your purchase list is full of exquisite and branded furniture items. Often, we end up spending mindless amount of money, and that too quite unnecessarily, on furniture items because of a falsely held belief that cheap furniture items are necessarily of inferior quality. Though it might be true to a large extent, but if you are intelligent and diligent in your buying decisions, it could translate into economical furniture purchase and that too without compromise on quality. This piece of informative article will equip you with the information on how to economize your furniture purchase.
First things first! Budget earmarking is the first thing when you go out to buy furniture. A maximum and minimum range should be set. Ideally, it should neither be ridiculously low nor extravagantly high. Along with the budget, make a list of the required furniture items.
Always insist on buying from the source. The dealers dealing in bulk can offer handsome discounts on your purchase. And moreover, you can be sure of quality of the furniture when dealing with bulk dealers. For instance, if your choice is exquisitely made Amish handcrafted furniture, always try to find wholesale Amish furniture dealer in the area. This is essential because Amish furniture is quite a hit among elite and to be sure of quality products, a wholesale dealer with good reputation will relieve you of a major headache. And since he is a wholesale dealer, the price of Amish furniture would obviously be on the lower side due to the absence of retailer’s commission.
The outlets of major furniture retailers, furniture warehouses, thrift stores, liquidation and discount stores could also be helpful in saving extra bucks. The furniture items on these outlets may not be up to the mark but ignore them at your own peril. Some flaws are too minor to be noticed and can only be detected after careful scrutiny. If the defect is trivial, there is no long-term harm in buying the item.
source: ezinearticles.com
Pine Furniture
Have you ever given serious thought to the type of wood used to create your household furniture? Would you know the difference between a piece of pine bedroom furniture and cherry bedroom furniture? If not, you are not alone. Most people shop according to price and appearance without even considering the type of wood that was used to make the items. Yet, you have very good reason to start thinking about this.
The type of wood chosen for furniture will determine how strong the furniture is, how long it lasts, and whether it tends to split and break apart easily. It will also affect the color and appearance of the furniture if it is not painted. This is where knowing the difference between different types of wood furniture becomes important.
Out of all the wood furniture available today, pine furniture is one of the most popular options. Let’s take a look at why it is so appealing to so many people.
Aesthetics
The natural color of pine is very appealing. It is a lighter shade of wood that can be stained or painted to virtually any other color that could be desired. Yet, many people who purchase furniture made from pine opt for the natural wood grain to be shown off. When it is properly manufactured it is a very beautiful wood that is very appealing to most people.
Furniture made from pine that has the natural coloring looks more elegant and gives warmth to the home.
Durability
Pine is a strong wood that creates very durable furniture. As long as it is cared for properly pine bedroom furniture will hold up to routine use for many years. You can even purchase furniture made from pine for use in a child’s bedroom without worry that it will fall apart in a short period of time.
Durability is one of the most important things to consider when purchasing furniture. One of the reasons people have to replace items in their home routinely is because they do not purchase high quality furniture made from durable wood sources. Plastic and metal furniture is often less expensive than a solid wood piece of furniture, but they also tear up much faster because the materials just aren’t as durable.
Pricing
Of course, you can expect to pay more for a nice piece of solid wood furniture than you would for something similar made from plastic or thin metal. Yet, there are ways to get affordable wood furniture. Pine is a very affordable wood source so you can often find high quality furniture made from pine that costs less than the same pieces made from other types of wood.
source: ezinearticles.com
Distressed Furniture in Demand
When deciding to remodel your home, there are several different styles you can go for a popular one at the moment is shabby chic furniture. This style looks great in contemporary homes and the furniture can be quite expensive if you choose to buy it from a store. The way to get around the expense is to distress your furniture yourself. Distressed furniture has an amazing look to it, and is quite easy to achieve.
Shabby chic is very popular at the moment; it makes your home feel cozy and lived in. Whilst still looking individual and unique, it blends older pieces of furniture with a fresh look. Shabby chic furniture was first created in 1989 and has become very popular to recreate. The whole look is about restoring old furniture and turning them into contemporary pieces. Creativity is the key with this look and you can be as subtle or as wacky as you want. You can use old items and turn them into furniture, or recover your existing furniture with floral patterns, gingham and blue chintz. These are all great shabby chic looks.
You will need to decide on which pieces of distressed furniture you want to create. Do you want all of your furniture in the shabby chic look or just some individual pieces? You will want to find an older style painted piece of furniture, both plain and very detailed furniture work easily as well. White or very light blue paint works best for the shabby chic furniture, as they are subtle and look good with any style room. You will need to sand the piece of furniture, but not to remove all of the paint the idea of distressed furniture is to enable you to see the paint underneath the top coat. Apply the paint until you get the look you are looking for, there are no rules with shabby chic furniture it is all down to personal taste.
If you don’t have any old pieces of furniture that you want to turn into distressed furniture, then you can always buy cheap new styled furniture. You then simply need to paint it all, once dried sand down and distress it as if it was an older piece. You can always add old handles to give it an antique look, and sand the edges down to make it seem worn. Wicker is very good as distressed furniture; you can give it a whole lease of life with a spray can. Many people have items of furniture that are just pushed to the side, have a look round your home before buying new pieces. You can also buy crackle paint at your local hardware store, you simply apply it to the furniture and it will give it a very old look.
Whatever pieces of furniture you decide that would look good as shabby chic furniture, it will certainly give your home a fresh new look. You will find that once you begin distressing one or two pieces then your whole home will soon become shabby chic. Every room will have distressed furniture in it, with this very easy but effective make over to do on your home.
source: ezinearticles.com
My Furniture
The term ‘distress,’ as used in day to day language, has a negative connotation. If you are a person who tries to make sense of things on a linguistic basis then, it is understandable that when you hear about furniture being ‘distressed,’ you may develop a feeling that perhaps what is in question is something bad happening to the furniture. In actual fact, though, the term ‘distress’ as used in furniture circles has a positive connotation. Distressing is actually a deliberate process carried out on furniture, in order to make the furniture look ‘aged’ and thus more aesthetically appealing. In a sense, the aim in distressing furniture is to add ‘character’ to it. Conscious furniture shoppers will typically be ready to pay a premium on furniture that has character – as opposed to dull furniture that lacks character.
Now all this brings us to a question commonly asked by people who purchase furniture which is termed as having been ‘distressed’ – that being the question as to whether the specific furniture items are, in fact, distressed. To be sure, this is not just a question confined to this area alone. In most other shopping areas too, people will tend to develop doubts about their purchases; leading to question like the one we are looking at, where people wonder whether what they bought, in the name of distressed furniture, is in fact anything of the sort.
It is worth noting that the people who ask this sort of question are not usually just hysterical or paranoid people. Things like whether a piece of furniture is distressed or not aren’t the types of things that you can take note of casually. They require a keener eye, and not every one of us is gifted with that.
In order to be in a position to understand whether a given piece of furniture is distressed, it would help to understand exactly what is involved in the furniture distressing process.
As it turns out, approximately six steps are involved in the process that leads to the production of distressed furniture. The first step towards distressing furniture is usually to sand it, a step that is carried out using sandpaper. The second step towards distressing furniture is roughing up the furniture. Of course, sanding down the furniture is also, in a way, a step towards roughing it up. But what we are looking at in the second step is more profound roughing. The third step in the ‘distressing’ process, after roughing up the furniture is to prime it. This is immediately followed by top coating the furniture, as the fourth step. The fifth and six steps in the process involve the application of a glaze coat and a seal coat respectively, to end up with the end product which is distressed furniture.
Ultimately, the best way to tell whether a given piece of furniture is distressed is by stepping back from it, dropping any emotional attachments you may be having to it, and asking whether, objectively speaking it oozes of character. The whole ‘distressing’ process is, after all, just about the injection of character into the furniture. Knowing that the above described steps are what go into that injection of character which makes furniture qualify to be termed as distressed, you would then ask -while looking at – whether it really looks like furniture on which the six procedures have been carried out. If it doesn’t, then it is probably not distressed furniture.
source: ezinearticles.com
Wooden Vs Plastic Furniture
House is complete only when it has beautiful furniture. Furniture adds spice to the beauty of house. It is the type of furniture which owes its beauty and lasting. Beautifully carved furniture is liked by all. It attracts the attention of many people. Furniture is of many types, but most common are the wooden and plastic furniture. It is the two furniture which is liked by people of all the ages. Wooden furniture is considered as natural furniture. On the other hand, plastic furniture is a man made product.
Some people prefer wooden furniture due to its durability, shine, and carving. The work done on furniture made of Teak wood is hard to imitate on any other surface. The remarkable beauty of teak has always been favorite of all. Wooden furniture is more expensive than plastic furniture. But the longevity of wooden furniture along with heavy weight is not easy to break. Wooden furniture is not light weighted, once it is made good it lasts forever. It saves time and money also for changing furniture frequently. They are evergreen and long-lasting furniture.
On the other side of the stream, there are people who consider plastic furniture as good. For them cutting woods and turning them into furniture is not ideal decision. It is harmful for the environment. If there are no trees left it can result in global warming. For this reason plastic furniture are in demand. They are processed refined and turned into furniture. Plastic furniture is light weight and can be easily carried to any place. Even the maintenance is also less. Just by sweeping with duster they can be cleaned, whereas wooden furniture requires special care. To keep away from moth during rainy season, it is essential to keep them in sun prior to rain. Even special oils are available for cleaning them. Now where people had very few off and all are working it is difficult for maintaining furniture. Plastic furniture in this sense is quite good.
Plastic furniture is not so expensive also. It can be suitable for all the wages people. But some people say that plastic furniture is recycled and then turned into furniture, which is not good for health. Whatever the furniture are at home; plastic or wooden, it is essential that they should be of good quality. The important aspect is that the raw material used for any furniture, whether it is wooden or plastic, should be of good quality. As far as maintenance is concerned, all products require proper care. Furniture should always be bought keeping in mind the budget and the home construction.
source:ezinearticles.com
Painted Furniture
Combination of the craftsmanship with art serves in arriving of the evolution of new painting designs for furniture. Troubled furniture can be brought into perfect shape with the help of creation of new painting designs. Distressed furniture can be brought into a typical antique by whitewashing and painting with modern color paints. The stylish options available in transforming the distressed furniture into a modern art make your home a perfect living environment. The furniture stylish tones arise from the moderate hues to the fragment distressed classic to downy form makes the furniture suitable for all occasions. Some of the vibrant colors suitable for painting of furniture arise from the natural domestic maple; Brazilian Cheery and exotic tarque are some of the suitable colors that provide attraction to the furniture and to the living room.
The distressed furniture is remodeled and painted for success in environmentally friendly situations, and they add a nice touch to the surroundings. A distressed piece of furniture is usually transformed from generations and the paint from such furniture would have been worn out, and it flakes of when touched with hard movements. In the recent days, the distressed furniture can be transformed into brand new furniture with the addition of style and paintings. Painting the worn out areas in the furniture adds touch and fixing of beautiful designs in the broken area covers completely the affected parts and offers a look of antique piece and really admires the surrounding of the living area. Some of the objects that cause distressing factors are the piece of furniture and wooden frame. The essential requirements for rectifying the distressed objects are satin latex paint preferred for the basecoat and topcoat, tools for painting, steel wool, candle, sand scrapper, waste tack cloth and polyurethane for polishing the distressed furniture.
There are several ways to create distressed painted furniture. The first step is to discover the model of the painted furniture and to locate the distressed areas in the furniture. Painting with two colors graciously serves in providing new look to the furniture. Top coating of the furniture makes the rubbed areas to look better. Sanding of the distressed furniture assists in providing good and new look to the furniture. Sanding processes should be tacked with cloth to remove the extra dirt from the furniture and offers glossy look. The wood exposed in the distressed areas of the furniture could be cleared by painting with the topcoat paint. The paint for the furniture could be selected according to the color in the specified room and provides great contrast. The painting of topcoat covers the distressed and affected areas in the furniture. Topcoat paint should be selected with brighter colors, and it promotes look for the furniture. After painting the distressed furniture the base coat should let to dry and after that the areas should be sanded off to provide smoothness. Rubbing of candle wax in the places of holes to be visibly seen promotes a clean covering for the furniture. Filling of candle wax with great colors promote attraction of the furniture the entire sides and back of the furniture should be cleanly waxed and painted with topcoat and basecoat to provide a complete finish to the distressed furniture. This process makes the furniture look great and provides a lovely antique appearance.
source: ezinearticles.com
Great About Antique Furniture
You might think the term “antique furniture” only comprises those items that are extremely rare and very expensive, but think again. In fact, they can give you a link to the past — and in some cases, it’s much more affordable than modern furniture, especially furniture that is well built.
Instead of buying “modern” pressboard, cheap furniture that’ll probably fall apart in a few years, why not consider investing in some antique furniture that’s going to stand the test of time?
For many collectors of course, old furniture is actually an investment. And that can be true of you, too, even if you’re looking for some antique furniture to simply use in your home. But for the most part, if you’re looking for this type of furniture that’s beautiful and that is going to provide a service for you, you don’t have to be so careful about buying pieces of antique furniture that have had no flaws in them. In fact, you can get some pretty good deals on antique furniture with minor flaws so that these pieces aren’t actually very valuable as collectibles, but will certainly fill the bill for you both in beauty and functionality nonetheless.
You can of course search the Internet for antique furniture, but when you buy antique furniture, you’re probably going to want to see it “up close and personal,” rather than simply buying it from an auction site unseen, as one example. So one good way to find valuable sources for antique furniture is to search the Internet for local venues that may have antique furniture for sale at reasonable prices. The aforementioned estate sale is one good place, as are places like flea markets, garage sales, or secondhand furniture shops.
You do have to look carefully, of course, but this “old-style” furniture exists everywhere. You can of course check places like your grandmother’s attic, or you may simply inherit a few pieces from a relative at some point in your life. However, if you’re looking for a specific piece of old furniture, like an antique wardrobe, one of the best places to look for “old-style” furniture in this regard is by going to estate sales or hitting local auctions.
If you want a good deal on a piece of “less-than-new” furniture (especially if you’re not looking for it to be in pristine condition as a collectible), be prepared to haggle with whomever you buy the furniture from. Make sure you take a close look at what you’re considering buying, and note any flaws it has, including any that are going to need fixing. Then, be prepared to bargain with the seller to bring the price down if need be; the key to shopping for antique furniture in this regard, of course, is to get good, sturdy, attractive furniture that’s going to serve you well for a very reasonable price.
source: ezinearticles.com
Modern and Stylish Furniture
Modern and stylish furniture multiplies the beauty of every home. Therefore people want to equip their home with the most stylish furniture of the latest designs. However, selection of the right furniture is a crucial task. It becomes tougher due to presence of several options of designer furniture. People often get confused about what to choose and what to leave. Another problem that people often face while choosing designer furniture is budget factor. Therefore they need proper assistance while buying furniture for their homes.
Selection of Right Furniture
While buying furniture for your home, you need to keep three things in your mind, comfort, design and budget. Without considering these three important factors you will not be able to select perfect furniture for your home.
Comfort is the most important factor when selecting furniture. Look and feel factor comes after that, because if your furniture is very stylish but not comfortable, then you will not be able to enjoy the coziness of your furniture for long time. Budget is also an important constraint. Therefore, think wisely before selecting expensive furniture pieces for your home. You may get better furniture deals.
You also need to give serious consideration to the color and design of your furniture, because they can increase the interior beauty of your home and create magnificent internal ambience. If possible try to select furniture designs matching with the color scheme of your home. Like, if you have adopted white color scheme in your living room then an orange colored sofa set will not justify the looks. It’s better if you go with similar white color or just opposite to that like block (or colors with high contrast). It will provide vibrant look to your living room.
Cost Effective Designer Furniture
Designer furniture is not always expensive. But to get better deals on designer home furniture, one needs to do proper market research. One of the best sources to purchase cost effective designer furniture are online furniture stores. Yes, online designer furniture stores provide a wide range of luxury bedroom furniture, comfortable living room furniture, and special furniture for your kid’s room in attractive designs and vibrant colors.
Therefore try online furniture stores once for purchasing modern and stylish furniture for your home. You will certainly be able to get the best picks for you.
source: ezinearticles.com
Ordinary Patio Furniture
The choice is clear when it comes to Outdoor Patio Furniture – Stone is the Best Option. In the past there were four main materials used for patio and outdoor garden furniture. Those materials were wood, metal, wicker and plastic. Each of these materials reacts to the weather in various ways and requires different levels of maintenance and care. All of these materials have pros and cons and depending on how much time and effort you want to invest in your outdoor furniture would depend on the material you selected. However you now have another choice, stone. Stone is beautiful, long lasting, easy and inexpensive to maintain, earth friendly and most of all comfortable.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of options when it comes to patio furniture, and you can easily find cheap furniture that won’t last very long, incurring additional expense for both upkeep and replacement. Often people select plastic furniture when purchasing for outdoor environments. The downside with plastic is it is not very durable. After a few years, the plastic tends to get brittle and can crack under normal wear. In addition plastic isn’t terribly attractive. It tends to be one color and come in very basic, familiar patterns. In particular, it can be hard to find just the color you are looking for to complement your deck or surrounding environment. Plastic is also very lightweight so if you live in a windy area you might find yourself constantly picking your furniture up and perhaps even going to search for it. Stone Furniture is durable, beautiful and doesn’t fight with the beauty of the outdoors, it enhances it. You won’t have to worry about replacing your Stone Furniture after a few years; it will last a life time and look as beautiful as the day you bought it. Stone comes in an array of colors so it will be easy to find just the one that works with your environment. You can also set it and forget it; there is no chance that your Stone Furniture will blow away.
Wood is a popular material selection when it comes to patio and outdoor garden furniture. The challenge with wood is it’s susceptible to rain and moisture damage more than other types of materials used for outdoor furniture. It must be covered during wet weather or stored for longevity. Wood will last longer than plastic, but only if you take careful care of it by storing it during inclement weather. And watch out for the splinters. In contrast, there is no need to protect your Stone Furniture from the elements. It has lasted thousands of years and will continue to brave the elements. And best of all, no splinters.
Teak is an option when looking at wood furniture. Because it has a growing period of 50 to 60 years and is in heavy demand with limited supply the cost is much higher than other types of outdoor furniture. Because Teak is a natural resource that isn’t so easily renewed it isn’t such a great environmental choice. Although Teak Furniture will last longer than regular wood furniture, that comes with a price. It must be maintained at a yearly cost of about $133.00. That adds up. Stone Furniture is environmentally friendly and requires no maintenance except for maybe to be hosed off once in awhile. Although Teak and Stone Furniture cost about the same, when considering the cost of maintenance and the longevity of Stone Furniture, there really is no comparison.
Wicker is another popular option for outdoor furniture, but comes with a downside. Wicker is delicate and must be well kept, put away in the winter, and carefully cleansed with each use to maintain a sparkling appearance. Outdoor wicker furniture has a life expectancy of 3-5 years. It may last longer if you keep cushions on it however cushions will not hold up in outdoor weather and will need to be maintained and replaced fairly often. Stone Furniture is durable and rugged and needs no additional maintenance to keep it looking fabulous.
source: ezinearticles.com