Brown Furniture an Appreciation

Today antique furniture from the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods seem to have fallen out of fashion, this is a contrast from the 1970’s/1980’s. What has changed? Why have we collectively fallen out of love with what we once cherished? We should not forget that what is known as brown furniture in the trade suffered a similar fate after the end of the Second World War. A new modern Britain had been born with the new Welfare State and the birth of the NHS. Times were changing and we had no wish to return to a darker past, we as a nation embraced the brave new world of modernist architecture. Old dull interiors were on the way out and new lighter interiors were all the fashion. The designs of the Festival of Britain were now seen as the way forward.

However, the shine of this new design was starting to fade by the beginning of the 1970’s as the concrete tower blocks which had replaced the Victorian slum housing were becoming the slums in the sky.  People started to look for an antidote to modernism and found it with style of Laura Ashley, soon stripped pine kitchens were all the rage and brown furniture became in vogue. 

Although we now seem to be in a period of contemporary minimalism antique furniture does seem to be appreciated in some circles, I often have conversations with people who demonstrate their love of older style furniture although they do not have any examples of it at home.

When asked by friends how they should furnish their home I always recommend antique furniture for the following reasons:-

1.      Antique furniture is very competitively priced as compared to mass produced furniture on the high street.

2.       When you acquire a piece of hand produced antique furniture it is likely to be unique, unlike mass produced furniture.

3.      Antique furniture by its very nature will have a history behind it.

4.      A piece of antique furniture is likely to keep its value if not increase it.

5.      Antique furniture is more able to be passed down to your children.