The Evolution of Today"s Rooms - A Furniture History
The bedroom has always been a personal space and so bedroom furniture has always played a pivotal role in reflecting the character of the room's owner as well as organising and storing their belongings.
As a result bedroom furniture has always been a creative playground for furniture retailers and furniture suppliers alike.
Commonly, traditional styles have reigned as being the most popular; however as bedroom sizes have diminished in line with changes in society, their popularity has waned as these styles are better suited to larger rooms.
To address this, more contemporary furniture and more modern bedroom furniture styles have emerged to better suit today's smaller rooms.
As the bedroom evolves however, more traditional styles have been reinvented and are gradually making a comeback.
Despite the shrinking size of the bedroom you can see that the bedroom furniture still remains as important as it always has been.
Another considerable change has been in how we store our belongings; many beds now come with built in 'under-bed' storage whilst many rooms are designed with storage facilities in mind, such as built-in wardrobes and overhead storage, features that were not so prevalent a few centuries ago.
The living room has also seen its fair share of change.
Traditionally known as the 'parlour' throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, these rooms housed a families most prized possessions, art and what we now know as finely crafted living room furniture.
These were usually used for special occasions and for use on Sundays and remained locked for the rest of the week.
It also served as a place for laying a recently deceased family member whilst the funeral preparations were being made.
In a bid to disassociate the parlour with mourning and burials, builders and architects began to call the parlour the 'the living room'.
Nowadays we use the living room as a place to live, a place to put your feet up and watch television.
Living room furniture therefore has become the focus of the majority redecoration projects and so style is increasingly important.
Many like to adopt more modern and contemporary furniture styles, yet some of these can go out of fashion quickly.
The dining room, unlike the previous rooms has undergone much less recent change.
It has still evolved considerably however.
The evolution of the dining room was aided by the upper classes and nobility of medieval Britain and Europe.
They facilitated the use of smaller parlours, decorated with grand dining room furniture and artworks to counteract the noise of eating in the early great halls.
These grew in popularity as people began to realise the benefits and so more meals were eaten here as the room was held for more private discussions and more intimate entertaining.
As a result the great halls saw less use and eventually were only reserved for special occasions.
These parlours eventually became known as dining rooms as we know them today.
The dining room has still retained some of its former prestige however, where many will use the dining room for special occasions or larger than normal meals or perhaps for entertaining and so the dining room furniture styles have for a long time remained traditional.
Today however, the dining room is still evolving as social trends change.
Unlike the grand parlours of the past, many dining rooms are situated nearer to the kitchen with some becoming open plan to facilitate the ease of serving meals due to the inherent lack of servants.
This has made its presence felt in dining room furniture design as some more contemporary furniture styles emerge, although many tables still adhere to the classic rectangular designs which reflect the old hierarchical ways of dining as well as traditional dining room proportions.
As a result bedroom furniture has always been a creative playground for furniture retailers and furniture suppliers alike.
Commonly, traditional styles have reigned as being the most popular; however as bedroom sizes have diminished in line with changes in society, their popularity has waned as these styles are better suited to larger rooms.
To address this, more contemporary furniture and more modern bedroom furniture styles have emerged to better suit today's smaller rooms.
As the bedroom evolves however, more traditional styles have been reinvented and are gradually making a comeback.
Despite the shrinking size of the bedroom you can see that the bedroom furniture still remains as important as it always has been.
Another considerable change has been in how we store our belongings; many beds now come with built in 'under-bed' storage whilst many rooms are designed with storage facilities in mind, such as built-in wardrobes and overhead storage, features that were not so prevalent a few centuries ago.
The living room has also seen its fair share of change.
Traditionally known as the 'parlour' throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, these rooms housed a families most prized possessions, art and what we now know as finely crafted living room furniture.
These were usually used for special occasions and for use on Sundays and remained locked for the rest of the week.
It also served as a place for laying a recently deceased family member whilst the funeral preparations were being made.
In a bid to disassociate the parlour with mourning and burials, builders and architects began to call the parlour the 'the living room'.
Nowadays we use the living room as a place to live, a place to put your feet up and watch television.
Living room furniture therefore has become the focus of the majority redecoration projects and so style is increasingly important.
Many like to adopt more modern and contemporary furniture styles, yet some of these can go out of fashion quickly.
The dining room, unlike the previous rooms has undergone much less recent change.
It has still evolved considerably however.
The evolution of the dining room was aided by the upper classes and nobility of medieval Britain and Europe.
They facilitated the use of smaller parlours, decorated with grand dining room furniture and artworks to counteract the noise of eating in the early great halls.
These grew in popularity as people began to realise the benefits and so more meals were eaten here as the room was held for more private discussions and more intimate entertaining.
As a result the great halls saw less use and eventually were only reserved for special occasions.
These parlours eventually became known as dining rooms as we know them today.
The dining room has still retained some of its former prestige however, where many will use the dining room for special occasions or larger than normal meals or perhaps for entertaining and so the dining room furniture styles have for a long time remained traditional.
Today however, the dining room is still evolving as social trends change.
Unlike the grand parlours of the past, many dining rooms are situated nearer to the kitchen with some becoming open plan to facilitate the ease of serving meals due to the inherent lack of servants.
This has made its presence felt in dining room furniture design as some more contemporary furniture styles emerge, although many tables still adhere to the classic rectangular designs which reflect the old hierarchical ways of dining as well as traditional dining room proportions.
