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Colonial Style DecoratingEasy Tips!
Sometimes knowing the background of a style, colonial style decorating imparticular, helps me to get my brain churning. Are you ready for a history lesson? Not a history buff? Don't worry. It'll be short. Early American settlers brought ideas from the countries they left. So, colonial homes have much in common with 18th century European country houses. The style was simple and practical. The homes included rustic furniture and lacked clutter. Dark woods were used in furniture and pine flooring. The floor plans of colonial style homes were cracker box like. The more expensive were two story and symmetrical in shape, usually with strait lines for the windows. The door lead to an entryway with a stairway and hall along the center of the house. The rooms then branched from this. The second floor housed the bedrooms. Glass was highly valued in the 1700's. It had to be imported so windows were small hand blown panes, 3"x4". Lead was much more common and was used to hold the panes together. Much of the time the windows were covered by iside shutters hinged with leather straps that could be closed to keep out drafts on cold windy days. Aren't you glad we live in the 21st century? Crown moulding was one of the few decorative luxuries. Tooth like dentils like the example you see below were popular.
Wallpaper had to be imported so it was reserved for the wealthy. Stenciling was developed because it was inexpensive. People were fond of natural images so fruit and flowers were the objects of choice forcolonial style decorating and stenciling.
Sometimes creations from this time period are called folk art. When colonial style decorating I think it's easiest to find a print from the early colonial time period and use it as a base for your color pallette. Then when you're done using it for inspiration, frame it in a dark,wood planked frame. Folk art
Patterns were rarely used when colonial style decorating. When they were, they popped up in intricately braided. Sometimes canvas was painted and used as a floor cloth if money was especially tight. You can do the same by purchasing a canvas cloth and creating your own design. Paint Color CombinationsEarly colonial home decorating often meant having to deal with rooms with low ceilings and that lacked light. To help the room appear brighter, the walls and ceilings were painted white. A strip of chair rail was nailed to the wall and painted the color of the doors, trim and dentil moulding. If you too have the problem of low ceilings, try gluing paneling to the wall 1/4 of the way up from the floor and paint it the trim color. This really helps to enlongate the room. Earthy colors were most often used. Yellow, ochre, dark brown and white as seen below were a popular combination. Red was frequently used because it was the most economical for the period.
Woodworking craftsmanship gradually developed. Liming wood was a method used to protect furniture. It involved covering furniture and paneling with a slaked lime paste. You can spot it easily because it left a white color in the pores of the wood. You can easily reproduce the effect yourself by using a less harmful process and
your own recipe
.
Colonial style decorating
is easy to accomplish. With a little planning you will feel right at home!
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like the picture of the barn you see below was common in early America.
