When you are a guest you want to feel welcomed and pampered, so why would you want any less for guests in your own home? You don’t of course! You want to provide a haven where they will feel like they are visiting a five-star hotel, regardless of the purpose of their visit.
Attention-getting colors, large blocks of color and bold, bold, bold are the bedding trends we are seeing this year and they are the perfect compliment to the sleek, understated bedroom furniture that has become the rage.
Silks, cottons, or even fabrics with more texture like wool and organza find their way into bed coverings for the savvy sleeper. Whether you want something to wow the eyes or prefer bedding that is all snuggle and comfort, there is a bold pattern and a perfect color waiting for you.
We’ve downsized a lot since the Big 80s – cars, hair and many other things have been minimized. In the last decade furniture has begun to follow that trend as well. With the baby boomers retiring to smaller quarters, young professionals gravitating to smaller urban apartments and some of us just trying to save money by downsizing out homes, the need for slimmer furniture is at its peak.
Chicago, Illinois furniture retailers have noted and met this demand for smaller profiles in chairs and shorter sofas. Small-scale furnishings may not be in the majority but they certainly have their place in the decorating market.
Manufacturers and designers don’t limit their selections to seating; tables, beds and other functional pieces are being scaled down to fit into consumers’ homes. Your Chicago furniture dealer will likely have a slimmer version of what you now own if you need to save on space. Just don’t expect the price to be scaled down as well. Most pieces run about the same cost-wise as their larger siblings.
Rooms are getting smaller as well. The high ceilings and open spaces – such as the “great room” – so popular in the last decade are slowly giving way to smaller “purposed” rooms. Media rooms, offices, even crafting or scrapbooking rooms are showing up in today’s homes. Chicago, Illinois furniture buyers are looking for smaller pieces to be in synch with their smaller spaces.
So for those who have noticed their floor plans being a bit crowded, visit the designers at your custom furniture store in Chicago, Walter E. Smithe, for assistance finding pieces to perfect scale for your lifestyle. Whether you need to swap out the high-backed dining chairs for something lower or trade your eight-foot sofa for one a half foot shorter, they have the resources and ideas to make your floor plan work.
Whether you’re red or blue or just plain red, white and blue, campaign furniture may be just the unique touch you need to complete a historic look or spark a conversation. Your Chicago furniture dealer, without getting too political, wants to offer you the opportunity to bring a piece of history, or at least a replica of it, into your home.
If you’re not familiar with campaign furniture, let me enlighten you a bit. It really has nothing to do with politics, except so far as war and politics go together. Campaign furniture is actually thousands of years old, possibly invented by the Romans. About three hundred years ago the English decided it would be elegant, if not practical, to use in some of their war campaigns as the British attempted to conquer the world.
Now campaign furniture is among the best furniture Chicago buyers can find with historical significance. These campaign pieces were designed for easy travel. They could fold up or be dismantled to pack into the hold of a ship or the back of a horse cart. Tables, chairs, desks, beds – almost anything a master carpenter could dream up and assemble without nails or screws might find its way into the tent of a high-ranking officer or ambassador.
Sometimes known as “knockdown furniture”, campaign pieces were very portable and took little time to set up. You might visit a Chicago furniture dealer to add one of these pieces to your décor as a novelty, but they can be useful as well as being a showpiece.
If may be difficult to picture a fancy wooden piece in the tents of our modern warfare, but we have to remember that the British liked to do things in style and the Romans did everything on a grand scale. We can just thank them for providing us with a novel decorating idea.
Buyers of the best furniture Chicago retailers offer are fortunate to be using these pieces as décor and not small comforts as they trek far from home on dangerous missions. Of course, we can choose to furnish an entire room with campaign pieces and never have to worry about breaking them down before the enemy advances or packing them into a cart for transport.
Most of the pieces were made of stronger woods like teak of mahogany, which could survive various climates, harsh travel conditions and insects. For us, these are just beautiful woods reminiscent of a bygone era.
Some antique campaign furniture never made it to the campaign. Some was just designed for country homes which were not used year-round. One very eccentric Roman emperor even had parquet flooring constructed and laid out in his tent. Those were the days . . . .
Accent tables may not be the first thing you shop for to furnish a room, but they can certainly be the finishing touch and provide a hint of your personal style or even a touch of whimsy.
Your Chicago furniture dealer can offer you styles of accent table in a variety of styles and materials. If you prefer a classic or traditional style, wooden and detailed may fit in your décor. Those with a more modern or even a retro preference might look to metal or even acrylic in flowing shapes or transparent designs.
The fun part about the accent table it that it is what the name implies – an accent. This does not have to be a functional piece, but it might as well be. Why not perch a lamp or basket on top or fan your favorite decorating magazines across the surface? Buyers of Chicago furniture modern styles will appreciate the freedom in decorating that accent tables provide.
The accent should be on your personal style. If you are eclectic or eccentric you may want to mix in a few existing pieces or flea market finds with your purchased tables. A stack of antique hat boxes, an old steamer trunk, a brightly-painted milk can or any other fun items that can stand on their own can be pressed into service as an accent table. Chicago furniture dealers have many choices and ideas on how to best use accent tables to maximize your room space and personal style.
Retailers with Chicago furniture modern pieces also carry items made from repurposed and recycled materials which add a point of interest to a room. Many of these pieces are unique and unusual, so can become a conversation focal point in your décor.
