I kind-of still like the table...but the other pieces scare me.

LOVE those Craftsman lines...
We have some great Stickley pieces and others in the same vein made locally.
Love the simplicity, love the craftsmanship, love the ease of cleaning.

I kind of like the table, too. It's not the worst hybrid.

The wing chair is strange but I kinda like it's strangeness

The settee just reminds me camp furniture.

I'm a little fascinated by the current revulsion toward all things Colonial Revival. Especially by the hate toward Early American. Some of the rich folks who bought old houses in Bucks County to vacation in have done a nice, modern sparse take on that style, but it's not something that caught on nationally. We prefer fake Belgian history to our own.

Marcolo, my mom did our house in Early American, and because I loved it so much, I still use those colors, and some of the furniture. It was popular in the early 60s but hasn't been back in favor since. I think a lot of people see it as being "country."

"I'm a little fascinated by the current revulsion toward all things Colonial Revival. Especially by the hate toward Early American. Some of the rich folks who bought old houses in Bucks County to vacation in have done a nice, modern sparse take on that style, but it's not something that caught on nationally. We prefer fake Belgian history to our own."

Perhaps the issue is the dark colors of the wood, or the perceived lack of comfort. Also, the color palettes for fabric - unimaginative and dreary. Or, another, related thought, recollections of the really, really bad interpretations of early American (for example, during the 1960s I think?) -- furniture that managed to be both hideous and dowdy at the same time.

I've been in quite a few of those houses, marcolo, and the ones I've liked the best have some pieces, but just as many modern, comfortable things as well, or if not modern, the furniture in other styles. We have an early American gateleg table that had been in the family and that might actually be authentic. But for the rest, primarily transitional and other styles. Our kitchen screams for authentic early American, but I won't be doing it - it'd be like living in a museum.

And that's another possible reason. Few people want to recreate an era such that it's like living in a museum. A neighbor, somewhere else in the county, lived in a high Victorian house, done to a tee as it were. All the furniture, curtains, accessories, all were Victorian, or at least her interpretation of it. I always felt as if I couldn't breathe in there.

Also, final point: perhaps it hasn't caught on nationally because, by the time many parts of the country were settled, early American had been supplanted by other styles. Or, as in the Am. Southwest, had never had a toehold at all.

Back to the OP, I have never learned to like Arts/Crafts style. At this very moment, I'm sitting at an authentic Arts & Crafts desk. When we redo a space that is to become a home office, this desk will be replaced, and it will be leaving, unmourned, unlamented!

It's interesting though that in many parts of the country, colonial revival details are what's standard in contemporary construction interior details: Crown molding, ogee-edged baseboard, six panel doors, door and window casings, stock "divided lite" options, the standard handrail profiles, wainscot profiles, and much typical door hardware are almost all exact colonial/revival details or closely designed after colonial revival details.

Absolutely true. Those are the details that Americans think houses are just supposed to have. Even pseudo Spanish revivals in Florida and Arizona have them on the interior.

Early American furniture is not inherently uncomfortable or museum-ish--no more so than the current fad for Victorian cottage ceiling fans or faux Frank Lloyd Wright lampshades-- and country remains very popular. Perhaps it's waiting for 2026 to make a comeback.

I will say, all of these styles are alive and well in coastal New England towns.

I sure do wish for more visuals of these ponderific elements of which you speak;)

I've despaired many times at the default Colonial Revival trim that comprises the entire stock available at lumberyards and big box stores. Try finding new sash stop stock or casing that doesn't have that damnable double ogee on it.

Pal, Stickley's trajectory reminds me of the similar fate of Heywood Wakefield, that iconic purveyor of heavy blond modern furniture. In the late 60's and 70's they turned to Early American as well, and the difference in resale value of these vintage pieces is enormous. A nicely maintained Harmonizer suite costs in the thousands, whereas you cannot give a Publick House set away.

That's a great comparison. Some of the colonial revival Heywood is less literal than the Publick House, and it's kind of interesting.

I look at this furniture and am still reminded of people's camps or weekend places, at least at the time and place I was growing up. As hokey as some of it is, there is something "comfortable" about it on some level.

I think the dividing line between "yes" and "yick!" is whether the forms, scale, and materials are authentic or merely motif-y.

Genuine Early American is like genuine French provincial...country furniture; made of simple indigenous wood and cloth; either from pattern books, inherited craft, specific functional need, or personal imagination. it makes up for what it may lack in refinement with inherent honesty.

Our sense of comfort and security at home is deeply influenced by our early experience. So one person's affection for a clunky maple-trimmed plaid tweed sofa and a set of varnished captain's chairs comes from memories of happy childhood summers, while another reacts with the nauseous hives, remembering being hopelessly trapped with annoying relatives in times that couldn't end too soon.

Well, there's a lot of "ick" today that represents a very inauthentic take on Belgian country, or French country, or Italian or Spanish or whatnot. And it sells well. Plus, a large share of today's furniture market includes people who have no memories of '60s plaid sofas.

I think revival styles tend to have a cultural and political dimension to them. Colonial Revival was a celebration of Americanism, which meant Anglo-Saxon Americanism. So was Tudor Revival, sad to say--my favorite house style was popularized as a backlash against my own grandparents. Today I don't think Early American, for instance, has any positive movement to associate with. If manufacturers were smarter, they'd stress links between "green" ideas and the Age of Homespun.

With some notable exceptions, I think that (what I guess could be called) late 1900s-2000s American Vernacular Furniture comes across as very sterile.

It's largely transitional, it's comfortable, and a lot of it is decent looking, but it's --shallow--if one can ascribe a personality trait to furniture.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of historical furniture of the post-industrial era that's awful, uncomfortable, ugly.

But the worst of the worst used to be mostly the lower tier furniture that was poorly mass produced for a market that needed every cliche of the period to express itself. --And, I would say there was some worst of the worst at the very top of the market, where people could afford to do any hideous thing they wanted.

Now, I think there is kind of a pervasive banality that blankets a lot of current furniture. As strange as some of this colonial revival furniture was, there some level of "personality" to it. At the very beginning, some of the transitional Stickley was hideous, because they were trying to take existing inventory and patterns and quickly tart them up and get them on the market. But however un-genuine the Colonial interpretation was of the later Stickley and the Heywood Wakefield (and I should add Cushman and Ethan Allen here) there is something very genuine about the statement it makes and the overall sturdy quality of its construction.

I think there is an entire gradient to the colonial revivals that range from exact replicas of 18th century pieces to the completely unrecognizable, but I think a lot of people tend to put the adaptations all in the same category. None of these pieces duplicate a colonial piece, but I think there is a marked difference in the success.

The Stickley Wing Chair:

Looks absolutely refined, compared to the Ethan Allen Wing Chair:
{{!gwi}}
Which I think could at least work somewhere with a better finish and cushions. I've seen much worse.

And while neither of these pieces replicate anything colonial, the Cushman Colonial Creation, has a pleasant enough, if quirky, mid-century vibe:
{{!gwi}}

While the Thomasville is really unfortunate, and would probably even be toxic firewood, in my opinion:
{{!gwi}}

But I don't think people with particularly good taste bought something as vulgar as the Thomasville even when this type of revival was at it's peak.

Oh dear. I have something that looks similar. I inherited it and if any of my siblings had been willing to take it I would have been happy. I didn't like it. But I got stuck with it out of sentimentality and now I've had it so long it looks okay to me. I think it's nicer than that scary Thomasville one but maybe I'm just comfortable with it.

Yikes.

We have two of the EA chairs that palimpsest posted at 17:44, they were in the furnished camp we bought a dozen or so years ago. They are the infamous dark stained pine, but are solid as a rock and quite comfortable. They are currently languishing in the barn, awaiting the paintbrush and new cushions. I have visions of them painted a deep, glossy charcoal and paired with cushions made from some black, yellow and gray geometric fabric I scored at a rummage sale this summer or maybe an intense purple with the orange, green, yellow and purple fabric (with monkeys! So, what, 1998? I'm not sure when that peaked). In any event, I hope that by the time the snow flies, they will be installed on either side off the FP in our crazy, mixed up LR.

Thanks for the pics, folks, they are all great.

Sandyponder

(I kinda like the EA chair better than the Stickley. Please don't tell my mom!)

I think the disdain for CR and EA is mostly about passing fads rather than any kind of wise judgment. Put the same things in a different context and people will like them.

Proof: Everytime I or anyone else discusses 1920s breakfast nooks on the Kitchens forum, photos are always met with oohs and ahhs. Without exception, all of the benches are modeled after CR/EA settles, but no one notices because the context is different.

"Now, I think there is kind of a pervasive banality that blankets a lot of current furniture."

I agree 100%.

I also think there are differences in success based upon how loose the interpretation was

This Heywood Cobbler's bench, while clearly mid-century, is a recognizable form. (I like this piece a lot and used it in a house with a lot of regular Streamline Heywood and other MCM vernacular pieces)
{{!gwi}}

While this Link Taylor table is Based on a cobbler's bench, but isn't at all functional because you can't straddle it. It's almost half dry sink, half cobbler's bench so the design is not quite as satisfying imo.
{{!gwi}}

That kind of stuff (wing chairs, settees, cobblers bench end tables) was all over the common rooms of Christ School in Arden, NC. in the sixties and seventies. Mountain setting, native fieldstone buildings, uncomfortable upholstered furniture, no aircon, flagstone floors, lots of wood and screened doors, a bit like an Adirondack great camp.

Must admit I like the Ethan Allen wing better than the Stickley one. It looks more comfortable and a sensible place to rest your arms.

Tell City comes to mind as well. I swear I cannot see that brand without squirming in inner discomfort, remembering years of awkward 1970's-era Girl Scout troop meetings in someone's wood-paneled basement.

Pal, what exactly does "transitional" style mean? I've wondered ever since coming to these forums. From photo examples I take it to be a bland Pottery-Barn formlessness, or watered-down form, but surely it has a more precise etymology? Transitional between what and what?

LOL, say what you will, but Tell City furniture will outlast all of us! We see a ton of it here in Southern Indiana...

I think that transitional means straddling that line between traditional and contemporary, nothing precise, and personally not that interesting to me. Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware before it went all steampunk.... I'm kinda tired of big brown lumps of furniture.

Sadly, I think "transitional" too often means the developer/house designer/builder decided to throw in every surface, volume, gee gaw, window style, and motif that sells houses, all in one horrifying grab bag.

At its best, I think it means familiar traditional elements combined with the things that make a house work for modern living and expectations of comfort.

Here in Florida there are very few homes that are not transitional in style. We do not have very many old old homes, the termites got the frame structures and over the years the hurricanes got the rest. Even the Spanish style homes are just a lean to that direction. Most everyone down here is from somewhere else so you see the whole mix. There are few exceptions to this except maybe in areas of Art Deco Miami. All in all we have a different view on decorating and many of us would be temporarily lost if we moved to other states where we would have to let the true style of the house dictate the decor.

Oh yes, Vivian -- I grew up in Southeastern Michigan, and it was definitely endemic. Anything made of "rock maple" will probably survive nuclear armageddon. ;-)

jterri -- so how would you define "transitional" in terms of actual stylistic elements? (Apologies for my snarky 'bland' comment!) It's not a term one hears very often up here in the far Northeast, where Early American Saltbox still reigns supreme. Does it simply mean a lack of identifiable period-referential elements?

In furniture its original meaning was a combination between two periods or styles, that often happened as one faded and another took over. In general it means a combination of styles but without a temporal quality to it. Much of the recent Ethan Allen line-up (I am not familiar with their furniture of the last decade, but before that..) is transitional.

Their Country Crossing and Country Colors lines were country or colonial-revival inspired tempered with the spareness of contemporary furniture. American Dimensions and another similar line were contemporary, slightly curvy lines mixed with Craftsman/Mission. There are also a lot of deco-moderne lines tempered with traditional finishes or more recent contemporary lines. Think Heywood-Wakefield with not so much aerodynamics, and with more conventional hardware.

I agree that the heavy Jacobean Ethan Allen probably trumps the Heywood Wakefield wingchair for comfort. Nothing more comfortable that a big fat arm rest. I also agree that this furniture is built like a battleship. The chair directly above is more hampered stylistically by its Holly Hobby upholstery than by its frame. Put it in a plain, more tailored twill or canvas and it wouldn't be so bad.

Mostly I think transitional down here means many styles wrapped up into one in a blend. These pieces would probably be frowned on by the very serious. There is a knack to it though and I cannot say that it is always done well. For example: my neighbors have a transitional home and wanted to have transitional interior furnishings. Their idea of transitional was to have the formal sitting room at entrance very contemporary with a few hybrid transitional pieces. The next room (which is open plan) was heavy on traditional with a few hybrid transitional pieces. To them, they thought that as they a had a few transitional pieces in each room they had transitional decor. The result was not good.

I find this discussion interesting because the Colonial (revival?) style was also dominant in Canada through the 50s-70s and I have a certain fascination with it. I have a collection of it, and also (because space is limited!) a collection of photos of some of the more unlikely pieces that I've seen listed on craigslist. Do an image search for Vilas, Roxton, or Imperial Loyalist (add the word furniture in each case) and you will get the idea.

The furniture made of "rock maple" was revered by the people who bought it (whose kids are now selling it at estate sales, or sometimes it's Gram herself), and kept in pristine condition. These were the same people who kept plastic covers on their Camelback sofas for 40 years. I found this all interesting because I recently learned that the province of Quebec, where most of the maple grows, has been subsidizing its furniture industry for years, so the whole thing was maybe something of a government conspiracy to boost the economy - of all the unlikely places for a trend to come from.

The furniture is often ugly as sin, or at least utterly mundane, inefficient with space and access, and finally, heavy beyond belief. Rock maple is not a bad name.

Karin L

Well here is one of those cheap estate sale pieces that will make most of you cringe. I'm not sure what the heck the style is (do you know?) but I happily have two. They are perfect for the stupid long skinny family rooms with multiple openings and windows in the newer transitional construction. They are actually rather cozy for narrow profile. Note: I do not have the stuffing for the pillows yet. I know the legs are Frenchy but what about that arm style? Sorry if the arm style does not go with the conversation or relate in any way...I really don't know.

It's mostly a queen anne easy or lolling chair

Thanks pal and sorry about the slight high jack. I was not sure about what style the arms were ripped off from and if they related to anything above.

I guess they fall under (identity crisis) lol...just not your posted identity crisis.

The arm is Jacobean, along the lines of the leg of the first Stickley table or the heavy leg of the Ethan Allen wing chair. So the purer form would be Queen an arm with a pad Queen Anne foot, or a jacobean arm with a jacobean leg--and not that amount of tufting on a loose cushion which is the mid-century influence, a little bit of Hollywood Regency thrown in for good measure.

Still, it's not an ugly chair, it has decent proportions.

Furniture psychoanalysis!! I love it! Do mine!

Does this go with the Tell City stuff?

I was actually looking for one of those colonialish rock maple tables to go with it just for the sheer durability of them but I chickened out. And I don't like the chairs (except for actually sitting. They are comfy!).

I think this may have a colonial wannabe-French provincial identity crisis. Whatizzit?

I believe it's from the 1960s. It's very solid and made in Oregon, the furniture capital of uhhh Oregon.

Fori, what you've got is pretty French, just stripped down for the MCM era:

From Olivier Fleury:
{{!gwi}}

From Provenance:
{{!gwi}}

Here is a c. 1810 lolling chair from Stanley Weiss--it's not all that much different, they got the arms and legs mixed up on yours, maybe.

{{!gwi}}

Thanks, P. I guess it doesn't need therapy after all. Explains why I like it better than other orange maple pieces from that period.

Thank you Pal, very typical of me to have the mixed up version! The good thing is that they are comfortable. Plus, although they are of a little known company in N.C they are made well and solid and great for narrow rooms. I'm kind of in the mind frame lately of buying some of these odd little mixers from the late seventies to mid eighties from N.C. Most people do not want them so they can be had cheap. That particular time frame was still kicking out some decent quality even in the lower end range. I have said this a lot recently but most of the new stuff in my price range is made so poorly that the few times I have broken down and bought some I have quickly had regrets. For $35 I love them. I bought a new table and
credenza a few years ago on sale for around $2,400 and it is crap! I could go on and on about the poor finish.

Again sorry for the slight high jack but I suspected that maybe the arms had some far off weird quirky relation to your post.

My favorite word of the week...lolling chair. Love it! Thanks pal!

fori, I was actually surprised how dead-on the form of your piece actually was to those early 19th c. examples. I was expecting a little more artistic license but while they appeared to take details Off, they didn't really try to stick anything else On, and that's good :)

jterrilyn, I am also a fan of this type of furniture, whether moderne or colonial-revival. The better examples still pretty much follow the proportions of the originals, and are actually much better scaled than a lot of today's furniture. And even the kind of ugly stuff is still solid as a rock.

I have a very small dresser, maybe 15" by 30" by 36" that my mother bought "in the dime store" when she went to college in 1952 it's survived trips from Virginia to Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and back again as well as a flood in my parents old house, and various other traumas, and it is still solid. It probably cost her $5.00 new, it was that era's example of disposable furniture, and 60 years later it's still hanging around.

Pal, I would love to see a picture of that $5.00 dresser!

Until recently, I'd always thought it was one of this style,

but nicer since there are little trim details like coving and stuff that the colonial type things seem to lack. It didn't even occur to me that it was supposed to be a different style altogether, just done in the same wood.

Jterri, I have to confess I'd prefer your chair in a slightly different color, but I'd still take it home. It doesn't look like anyone has ever lolled in it at all!

Not right now you wouldn't

Its original finish was that maroon mahogany. Then it was ivory with blue knobs. Then it was all white. Then it was green acid-drop contact paper. Then it was 90 percent faux finished in 1970s tortoiseshell (I was 14 I think, and then the car dripped on it and I never finished it). More recently I stripped it, and it is marroonish and tan (the tortoiseshell undercoat), with some white ground in where the knobs were. I will do something with it sometime.

Fori, do not be afraid lol; the chairs do not look so vibrant in real life. I would say the color is sort of a burnt coral. These are virgin chairs that never Lollyed or LuLued and have sat in a guest room apparently waiting for guests who never came for around 35 years.

Pal, out of curiosity what sort of wood would that dime store dresser be made of?

This example shows how far-reaching the colonial revival influence was. This is a tall chair by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.

I crudely erased the background, because it didn't really do any favors for the chair.