Monday, August 17, 2009

What's that thing called, again?

One thing I always had a tough time memorizing in my History of Art and Architecture class was furniture styles. I tend to get bored trying to memorize things and instead focus more on the way a piece looks and I learn to distinguish furniture by certain features, rather than by their proper names. Am I the only one who does this? Or does memorizing furniture types come naturally to you? In order for the names to really sink in, I made myself a handy little chart to study or take a glance at when I forget. :) Usually "doing" is one of the best ways for me to learn. So I thought you might like to see my chart and maybe it will help those of you that have the same problem as me!
{Click on picture to enlarge the furniture goodness}


A few of the pieces are always especially difficult for me to distinguish because they look very similar to other pieces that we all know and love. Here are the distinctions:

Channel Back Wing Chair- this chair is exactly the same as a typical wing chair that we all know and recognize except for the back of the chair has "channels" or large ridges in the way it is upholstered.

Breakfront-this piece is extremely similar to a china cabinet, but you'll see that the difference lies in the detail on the top of the piece.

Tuxedo Sofa-this sofa is characterized by the tall, straight lines of the arms and a high back.

Pembroke Table-similar to a Butterfly table but the difference is in the legs. A Pembroke has long, skinny, tapered legs.

Studio Couch-this is a half-sofa, half-bed type piece that reminds me of a classy futon.

Spoon back Chair-this chair is a larger chair that has a deep curved scoop to it's shape, similar to a spoon.

So there you have it! Hopefully this will help some of you out if you are studying for a quiz, furniture shopping or just trying to figure out what style of furniture you like and just want to know what to call it!

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