Furniture Design Returns To The Classics

Goodbye Shabby Chic! Welcome back traditional furniture design and style. But, don't just take our word for it. A casual search for furniture on Pinterest, the fast-growing virtual bulletin board that's a go-to site for design ideas, yields pages of traditional pieces that would be as at home on the set of a 1940s Hollywood classic as in your living room, dining room or bedroom today. Gone are the painted chests with the mis-matched hardware and garage sale finds. Today's furnishings are solid, timeless and have sleek, elegant lines.

According to "Elle Decor" magazine, one of the hottest trends at the High Point (NC) furniture market this year was the abundance of "statement" dining room tables. Gone are the days when an eat-in kitchen counter or a table that doubled as a desk during the day sufficed as an eating surface. Designated dining rooms are back in style and so are the furniture pieces that make those rooms look dramatic and impressive.

What's a statement dining room table?

Just what is a statement dining room table, you ask? We define it as a solid wood table that commands your eye the minute you enter the dining room or dining area. It's a table that can withstand the whims of decorators and changing fabric patterns. It's a furniture piece that not only looks sensational today, but will still be turning heads in your daughter's dining room several decades from now.

What's different about today's dining room tables and dining rooms of several decades ago is that these rooms and these tables are made to be used. If your idea of a dining room table is the place the family gathered once or twice a year for holiday dinners, it's time to revise your thinking. Today's dining rooms are made to be gathering places, not just for the annual turkey dinner, but to break bread together throughout the year. After all, what's the sense in having a room that you hardly ever use?

Other Elements of traditional furnishings

How do you recognize traditional furnishings? Though the types of wood and the dimensions used on such pieces may change, traditional furnishings have several things in common.

1. Good lines. Traditional furnishings have sleek lines that have withstood the test of time. Features like the cabriole legs on our Valencia square table, ball and claw feet, or the gently curved headboard and footboard on our Imperial sleigh bed will look as stylish in 20 years as they look today.

2. Solid wood. Traditional furnishings are made to last. Unlike trendy pieces, solid wood dining room sets, beds, cabinets and chairs are durable, pieces that will not only look good in your home, but ones you can give your sons and daughters to beautify their homes in decades to come. Woods like ebony, walnut, mahogany and cherry only get more beautiful as they age. Our mahogany Hudson Ridge collection of dressers and wardrobes is a good example.

3. Timeless pieces. If you've ever watched classic Hollywood movies with actors like Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, you've likely seen furnishings in those movies like our Elise dining sideboard or our solid mahogany Imperial office desk. Though you'll likely change your accessories over the years, good furnishing pieces are an investment that will grow with you and your family.

4. Size. Traditional furnishings tend to be large and imposing. This is not a design style that embraces delicate side tables or spindle legs. Traditional furnishings make a statement, like our Grand Portman pedestal dining table or our Grand Camden king bed. Because of their large size, when you invest in traditional furnishings, you don't need to purchase dozens of pieces. A few, well-chosen items will suffice.