Georgian (1714 to 1837)

Georgian style embraces a century under the reign of three Georges and is often divided into the Palladian, early and late Georgian periods. The style was partly a reaction to baroque which George I loathed.

The three phases of Georgian are a continuum of each other. As the century progressed, the style became lighter and lighter in terms of colours and decoration and eventually became regency style.

Taking an interest in fashion and interiors was very much the order of the day; entertaining was becoming more popular and print books containing designs and architectural models were becoming available to the public for the first time.

Style

• harmony and symmetry
• airiness, space and light
• pale colour schemes and woodwork
• delicate furniture

Get the look

• Early Georgian colour schemes include burgundy, sage green and blue grey but, as the style developed, they became lighter and included pea green, sky or Wedgwood blue, soft grey, dusky pink and a flat white or stone. Many of today’s leading paint manufacturers now produce historic colours helpfully labelled according to the period.
• Floors can be bare floorboards covered with Oriental rugs. Grander houses had stone or marble floors in pale colours, perhaps a keystone pattern. You could cheat with a lino in the same pattern.
• Print rooms were popular and this look is easy to recreate: paste walls from floor to ceiling with old prints and engravings or photocopies made to look old and add a coat of varnish for longevity.
• Walls were still panelled but the panelling only reached dado height and the plaster above was either painted or papered. If your hall has panelling, paint the cornice the same shade as the walls but, if you have painted walls, paint the cornice to blend in with the ceiling.
• Look for simple repeat patterns in wallpaper such as trefoils. Some of the original designs are still being produced today. Wallpaper was imported from the Far East so anything with a chinosierie feel to it would be in keeping. Towards the end of the Georgian style, simple block papers began to be introduced and experimented with; designs were fairly rudimentary so look for geometric patterns with squares and stripes, perhaps with darker shading behind. Consider handblocking wallpaper yourself with a stamp.
• Mouldings are intricate - ceilings might have ribbons and swags, classical figures and urns. There are companies who specialise in making reproduction ones as well as firms who will restore and repair original features.
• For soft furnishings, look for glazed cotton fabrics with small sprigs of flowers. The same fabric would have been used for both the upholstery and curtains. Armchairs and divans often had loose covers made from cheap ticking or striped linen, which were removed for special occasions. Curtains often had pagoda style pelmets on top.
• The arrival of paraffin was a major breakthrough for Georgian lighting. Look for chandeliers made from glass, metal and wood with curved arms like an octopus for a centrepiece. Elsewhere, use wall lights in brass, silver, or silvered wood or a simple candle flame bulb. Fittings in pewter or tin were used in less grand homes.
• Furniture should be delicate - wing chairs and chairs with hoop or shield backs are typical.
• Fireplaces would have been the focal point of a room. They should be elegant with basket grates, cast iron backs and decorated fronts featuring swags, urns, and medallions, perhaps flanked with classical pillars. Add a firescreen painted to match the room or featuring a trompe l’oeil.
• Decorative objects can include screens, fans, porcelain and lacquerwork from the Orient and bronze ornaments. Hang pictures in formal groupings, flanking the fireplace.
• If your front door is Georgian it’s likely to have a filigree fanlight with a canopy and pediments. Original Georgian properties had sash windows and shutters.

Edwardian (1901 to 1910)

Queen Victoria had reigned for the best part of a century, and it was the beginning of a new century with a new king, King Edward VII, on the throne. But his reign was to be brief, lasting a mere nine years.

After the heaviness, clutter and dark colours of Victorian interiors, people wanted something new and cheerful. Edwardian style was a breath of fresh air.

Style

• fresh and light
• informal, feminine
• bamboo and wicker furniture
• flowers and floral patterns
• pastel colours

Get the look

• Furniture - Edwardian furniture would have been reproduction furniture to them so you can choose from a range of styles including baroque, rococo and empire. The wing chair is a typical shape. Choose upholstery in chintz, and damasks in pale colours.
• Wicker - bamboo and wicker furniture were also introduced in these period. You can still buy good quality wicker furniture today in a range of colours. If you find some in a junk shop and it’s worse for wear, give it a new lease of life by spraying the paint on with a spray gun or aerosol. Don’t brush it on as you’ll clog up the weave.
• Floors - highly polished wood block floors, with oriental rugs, look fantastic in a living room. If you already have wooden floorboards, make sure they’re not yellowy pine as this will jar. Stain them with an oak-coloured varnish instead. For areas with more wear and tear, go for bricks in a herringbone pattern or red quarry tiles.
• Wallpaper - choose wallpapers with a fresh, cheerful feel such as florals of roses, lilac, wisteria, and sweet peas, with trellises, ribbons and bows. Stripes are also typical - go for something simple but rich for dining rooms such as a gold damask and white, and candy stripes for bedrooms. It was considered too much to have both a dado rail and a frieze: most people papered up to the dado rail and then papered or painted the wall above that with plain paper or distemper.
• Lincrusta - put up some lincrusta - embossed wallpaper - introduced in 1877. It has an almost rubber-like texture and comes in beautiful art nouveau designs. It is still being made today. It can be painted any colour although cream is probably best.
• Fireplaces - fireplaces are smaller than Victorian ones. They had splayed sides with projecting iron or copper hoods and decorative tiles. Smaller versions are usually found in the bedrooms.
• Colour schemes - choose pastel colour schemes in the colours of flowers - primrose yellows, leaf greens, the lilac of wisteria, and grey. Living rooms can take darker colours such as dark green for fabrics and cream walls.
• Lighting - electric lighting was just beginning to be introduced to the grander homes. Buy fabric lampshades in soft colours with frills and tassels. Use them on wall lights, table lights and even standard lamps. For a central light, look for a pendant fitting in smoked glass. Ceiling roses disguised the wiring for light fittings. Tiffany lamps or reclining female bronze figures are also in keeping.
• Windows - hang pieces of lace at the windows and then add plain or floral curtains to co-ordinate with the walls. Alternatively put up a simple striped roller blind.
• Cushions - take up embroidery and needlepoint and make some cushions with floral motifs in an art nouveau style.
• Pictures - hang pictures on hooks but place them halfway down the wall.
• Accessories - add Edwardian-style accessories such as early gramophones (the ones with the conical shells), tiered silver cake stands, and pretty silver photograph frames.
• Flowers - echo the wallpaper with your choice of flowers. Try loosely arranged bunches of sweet peas, roses, and lilac. House palms are also typically Edwardian.

Art ouveau

Art nouveau could be said to be the first 20th century modern style. It was the first style to stop looking backwards in history for ideas, taking inspiration instead from what it saw around it, in particular the natural world.

When art nouveau was showcased first in Paris and then in London, there was outrage; people either loved it or loathed it. Within the style itself there are two distinct looks: curvy lines and the more austere, linear look of artists such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Some aspects of art nouveau were revived again in the 1960s.

Style

• sinuous, elongated, curvy lines
• the whiplash line
• vertical lines and height
• stylised flowers, leaves, roots, buds and seedpods
• the female form - in a pre-Raphaelite pose with long, flowing hair
• exotic woods, marquetry, iridescent glass, silver and semi-precious stones

Get the look

• Floors - are parquet and should be stained and varnished.
• Colour schemes - are quite muted and sombre and became known as ‘greenery yallery’ - mustard, sage green, olive green, and brown. Team these with lilac, violet and purple, peacock blue. Mackintosh experimented with all-white interiors.
• Walls - can either be painted in one of the colours of the palette or off-white, or papered.
• Wallpaper - designs are highly stylised flowers, particularly poppies, water lilies and wisteria; branches, tendrils, leaves, stems, thistles, pomegranates; peacock feathers, birds and dragonflies.
• Tiles - use in panels and intersperse patterned ones with white. A technique called tube lining was used to make the design stand out from the surface - think of piping icing on a cake.
• Furniture - Mackintosh is renowned for extremely high-backed chairs in glossy black lacquer. If that’s not your style go for curvy shapes upholstered in a stylised floral fabric.
• Stained glass - panels went in doors as well as furniture - wardrobe doors, cabinets, mirrors etc, with curved leading for the stalks and leaves, ending in a flower made from pearly enamels or semi-precious stones such as amethysts.
• Door handles - beaten metal for door handles and light fittings are perfect for that handmade finish.
• Lighting - you’ve got to have a Tiffany lamp - the beautiful umbrella-shape rainbow of favrile glass with bronze and metal latticework. Original ones cost the earth but most of the high streets stores produce very good imitations.
• Fireplaces - look for cast iron hoods with the raised sinuous curves of flowers growing up each side and tiles. Many original ones can be picked up in salvage yards but make sure you know whether you’re buying a repro or an original. If you’re unsure whether a salvaged item is art nouveau, study the design carefully: it should grow from the ground upwards with a continuous organic movement.
• Ornaments - in silver, pewter and glass. There are hundreds of outlets selling Mackintosh-style clocks, frames, jewellery boxes etc. Typical art nouveau glass is iridescent with patterns of liquid oil. Lalique glass is usually a pearly opaque with etched designs.
• Flowers - and peacock feathers are the epitome of art nouveau style.

Arts and crafts

 (c.1860 to 1910)

The arts and crafts movement was made up of English designers and writers who wanted a return to well-made, handcrafted goods instead of mass-produced, poor quality machine-made items.

Inspired by socialist principles and led by William Morris, the members of the movement used the medieval system of trades and guilds to set up their own companies to sell their goods. Unfortunately, it had the reverse effect and, apart from the wealthy middle classes, hardly anyone could afford their designs.

Visually, the style has much in common with its contemporary art nouveau and it played a role in the founding of Bauhaus and modernism.

Style

• handmade
• simple forms with little ornamentation
• beauty of natural materials
• copper and pewter - often with a hammered finish
• stylised flowers, allegories from the Bible and literature, upside down hearts, Celtic motifs

Get the look

• Furniture - should be wooden and handmade or at least look as if it’s handmade. Oak is the most used wood. Look for furniture with cut-outs of upside down hearts; other trademarks are copper and leather straps. Chairs have rush or leather seats.
• Floors - Wooden floors in either parquet or boards in oak give that rustic feel. Polish or stain them to a dark finish.
• Colour schemes - cream, terracotta, mustard yellow, olive green, deep blue and a deep crimson.
• Walls - these can be wood panelled but should be painted a dull green or greeny-blue.
• Wallpaper - is key. The originals used vegetable dyes and wood blocks. Today, there are literally hundreds of original William Morris designs still being manufactured by the major companies. Choose large-scale patterns with repeats. The firm Sanderson bought all the original printing blocks from Morris’s firm when it closed down.
• Fireplaces - If you have an original arts and crafts house, the fireplace probably still dominates the room. They had huge wide hearths set in an inglenook or recess. The mantelpiece was carved, often with a motto above it.
• Tiles - very similar to art nouveau ones but with brighter colours - cobalt blue, turquoise, greens and reds. Typical motifs include galleons and stylised flowers. They can still be picked up in salvage yards today or reproductions are available
• The Orient - add a touch of the Orient by adding blue and white china, palm leaf fans, screens, and oriental rugs.
• Stained glass - this was very popular, because of its medieval feel. Enlist a stained glass designer or if you just want a feel for it, try painting your own with some of the many glass paints around.
• Curtains and curtain poles - put up plain wooden or brass curtain poles. Curtains shouldn’t have any frills or flounces.
• Lighting - plain wall sconces are best for lighting.
• Flowers - decorate using simple flower arrangements or a potted house palm.
• Abide by William Morris’ s belief, ‘ Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’.

Art deco

(c.1908 to 1935)

Art deco began in Europe, particularly Paris, in the early years of the 20th century, but didn’t really take hold until after World War I. It reigned until the outbreak of World War II.

It was not just for the elite. By the 1930s, mass production meant that everyone could live in the deco style. Travel became popular. African safaris were all the rage and animal skins, ivory, mother of pearl, and tortoiseshell began to appear in the home. After Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered, Egyptian pyramids and sphinxes adorned everything.

Style

• geometric and angular shapes
• chrome, glass, shiny fabrics, mirrors and mirror tiles
• stylised images of aeroplanes, cars, cruise liners, skyscrapers
• nature motifs - shells, sunrises, flowers
• theatrical contrasts - highly polished wood and glossy black lacquer mixed with satin and furs

Get the look

• Furniture - choose strong, streamlined shapes for furniture and in single pieces rather than suites.
• Fabrics - stick to plain or geometric fabrics and add highlights with cushions also in one solid block of colour.
• Floors - plain polished parquet is perfect for floors. Linoleum in abstract designs or black and white chequerboard vinyl tiles are also typical.
• Rugs - floors would have been overlaid with a large rug in geometric patterns. These were often handmade by artists such as Duncan Grant (of Bloomsbury Group fame).
• Fireplaces - fireplaces should be rectangular and bold. Surrounds were often tiled in pink, green or beige. They were made of concrete and not many survive today.
• Colour - halls suit bold colour schemes such as silver, black, chrome, yellow and red. Creams, greens and beige, or oyster and eau-de-nil suit living rooms and bedrooms.
• Cupboards - cabinets, wardrobes, etc should be in pale veneered wood and simple shapes in keeping with the light, airy feel.
• Design - the stepped profile is the epitome of the art deco shape, found everywhere from uplighters to picture surrounds. Also look for zigzags, chevrons and lightning bolts.
• Lighting - lights featuring female figures holding the ball of the lamp are typical and good reproductions abound. Also look for chrome, a brand new material at the time, and glass. Glass would have been etched, sandblasted or enamelled rather than coloured.

1960s

The 1960s were all free love, flower power and pop music but, as the saying goes, if you remember it, you weren’t there. The previous decade’s love of American design was replaced, as Swinging London became the centre of all things groovy.

The modernism of past decades had rejected historical influences so, in a spirit of rebellion, 1960s plundered the past for inspiration. The result is a ragbag of styles culled from all over, including Victorian and Edwardian, the 1920s and art nouveau. But it was not just about replicating past styles; everything was given an irreverent twist to make it all its own.

Pop art and op art both had a firm footing in the 1960s. Artists such as Andy Warhol and David Hockney with their pop art references to mass culture (soup cans, comic strips, images of icons like Marilyn Monroe) crossed over into interiors, and on to murals, wallpaper and posters. Similarly, op art with its use of pattern and colour to simulate movement found its way on to everything from furniture to wallpaper. Artists such as Bridget Riley, who works predominantly in black and white, became the vogue. Whether you choose the hippy ethnic look or plastic space age, it will be far out.

Style

• plastic and PVC
• disposable, throwaway
• multi-purpose furniture
• low-level
• revivalist
• fun, witty

Get the look

• Open plan - make your house as open plan as possible. Use sliding doors and moveable screens to partition off rooms; one room should flow into another.
• Wood - is disregarded for furniture but pine is used to panel walls and particularly ceilings. Use tongue and groove and leave it unpainted for a sauna room feel.
• Floors - you’ve got to have a shag pile rug - the bigger the better.
• Colours - go for vibrant colours such as bright red, purple. Deliberately clash colours, for example, team tangerine orange with fuchsia pink. Black-and-white is also a typical colour scheme.
• Furniture - go for plastic or transparent blow-up furniture. Choose ‘S’ and egg shapes, and anything that looks futuristic and space age. Pick up junk shop furniture, especially bamboo and wicker items, from any period, and paint it in bright colours. Flat pack furniture was also a 1960s phenomenon.
• Wallpaper - must be psychedelic - look for vinyls in reds, purples, oranges with swirls and paisley patterns.
• Bean bags - create a laid-back chill-out room with mattresses on the floor, bean bags and loads of scatter cushions to make a conversation pit. Or else sit cross-legged on the floor in the lotus position.
• Bedroom - tent your bedroom with drapes made from saris, lay an Indian cotton bedspread over your bed, cover the lampshades with beaded fabric for that hippy-harem look.
• Fabrics - look for fabrics with huge repeat patterns in an art nouveau style or with the graphic images of pop art. Fashion designers like Mary Quant and Christian Dior started designing for interiors as well and some of their fabrics can still be found today.
• Lighting - choose from mesmerising lava lamps, neon-fibre optic lamps which change colour, Moroccan-inspired lamps or the ubiquitous paper lampshade.
• Symbols - pick up a paintbrush and do your own psychedelic mural. Use paints that glow in the dark, or a black and white op art mural. Or try giant target ‘Mod’ symbols, or your own Warhol-inspired poster.
• Accessories - add tongue-in-cheek accessories: display military uniforms on tailors dummies, Busby hats, and Victoriana such as coronation plates and royal memorabilia.

1950s

The 1950s were the age of the consumer. The post-war boom brought massive changes in the home; it was out with the old and in with the new. Open-plan living was introduced, and the fitted kitchen with its brand new appliances was the housewife’s domain.

Houses were smaller than pre-war ones so furniture had to stack or be light enough to move about; trolleys, sofa beds and ironing boards are all 1950s inventions. There are several looks to choose from: the American diner look with bubblegum colours, neon and kitsch, or the designer look with furniture and textiles, which have both become design classics.

Style

• open plan
• fitted kitchens
• primary colours
• stacking furniture
• new materials - PVC, Formica, fibreglass, rubber, melamine, aluminium, vinyl, plastics
• abstract, geometric patterns
• animal prints

Get the look

• Open plan - make your house as open plan as possible. If you can, knock through walls but always consult a structural engineer first to check if it’s a supporting or load-bearing wall. Mezzanine levels are also typically 1950s.
• Floor - lay a chequerboard vinyl floor in black and white, red and white, or yellow and white. Use floor tiles rather than one continuous sheet because, if a section of floor gets irreparably damaged, they’re far easier to replace.
• Fitted kitchen - in your fitted kitchen, choose Formica tabletops. Spray paint the doors and fittings. Some companies sell original reconditioned kitchens or sell new ones in a similar style and you can sometimes pick up cabinets in junk shops.
• Chairs - go for the diner look in the kitchen with chairs in chrome and vinyl in day-glo colours. Give a table a new lease of life with a Formica or Fablon top. Other typical 1950s furniture are basketweave chairs in a primary colour and white or ‘Butterfly’ chairs (a canvas sling on a metal frame).
• Fridge - a gigantic fridge is essential, especially in a bright colour. They’re all over the high street or you can get original reconditioned ones.
• Appliances - fill the kitchen with big chrome appliances: blenders, toasters, and swing bins in chrome or plastic.
• Shades - choose between bright colours such as red, lime green, yellow, black, and delicious ice cream shades such as pistachio green, bubblegum pink and pale blue.
• Fireplaces - rooms generally don’t have fireplaces. Abandon the dado rail, paper and cornice division of walls.
• Fabrics - are bright with abstract patterns, often with science-inspired imagery such as calyxes, starbursts, atoms etc. Or go for pretty, sprigged florals set against polka dots or stripes in sugary pinks, reds, blues and yellows. Use animal prints, especially zebra stripes and leopard spots for cushions, rugs and throws in fake fur.
• Accessories - look for accessories in black, white and red plastic coated wire, which usually have ball feet. Typical items include coat and plant stands, and magazine racks.
• Kitsch - fill the rooms with kitsch; nodding dogs, pineapple ice buckets, and flying ducks on the wall.
• Crockery - mix and match; traditional dinner sets are replaced by china in collectable individual pieces with a linked theme or colour. Tupperware is a 1950s invention.
• Pick up details - with ashtrays in the shape of artists palettes, toy Cadillacs, Roberts Radios, cocktail glasses, pictures of poodles.

1930s

More than 4 million homes were built between 1919 and 1939. People moved to the new suburbs in droves, where they could purchase their dream homes. The introduction of hire purchase meant people could equip their homes with the latest looks.

There are several looks for the home - there was modernism or ‘Moderne’ with its lack of colour, its clean streamlined shapes and lack of ornamentation. Buildings looked like ocean liners with curved sun-trap windows edged with blue railings and portholes. There were also lots of pseudo-historical styles from mock-Tudor houses with half-timbering to neo-Georgian styles. All could be present in the same street.

Inside, the art deco style with its striking colours of red, black, and silver, its exoticism and animal prints sits happily alongside reproductions of Tudor furniture with a Moderne chair in leather and tubular steel. The three-piece suite came into use, most homes had plumbed-in kitchens, and three out of four households had a radio.

Style

• streamlined
• boxy shapes
• Bakelite - a type of plastic used for everything from radio casings to telephones and light switches
• chrome
• modernism
• art deco

Get the look

• Floors - lino is practical and hardwearing. A mottled effect will suit nearly all colour schemes.
• Seating - the three-piece suite is a 1930s invention. Choose a two or three-seat settee with two armchairs. Make sure they are all covered in the same material, such as a moquette (a woollen velvet, furry to the touch) with geometric designs.
• Armchairs - brown leather armchairs in boxy shapes are both in keeping and timeless classics. Leather only looks better with age.
• Lighting - lighting was mass-produced from industrial materials such as chrome, glass, opaque and frosted glass. For a modernist look, look for simple globe forms or simple tubes that can be arranged in groups like sculptures.
• Colour schemes - choose subtle colour schemes such as eau de nil (a pale green), pale blue and pink, buff, beige and coffee.
• Fireplaces - fireplaces should be tiled in plain tiles - often brown or green with a speckled effect - with a stepped profile typical of art deco.
• Ceiling - in an art deco-inspired room you could paint the ceiling silver for a stunning effect.
• Veneer - often used with a layer of a more expensive wood such as oak or an exotic fruitwood stuck or sandwiched onto a cheaper plywood.
• Display - find a glass-fronted cabinet to display the best china, such as Clarice Cliff or Susie Cooper.
• Windows - position stained glass in the top panel of front windows, and panels in French windows and doors. Typical designs are galleon ships and sunbursts. Moderne houses don’t have the stained glass panels.
• Bed - choose silky satin eiderdowns to cover the entire bed.

1920s

This glamorous decade was the heyday of interior designers, a new profession who were employed to create fantasy rooms for lavish cocktail parties and royal patrons.

In the home, modernism was taking off in Europe with the setting up of the Bauhaus, and shocking the world with its pared-down austere look. Architects began designing objects for the home, such as coffee sets and radios, as well as buildings. In the middle of the decade, art deco was showcased in Paris and became the major new style.

The decade known for its decadence ended with the Wall Street Crash, which plunged America and consequently much of Europe into economic depression.

Style

• glamorous and sophisticated
• geometric and angular shapes
• chrome, glass, shiny fabrics, mirrors and mirror tiles
• stylised images of aeroplanes, cars, cruise liners and skyscrapers
• nature motifs
• exotic touches from the Orient, Africa and Egypt

Get the look

• Furniture - choose strong streamlined shapes for furniture and in single pieces rather than suites. Look for modern classics by Le Corbusier and Eileen Gray. Reproductions and re-issues can be found.
• Floor - plain polished parquet is perfect for floors. Linoleum in abstract designs or black and white chequerboard vinyl tiles are also typical.
• Rug - floors would have been overlaid with a large rug in geometric patterns. Go for a huge circular one as the centrepiece to the room.
• Fireplaces - fireplaces should be rectangular and bold with a stepped profile.
• Colour schemes - halls suit bold colours such as silver, black, chrome, and black and white. For real dramatic impact, why not silver-leaf your entire ceiling or black-gloss your floor.
• Lighting - lights featuring female figures holding the ball of the lamp are typical and good reproductions abound. Also look for chrome, a brand new material at the time, and glass. Glass would have been etched, sandblasted or enamelled rather than coloured.
• Walls - keep walls plain and free from decorative plasterwork. Use a coat of varnish on top for a really glossy sheen.
• Fabrics - choose shiny light-reflective fabrics or plain fabrics with metallic threads.
• Accessories - add a striking painting or one statue rather than a clutter of objects. For real authenticity, look for light switches etc in Bakelite, a plastic resin. Add touches of opulence with items such as tortoiseshell and enamel cigarette boxes and mother-of-pearl letter openers.
• Display - ostrich feathers make a suitably decadent display.

The Spring Festival in China will be on Feb 7, it’s the mose important festival in China, everyone must back home and having new year dinner with family, warm and exciting!

during this holiday we can also use some items to change our home to a nice festival house!

chinese knot: hang on window, you’ll see the happiness feeling even outsite the room. hang on the wall of dinner room, it’ll make marm feeling when a whole family having dinner.

Chinese snake tray: brown tray drawing chinese classic pattern, these trays are traditional tray in chinese new year. sugars,fruit and nuts in it for children.

chinese pattern cushion: china red and gold orange cushion is sale fast in winter. because the color and pattern are from ancient palace, warm and elegant.

chinese new year house