Mediterranean & French Furniture Styles

My latest school lesson has been on furniture and history of the Italian and French Renaissance periods.  It actually has been really interesting to see the different styles of furniture in lieu with what was happening in history at the same time.  Never thought I'd be getting such a great history lesson while studying interior decorating!  I thought I'd make a post to help all of you do-it-yourself decorators with how to tell the different styles apart and to help myself review the material better.  =]

To differentiate different styles of Mediterranean and French design, there are a lot of different details to look for.  Let's start with Mediterranean.

Mediterranean furniture is very heavy and ornate.  Usually the furniture has leather with studding and is full of straight lines or mechanical curved lines.

Mediterranean style really gave way to the French style of Louis XIV in the sense of being heavy and still having generally straight lines.  Louis XIV furniture tended to be massive in scale to fit Louis XIV's grand age of decorating and reign as the "Sun King."  Due to the bigger size, you'll see many pieces with stretchers, (the X-shape underneath a chair or table) that help to support the large furniture.  This style also tends to have furniture upholstered in rich fabrics with fringe detailing.  Some people refer to Louis XIV style as French Baroque, meaning very ornate and ornamented.

After Louis XIV's reign, along came Louis XV, (at the age of FIVE).  Over Louis XV's ruling, furniture became much smaller, more delicate, curved, and romantic.  Everything was about freeform curves and Rococo, (decor featuring rocks, shells, musical instruments, and general nature motifs) decorations.  You will not find any leg stretchers for chairs here, nor will you find furniture that looks heavy or utilitarian.

Next up we have the last of the Louis', Louis XVI.  While Louis XVI was ruling, Madame de Pompadour, (Doctor Who fans, you know who I'm talking about!  She smooched Tennant in his first season as the tenth doctor!) funded the exploration of the newly discovered ancient city, Pompeii.  Due to the exciting new Roman architecture that was found, French furniture reflected it in a fancier fashion.  Legs of tables and chairs were no longer found with the cabriole leg and were now straight with fluting to reflect columns.  Furniture still looked delicate, but now was back to straight lines and mechanical curves along with new motifs, such as the lyre and urns.

The last style I want to mention is the Empire style.  I am not going to go into depth about French Provincial, (think Belle's neighborhood in Beauty & the Beast) or the Directoire style simply because I'm running out of time before I have to go to work!  But the Empire style makes me laugh at it's gaudiness, so I have to show you some pictures of what was "in" back then.  Empire style, (pronounded "ahm-PEER") was full of heavy looking pieces with gaudy ormolu mounts on them.  Think Egyptian Sphinxes on chairs and naked mermaids casted onto tables.  Boat beds and recamiere chairs became popular along with mythological creature and seductive women motifs.

So that's it!  A nice short lesson on Mediterranean and French furniture!  I know, you didn't even know you wanted that until you saw it.  I've got you covered!  =D  Let me know which style is your favourite, or least favourite, and if you'd ever consider using any in decorating your own home!  I know I probably wouldn't unless it was a much more modern version of some of the pieces I showed you, like console tables or MAYBE a recamiere chair in my dream grand bathroom someday. 

Thanks for reading!  =D

Zion & Grand Canyon Adventure!

For me, hitting the one year anniversary mark with my boyfriend, Justin, is a big deal.  Not only have I never been with someone this long, (actually, he's my first and only boyfriend) but I feel like we've achieved something big here.  Something really good.  =]

So for our anniversary we decided to drive out to Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  =D  Road trip!!  

Monday was spent driving, eating yummy snacks, listening to some great mix cd's Justin made, and chilling in our beautiful hotel!  I saw Friends for the first time and we ate at this delicious Pizza & Noodle Co. and explored all the shops and galleries in town.  

View from a delicious ice cream & candy shop in Springdale!

Tuesday was the best day I think.  We spent the day hiking the Emerald Pools trails and the Narrows.  For those of you who don't know what the Narrows is, please goggle it right now.  You HAVE to hike it at some point if you even kinda like hiking or nature or fun!  It's beautiful!  You walk up the Virgin River, (which was really chilly) and get pretty deep in the water sometimes while enjoying this winding mountain view.  It's stunning and a lot of fun!  We even went off the path a bit to take this cool picture together--which took some serious work getting up with it being slippery and have no hand or foot holds!  That night we relaxed and enjoyed our hotel and a nice dinner at this little saloon, where they served us our drinks in big mason jars.  I felt right at home!  =P  

She was right next to the trail!

 At the lower emerald pools and waterfalls.

 Mid pools--and a beautiful view of Zion.

This is one of the resting opportunities we took in the Narrows.  Definitely bring snacks and plenty of water!

Here is the monster rock that took some skill, (on Justin's part) and Justin pulling me up as I mentioned.  Awesome photo opportunity!

Wednesday was our day to wake up and drive down two hours to the North Rim.  Justin had never been before, so he was quite taken by the beautiful scenery on the way down.  =]  We arrived by mid morning and did some hiking and taking in of the views for a couple hours.  Eventually, and sadly, we had to drive back home that night.  We stopped in a little town called Hurricane for dinner and a nice sunset walk before making it back to the big city.

The lookout points are incredible here, but be warned: they're windy!

Just contemplating life, the cosmos, and other simple things.  =]

The trip together was everything I could have hoped it would be and more.  I imagined us having so much fun together, and we really did.  I cannot wait until next years trip!  =D  Maybe we'll drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to the Redwoods!  Let me know if you have any suggestions!  

New York Institute of Art & Design

Hello everyone!

I am back after a bit of an hiatus--which I apologize for!  Work and school and boyfriends and new books tend to suck extra time for blogging out of a girl!

I have decided that since I'm currently in school and am planning to be finished some time early next year that I'd share with you all what school is like for an aspiring interior decorator. I know, I know, don't get too excited there.  =]  I don't have any fantastic photos for you of my work . . . yet!  I did have a big hand in the redesign of our kitchen though, which will be a whole post of it's own eventually.

I started out looking online for what kind of degrees and certifications are needed to become a professional interior decorator, which led me to a school called the Sheffield Institute for Interior Design, (now called the New York Institute of Art & Design).  It is based in New York and has a great distance learning program for people who cannot afford to move to New York City, (let's get real, NYC is EXPENSIVE!).  I decided to pay in full right away and go through the program to, if nothing else, gain better knowledge of colour and furniture placement.  Thankfully, I've already learned so much more than those two things, including correct measurement techniques, drafting, business techniques, period furniture identification, and client management.  And I'm only halfway through the course!

The way that it works is you are sent six units in total directly to your home with everything you'll need for your lessons.  This means, drafting supplies, lessons, audio cd's, dvd's, watercolours, literally everything you'll need.  You go through the lessons and complete all the material, package it up, send it to the school, and wait until you are sent back your work with a grade and an audio feedback file that arrives via e-mail.  For anyone who is working full-time and cannot afford to take the time to enroll in a four year university, or anyone who cannot afford the cost a four year university, it is a great option!  You school advisor is always there to call or e-mail with questions regarding lessons or anything else that may need clarification.  The best part is that the lessons are done on your time and you have up to three years to complete the program, (although the usual time frame is about one year).

As a part-time 21 year old student paying off prior student loans from a four year college, an affordable and flexible program was exactly what I needed!  I am SO happy I decided to take a leap and just start up school again in a totally new subject; I was originally a marine bio major! =P  It has given me a new sense of purpose and a lot of new information about the design world.  I couldn't be happier!  

If any of you have questions about the school or what lessons are like, etc, just leave them in the comments section and I'll get back to you!  If any of you happen to be interior decorators yourself, give me a shout out!  =D  I'd love to see work you've done or check out your design blog if you have one!  Thanks so much for sticking with me through my mini break!  I'll be back soon with some new and exciting adventure/new artwork posts!  <3 <3 <3

Here's a link to the schools blog: www.blog.nyiad.edu