Homes&Interiors
FIND YOUR STYLE Regular columnist Holly Johnson, of Holly Johnson Antiques, advises on styling reception rooms in a periodstyle home
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hen it comes to choosing antiques for your reception rooms, first consider the look you wish to create. Are you aiming for an eclectic style, or would you prefer to emulate a specific period? And what ambience are you aiming for? Do you see yourself living in a rustic provincial farmhouse or a lavishly formal Georgian or Regency style home? Or perhaps you prefer more of a Mid-Century British or Danish Modern aesthetic? These choices will inspire you to consider pieces from craftsmen and designers that best realise your vision, be it the wood or the colours and designs of fabric, wallcoverings and flooring.
Georgian interiors were lavish
Regency or Victorian eras, where intricate details were fashionable and the wood was a lot deeper and richer in colour. Designers and manufacturers to explore would be Heals, Lamb of Manchester and Gillows. Side tables or etagères were used to serve, away from the seating. I recommend a display cabinet; this allows you to showcase favourite tableware and becomes a piece of art in its own right. If you tend towards the more modern, Mid-Century designers of note include Aldo Tura, Piero Fornasetti, Hans Brattrud, Paolo Buffa, Peter Waals and Andrew J Milne. Shapes and designs are simpler, with modern finishes and tapered legs, featuring graphical prints or industrial materials.
The advent of the lounge
In Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, we see the ‘living room’ as more of a drawing room, where you formally received guests. These rooms were often the most Hayrake, by Gordon Russell c1920, price £17,500 glamorous in the house, dressed with drapes “Over time, and elegant chairs. Such rooms, Fine dining especially in the Georgian period, seating were multi-functional, with furniture The dining room is one area becomes being brought in and out to suit where your acquisitions will larger, with the occasion. (For dancing, much really make a mark. For a rustic style, Arts and Crafts furniture a focus on of the room would be cleared.) The gentlemen may even have retired fits well, with its simple shapes comfort” to the drawing room as a ‘smoking worked in native wood such as room’ after dinner, or card tables oak. This movement was very Arts and Crafts settle by would be brought in. For a true Georgian and Regency feel, organic, in the sense that it drew George Henry Walton, c1890 you should be looking to dress the rooms with more ornate on nature in the choice of materials and upright seating, with Adams-style Neoclassical pieces. Items by forms. Names to look for are Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson, Neville George Hepplewhite and Chippendale would also be well placed. Neal, Edward Barnsley, Arthur Simpson and George Henry Walton. At the end of the 19th century, we see the focus move towards For a more formal, lavish dining space, draw on the Georgian, ‘lounging’, as seating becomes larger, with an emphasis on comfort. Pieces by bespoke furniture maker Howard & Sons, with their handmade lounging chairs, are typical of this shift. Patterned fabrics “For a true Georgian and Regency by designers such as William Morris were very fashionable. feel, look to dress the rooms with In regards to window dressing, in Georgian homes drapes were pale, with a French influence. Heavier fabrics such as velvet and darker more ornate upright seating, with colours were the vogue for the Victorians, while the 20th century and Adams-style Neoclassical pieces” Art Deco brought cleaner, stylised looks, with glamorous symmetry and bold shapes. hollyjohnsonantiques.com July/August 2022 | SHIRE MAGAZINE 83
