Background
Furniture with a distressed finish is any furniture deliberately marked or damaged to suggest it is not brand new. The practice goes back at least to Victorian times when the country’s phenomenal rise in wealth and global dominance spawned a fascination with its past. Collecting and owning antique furniture became fashionable, so the practice of distressing newly-built furniture arose to meet a demand that could not be satisfied by the genuine article.
This largely covert, and not always entirely honest, practice began to lose its stigma in the 1950s and 1960s when the look of furniture became more important than its pedigree. Several stories appeared in the press and on television about furniture traders who, much to the bemusement of the older generation, were openly ‘distressing’ furniture with the use of chains, darts and various other tools. Nevertheless, alongside the opening of stores like Habitat and, in Sweden, IKEA, demand steadily grew for distressed furniture.
Today distressed furniture is widely accepted and regarded as highly desirable for interiors where a ‘brand new’ piece of furniture would look out of place to contemporary tastes.
Getting the look
At Right Price Furniture there are several collections of furniture in our rustic category and elsewhere suitable for achieving the right look. Painted furniture is typical of the French country peasant look; perhaps emulating the Baroque styles of the 17th Century. Our
Victorian painted furniture is ideally suited to this look.
For a traditional English country furniture style, choose from the
Rustic Pine or
Cottage Pine collections. Going back further, to perhaps the late 17th Century, the timber changes from pine to oak and the choice becomes
Trafalgar or
Brampton. Our
Medieval ranges may not be totally authentic, but they combine the comfort and practicality of modern furniture with the look and feel of furniture from the 14th or 15th Century.
If the late Victorian / early 20th Century period is the aim, then consider the
Hampshire range as the overall style and finish is very in keeping with the period. Decorative touches include the ornate Victorian-style handles while an unusual feature is the decorative ceramic inlays on some items that are perhaps reminiscent of the famous enamel signs for Pears Soap or Colman’s Mustard