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The origins of the painted blanket box
Painted furniture may be enjoying something of a revival in fortunes at the moment, yet it still represents only a small proportion of the furniture sold or in use in Britain today.  A brief examination of British furniture history might lead to the conclusion that such has always been the case, so it may be surprising to learn that painted furniture such as painted blanket boxes, has a long – and not insignificant – history in this country.

The taste for painted furniture appears to have coincided with the arrival of the Renaissance and Baroque styles in the Jacobean era of the 17th Century.  This style was quite flamboyant especially when compared to the styling of the Tudor period that had gone before.  Painting furniture may possibly have been seen for the first time including painted chests and painted blanket boxes.

Painted furniture not too fanciful for Puritans
It might be thought that painted furniture would have been viewed with disdain, for being too frivolous, by the puritans of the English Commonwealth under Cromwell that came to power some 30 years later.  However, the Protestant movements such as the Shakers that emigrated to America actually took examples of painted furniture with them and also made painted furniture, including painted blanket boxes, after arriving in the New World. The trend for Shaker style to move away from painted furniture is attributed to one Henry Lapp of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania who copied the unpainted furniture style of the neighbouring Welsh mining immigrants.

During the Gothic Revival of the Victorian era it might be supposed that dark oak became the universal finish for the furniture of the wealthy, but famous designers of the period such as William Burges (1827 – 1881) were responsible for highly decorated painted furniture and painted blanket boxes, often in styles of an imagined medieval golden age.   

The divergence into contemporary and shabby chic
Since the 1950s, painted furniture has undergone something of a divergence into two distinct categories: contemporary and shabby chic.  The contemporary styles of painted blanket boxes and painted furniture in general have simple lines and minimal decoration in a distinct echo of the plainer painted furniture often found in kitchens and ‘below stairs’ during the Victorian period.  This furniture is usually painted in light colours such as cream or ivory and is great for adding light and brightness to a room. It is a popular choice for bathrooms, conservatories and interiors aiming for a fresh, seaside appeal.   

Shabby chic painted furniture on the other hand, also referred to as French-style or French painted furniture, has a completely different origin and purpose.  Its popularity in Britain began in the 1950s and 1960s when higher taxation of the wealthy pushed many formerly grand houses into a state of dilapidation.  Some tried to raise revenue by opening to the public or launching wildlife parks or funfairs, while many others were simply demolished.

Against this background it at first became acceptable and then positively fashionable, to have interiors furnished with elegant pieces that were not just patinated with age but had a distinctly worn appearance – the shabby chic look was born.  This trendy new down-at-heel look applied to both painted and wood finished furniture but, as the look became more fashionable and was created deliberately, most of the painted furniture was sourced from France where painted Rococo styles had remained popular amongst the rural population long after its passing elsewhere.   

Ultimately the genuine faded antiques and painted blanket boxes could not supply the growing demand, so an industry has grown up around producing new furniture that has many of the style attributes of the faded elegant, shabby chic furniture.