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Painted Bookcases
During the past few years painted furniture, including the painted bookcase, has been – and continues to be – very fashionable.  So it might be surprising to realise that painted furniture is not a new phenomenon but has a remarkably long history.  Craftsmen making furniture during the Dark Ages or Middle Ages did not have access to the selection of stains, waxes, sealants, varnishes, lacquers and so forth that are on the market today.  In fact it is likely that the only wood treatments that might have been used would have been a coating of beeswax or tallow, simply to provide some protection from dirt and damp.  Wood used for cladding buildings or on ships would have been given a thick coating of tar.  Paints, such as they were, would have been made locally in small quantities using whatever animal, vegetable or mineral products were available to create colour, such as burnt limestone (making limewash), cows’ blood and dye-making plants such as the madders plant.   

The fashion for painting furniture would appear to have coincided with the spread through Europe and Britain of the Renaissance and Baroque styles during the Jacobean era of the 17th Century.  The Renaissance delighted in the highest standards of achievement and sophistication in all fields of human endeavour, so it is easy to imagine the appreciation people would have had for early painted furniture.  The skills involved first in creating paint, then successfully applying it to wood, and ultimately in producing furniture that looked so completely different from the wooden furniture that had been the norm.  Printed books had been in existence for some 150 years by this time so bookcases were already established items of furniture.  It is unlikely though that the painted bookcase was in any way a common item by this stage.

Not too flamboyant for the Puritan
The Protestant religious movements – and the English Commonwealth under Cromwell – disliked and avoided any form of frivolity or lavish lifestyle, so it might be thought that painted furniture would have fallen foul of this outlook, but this was not the case.  When the people of movements such as the Shakers emigrated to America they took examples of painted furniture with them and also made painted furniture, perhaps even painted bookcases, after arriving in the New World.  Nor was this just plain painted furniture, but was often decorated with images of flowers or wildlife.  The trend for Shaker furniture to move away from using a painted finish is attributed to Henry Lapp of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania who copied the unpainted style of his Welsh neighbours.

During the Victorian era and the Gothic Revival, the fashion was for a romanticised version of what Victorians believed had been the styles of the Medieval period.  It might be supposed therefore that dark oak would have been the only finish for the furniture of the well-to-do, but famous designers of the time such as William Burges (1827 – 1881) were responsible for highly decorated painted furniture, often in styles of an imagined medieval age.   

Two schools of style: contemporary and shabby chic
Since the 1960s, painted furniture has undergone something of a divergence into two distinct categories: contemporary and shabby chic.  Contemporary styles of painted bookcase and painted furniture in general have simple lines and minimal decoration.  Some feature tops in wood finishes.  The furniture is usually painted in light pastel colours, predominantly white or off white shades and is great for adding light and brightness to a room. Having a uniform, even finish also helps reduce the prominence of the furniture itself and focuses more attention on the soft furnishings and room accessories.  It is a popular choice for bathrooms, conservatories and interiors aiming for a fresh, seaside appeal.   

The shabby chic painted furniture, also referred to (not always entirely accurately) as French painted furniture has a completely different purpose.  It originated in the 1950s and 1960s when capital taxation of landowners and the owners of grand properties was greatly increased.  This, together with shortages of cheap skilled labour, meant that many of the larger, more affluent homes could no longer be maintained to the required standards.   

Consequently it became at first acceptable and then fashionable, to have interiors furnished with elegant pieces not just patinated with age but having a distinctly worn appearance – hence the shabby chic look was born.  As the look became more fashionable most of the tired-looking painted furniture was sourced from France where painted Rococo styles had remained popular amongst the rural population long after its passing elsewhere.   Genuine faded antiques, including painted bookcases, 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.