The Origin of Dressers
The origin of the dresser dates back to the
late 1300s when the word was used to mean a table upon which food was prepared or
dressed. Over time cupboards were added to the base to hold equipment needed for the food preparation, such as knives or cleavers, and later a top to display the plates or dishes on which the dressed food would be served. In America the word dresser is used in connection with bedroom furniture, specifically a chest of drawers usually with a mirror on top.
The dresser can be an impressive piece of furniture. Many would originally have been made of
pine or painted wood, belonging as they did to the kitchen or to the owners of more humble households. However, rising classes would have combined pride in their display of china with their greater affluence and had dressers made of
oak. Older
pine dressers would thus be large affairs from the kitchens of big houses, while early
oak dressers might be more ornate but smaller, in keeping with cottages or smaller farmhouses.
Regional variations of Dresser
The term
Welsh dresser, is perhaps one of the best known of the regional variations of this type of furniture, but other areas also had their own particular styles of dresser, such as
Sussex dressers. The essential elements of each type were broadly similar, but variations would occur due to local custom and practice and, for example, the choice of timber locally available.
Glazed doors were a later addition to dressers and spice drawers would only be only slightly older as spices were so expensive and difficult to procure they would have been kept securely locked away. Dressers (and other large items of furniture) where the centre section stands forward of the rest of the piece are described as breakfront dressers.
Here at Right Price Furniture we have
dressers in a variety of styles, materials, sizes and prices to suit most tastes and budgets. There are traditional styles in both large and small sizes and contemporary styles such as the
Brooklyn Oak dressers.
Whether stained or left natural, an
oak dresser is the natural choice for any living room. Love the sturdy build and quality but don’t like the colour? That’s no problem. The oak wood will happily allow paint to customize it. You could even just paint the drawers to match any room it goes into within your house. Want an oak dresser in your bathroom? It could easily store your linens and towels within the oak dresser, family heirlooms and treasures, if your oak dresser is in the
living room and you could even designate a drawer for kids when its time to clean up their colouring pencils, books, craft sets, board games and a whole host of other random items. Use an oak dresser to keep
DVDs in order for family film nights. When you purchase an oak dresser you can rest assured that it will endure a lifetime of use and still remain intact and attractive with regular polishing and care and hopefully your oak dresser can be passed down for generations, to become an inherited valuable piece of furniture representing lifetimes of your family life.
Choosing the best suited
welsh dresser for a home is really easy and straight forward. Typically a home has a general theme or décor style that you have used throughout. Even if you cannot verbally define your decorative style there will be one, even if its not obvious. The secret to successfully decorating is to keep to a general theme around the entire home.
If a home is more formal then a welsh dresser constructed of rich dark oak would be a great choice. However, if the home has a more farmhouse feeling a dresser that is built in rustic oak would look great and add to the casual relaxing feeling.When choosing the right welsh dresser it is essential to consider the size of the space the Welsh Dresser is to be used in. If the room is big it can take a large Welsh Dresser, but if the room is smaller in scale it is better to obviously choose a smaller piece. The size of the welsh dresser needs to maintain ratio to the size of the room.
The perfect room will blend together and the furniture used will have a feeling of belonging together instead of competing for your attention.It is a good idea to think about the colour of your walls and flooring when buying a Welsh Dresser. A room with light walls and carpeting would show off a darker welsh dresser with ease and vice versa. Once you have decided on size, style and mood of a room then it is easy to find a welsh dresser to invigorate the space and allow family dining to become a big part of family life.