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The origins of the painted sideboard
Although painted furniture may be enjoying something of a revival in fortunes at the moment, it still represents only a small proportion of the furniture sold or in use in the UK today.  A cursory examination of the history of British furniture might lead to the conclusion that such has always been the case, so it may be surprising to learn that painted furniture has a long – and not insignificant – history in the UK.

It appears the taste for painted furniture might 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 although sideboards, and therefore the painted sideboard, had yet to be developed.

It might be thought that such decoration would have been viewed with disdain by the puritans when the English Commonwealth under Cromwell came to power some 30 years later, but the Protestant movements such as the Shakers that emigrated to America actually took examples of painted furniture with them and also made painted furniture, though not painted sideboards, after arriving in the New World.  

Of course the technology of paint itself has undergone immense changes since the 17th Century. Materials to give the paint its colour or pigment included mineral, animal and vegetable sources, such as burnt limestone (making limewash), cows’ blood and plants such as the madders plant.  Today the pigments are easily manufactured and mass produced, making it possible to get paint in any shade of the visible spectrum and in any level of gloss or matt finish.  

Inspiration for contemporary painted furniture
When mahogany became the must-have wood finish for furniture, painted furniture did not disappear altogether – especially if you include Chinese or Japanese lacquer work within the definition – but it was now more likely to be found in places such as the kitchens of large houses.  Painted sideboards may still have been virtually unknown, but the simple lines of kitchen furniture may have provided at least some of the inspiration for contemporary styles of painted furniture.  Georgian and Victorian kitchen furniture used functional, plain styling and was typically painted in light white, off-white, ivory or cream colours.   

Contrast this plainness with the traditional or shabby chic school of painted furniture and painted sideboards.  Many of the original antique versions of these would have come from France, hence the other name of French-style.  The French tradition of painting furniture was, as in Britain, inspired by the designs of the Renaissance.  However, on the Continent, the influence of this style seems to have been much greater and to have lasted for a longer period.  The less affluent emulated the intricate and extravagant styles with clever use of paint.  

Originally such items of painted furniture would have been flawless, in an attempt to reproduce a low-cost version of Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo or Louis XIV styling.  As the years took their toll however, the decoration and paintwork would have been subjected to the inevitable knocks, scratches and general wear to which any item in frequent use is subjected.    

The 1960s, taxation and the birth of shabby chic
A slightly scruffy, Bohemian look was not generally appreciated until approximately the 1970s in Britain.  During the 1960s, changes to the taxation laws of the UK and a shortage of cheap labour meant that owners of grand country houses found their properties were an increasing financial burden.  Many properties were simply gifted to the nation through organisations such as the National Trust, while others remaining in private ownership tended to quietly deteriorate.   

Against this background it first became acceptable and then very fashionable to have an interior that spoke of past glories and great elegance but was now rather worn and faded – hence the birth of shabby chic.  In the 1980s it was given a further boost due to reaction against the culture of extravagance and unbridled consumerism that was prevalent at the time.  The genuine faded antiques and painted sideboards already in the UK could not supply the growing demand, so painted furniture was imported from the Continent and an industry was founded on producing new furniture that had many of the style attributes of the faded elegant, shabby chic furniture.