Simple Country Furniture at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

All the soft woods are native. They were and still are used for the unseen structural parts of furniture otherwise made of hardwood. Those most widely used by the old cabinetmakers were white pine, bassvvood, spruce, and vvhitewood. Pine and other soft woods were also favored for simple country furniture that was painted or finished with the typical New England red filler. Pine also was the material for Victorian cottage furniture, made 1860 to 1880, by furniture factories in many sections of the country.

The second group, in which American cabinetmakers took pieces of English provincial furniture made for farmhouses and country taverns and converted them into sophisticated household articles, includes one form of Table and two types of chairs. The butterfly table, so-named from the winglike swinging brackets which support the drop leaves, was developed from a small English country Table with an understructure of baluster-turned uprights, plain stretches, and bed members and simple leaf supports.

This is where the really bright, dramatic colours come in. Bold red and deep grey cushions, throws and vases take this scheme from simple to stunning. The beauty of having a neutral backdrop and simple furniture is that you can reinvent it with accessories as often as you like.