Rococo furniture, basic elements and features, color scheme

Playful and light forms of Rococo furniture will appeal to natures with a refined taste, lovers of their own comfort. The style is characterized by royal chic, mysterious intimacy, sensual grace, which explains why Rococo furniture is so popular. This style originates from the royal interiors under Louis XV and is safely used today.

What is known for this style

Luxury, a rich palette of shades, brightness, elegance and intricacy are the qualities that made Rococo furniture style famous. Having arisen at the intermediate stage of 1700 and 1780, he conquered western Europe. Rocailles from the French language means asymmetric patterns, which are characterized by the image of natural curls on flowers, trees, clouds, sea shells. It was this term that gave the name and motive that was used as the basis of the style. At the initial stages, the style was criticized enough, they spoke negatively and contemptuously about it due to excessive decorativeness and frivolity. But thanks to the desire to create personal comfort and artistic elements, Rococo has become a very common style.

A number of sources indicate that Rococo is a continuation of the late Baroque. But the new style is distinguished by its completely new motifs. After some time, it was supplemented with oriental details. The shape of the square was replaced by the tortuosity of the lines. The use of complex weaves is that eternal that was present in baroque.

Varieties of furniture and features of each of them

All Rococo furniture has certain characteristic features. Since the style traces the appeal to the fairer sex (their inner world, pleasures, excitement), the furniture was specially created for their convenience. A small fit was used in the products for seating. They went to the owners of high hairstyles. The creation of paired furniture (sets) is provided for a certain interior, sometimes wheels were attached for them. All items are filled with elements of grace, sophistication, lightness, gilding, small carvings. The shapes of small objects are curved. They are distinguished by mobility. The object itself and its details are created in a holistic form: back, armrests, legs.

Among the most commonly used designs can be identified:

secretaries;
dressers;
Consoles
the Bureau;
sofas;
armchairs;
sun loungers.

Secretaries

When creating new furniture, first of all, the interests of women were taken into account. The new secretary provided folding boards, which were located with an inclination. New bedside tables with round, often rectangular shapes. Among the variety of fashion items, special attention was paid to ladies' secretaries. Interesting models of coffee tables, desks and sewing tables. Legs of all types of furniture made forms of cabriole: bends, usually in the form of a hoof or paw of an animal, decorated with cylinders or balls in the lower part. They are characterized by the presence of a convex bend in the upper part and a concave bend in the lower.

To design a women's office, they proposed a model of a cabinet for storing papers and a dressing table with a folding mirror function.

Secretaries are one of the most popular pieces of furniture. This furniture accessory was in demand among both ladies and men, and used it as a desk, wardrobe and safe. Numerous hidden compartments are provided for him, locked by ingenious locks. The Rococo era is known for its love of sentimental memoirs and letters. They were stored in such offices. Today it has changed somewhat, but even now the secretary is being created in the form of a cabinet where drawers and a folding shelf are provided, which are used as a work surface.

Dressers

The most fashionable product is a chest of drawers, the name of which comes from the French word "chest of drawers", which means "comfortable." Its shape was borrowed from the eastern style, but with more curved and plastic lines. There are no straight planes in the dresser. Flat, but with wavy edges, they created only the top cover. Usually, marble was used for its manufacture. The walls are characterized by bends in all directions, because of this they looked swollen. There were 2 types of bends:

bombs (horizontal direction);
serpentine (vertical direction).

Regardless of the design of the furniture, decor elements were present on all its surfaces. Usually in the chest of drawers there were 2 drawers, often even 3. Applied ornamentation made it possible to make them invisible. Porcelain inserts, which were originally delivered from the countries of the East, looked like a whole thing.

Consoles

One of the important components of the interior in the Rococo style is the table, and in particular the console. The use of this furniture accessory can not only benefit. This stylized stand is considered by many to be a decorative piece of furniture. But still, the console performs important and necessary functions of a table, pedestal, shelf, where vases, souvenirs, hats and other items of use can be stored.

With the help of a console table, a special atmosphere is formed in the interior. Here you can harmoniously place a lot of useful and beautiful items. This modern Rococo furniture is perfect for any room in your home. For the living room, it serves as a souvenir table, in the hallway - a place for storing keys, hats, in the bedroom - a cosmetic or dressing table.

To equip the premises, many use a freestanding console. This accessory fully functions, only differs in small width. It can be wall mounted or located near the sofa.

The Bureau

Rococo bureaus are no less popular among lovers of antiquity. This is a type of table with a superstructure. A tall piece of furniture with asymmetrical closure. This modern one belongs to the multifunctional type of furniture, like the secretary, only the latter is more functional. But due to its small size and compactness, the bureau perfectly fits into the interior.

Sofas

Furniture for seating and seating has also acquired elegant and comfortable shapes. New types of functional products have been created that fulfill their actual purpose. Among them, it is worth highlighting the sofa canapes. This product is for use by one person, made in the form of three chairs interconnected.

Armchairs

Bergers are no less popular - chairs of sufficient depth with soft curved armrests. They are characterized by a high back height. To increase ease of use, chairs that are separate from each other, equipped with wide-spread armrests. No less popular type of armchair "Marquise".

Sun loungers

The favorite piece of furniture of the rococo style of the royal court during the reign of Louis XV was the deck chair - "long chair". It was made with a rounded back, soft upholstery, comfortable armrests, bent legs with convertibles. The model called “duchess breeze” (broken duchess) in the form of a modular design with two chairs turned to each other was the most popular. One of its versions was supplemented by a puff in the middle.

In two other versions of the base model, all the elements were combined into a single unit and a chair and a bench were combined, which is widely used today. Elements of the Chinese pagoda were used by craftsmen to create four-poster beds. Completely new types of forms are characteristic of couches, armchairs, deck chairs.

Famous furniture designer Rococo master Thomas Chippendale created chairs in the form of a refined and refined violin and vases, distinguished by their bends. For bookcases, he used glazing resembling a rhombic grid.

Color spectrum

The color scheme of Rococo is filled with elements of gold. They are used to highlight the basic design elements. Sometimes it is changed to golden paint. Interior backgrounds stand out in pastel colors. There are products of cream, greenish, pink shades. They create a harmonious combination with brown wood. Finishing is also carried out in more saturated shades, as well as in the tone “pompadour” (tone corresponding to Sevres porcelain).

Materials used

When creating furniture items, they reject the symmetry and autonomy of parts. They seem to be absorbed by the total volume of objects. Rococo wood carvings are rarely used as decorations. It was effectively replaced by bronze plates. Sometimes colored varnishes process the entire surface of the furniture, replacing them with plywood. Next, using pads or gilded carvings, decorate it.

Light woods are used for furniture lining, for the manufacture of which exotic light woods brought to Europe are used. The most popular are trees, amaranths, rosewoods and some other species. As for trees grown in Europe, preference is given to lemons, pears, nuts, maples, apple trees. French craftsmen rarely carry out processing by coloring or burning, preferring natural shades of wood.

Metal beds, as well as other items from marble, bronze, tapestry, gold, are popular.

Exquisite fabrics used for decoration of upholstered furniture differ both in color characteristics and in the type of pattern. For some, they use exclusive upholstery that fits perfectly into the interior: openings, velvet, satin, brocade, silk.

How to fit into the interior

In order to arrange furniture correctly, groups are created consisting of a table, sofa, several chairs, for the formation of centers where society will gather. Harmonious look in the interior of a chest of drawers, secretary, cardboard boxes. A compact-sized sofa with a curved back, stylish curved legs will perfectly fit into the interior of an office, living room, bedroom.

Upholstered furniture in the rococo style must be selected with silk or satin upholstery with ornaments of vegetation and turns. And the best look for wood products.

For the bedroom they use a wide, luxurious bed, at the head of which there are floral patterns, rocaili. Be sure to have a large mirror, the frame of which is decorated with twisted gilding, a dressing table with soft satin, chairs, small canapes. To design a bed raised on the podium, use a luxurious canopy. Color shades should be one tone, no contrast is provided when creating the Rococo interior.

Many design photos in the rococo style are an extraordinary sight. They can be used for independent interior decoration, because the style that embodies the luxury in pastel gentle colors is very attractive. Full of historical notes when using modern materials, it will serve as an inspiration for creating a unique interior for an apartment or a country house.