Fashionable brown furniture | Wickham Market Antiques

Is Brown Furniture Fashionable again?

Firstly it went out of fashion because we were told it was out of fashion. Habitat, then Ikea and many more furniture importers relied on us throwing out perfectly good furniture to allow their businesses to survive.

They were the main advertisers in Magazines and newspapers and the PR teams of these retailers churned out content that kept telling us brown was dull and old fashioned and we obeyed and cleared out well made natural products and brought in the shiny new replacements.

Ironic that those bits of furniture that were discarded are probably still in circulation, used every day, and the replacements are in landfill somewhere.

But there is a rebellion, key interior designers are liking antique wood, the colour brown is acceptable again. Plus, it is so environmentally friendly.

Vintage and antique furniture have already proven they can stand the test of time, being made of wood they are more easily repaired too. The warm tones of wood add the character and charm that is desired as a replacement for the stark and cold, crisp lines seen in the past decades.

We have seen the advancement of the painted furniture, a tip of the hat to recycling. Now we see firms like Oak Furniture Land and other massive companies grow as the appeal for natural wood finishes increases. Wood is coming back – brown furniture will be fashionable again. It’s not just me that thinks it:

Reported in The Times:

“The interior designer Lucy Barlow is a true believer in the beauty of brown. “It is a cost-effective way to add history, texture and a layer of stately grandeur to home interiors. You can get beautiful furniture made to last hundreds of years, for the same price as a nasty high street item. It’s funny that millennials, who have been buying smelly vintage clothes for years now, have neglected brown vintage furniture until fairly recently.”

This excerpt is from ‘Mad about the House’:

“The hot topic in interiors this year has definitely been sustainability and there is nothing more sustainable than buying antique furniture for your home. It saves it from landfill and it prolongs its life. But as much as that this furniture was well made – there are no plastic mouldings which means that if it breaks you can find a way to mend it as you can take it apart and rebuild it. It also brings character to a space. I love the juxtaposition between an ultra modern house and some vintage furniture. It’s not one you see often enough in my view. Vintage furniture looks great in all settings from the pared back minimalism of a mid-century modern chair against the ornate panelling and plasterwork of a Georgian house to the wonky and stained beauty of an antique table sitting on a poured concrete floor in front of a glass wall. Here are my top 10 reasons to give the old a new lease of life

Laurren from Style by Emily Henderson wrote:

“We’ve seen a shift from painted furniture and cooler color palettes to spaces that include blonde-toned woods and earthy textiles and paint choices.

But I’m not talking the golden-hued teak credenzas or camel-colored leather sofas of recent years. (That’s all still great though.) I’m talking brown brown…deeper, darker, richer hues, from terra cotta and mahogany to walnut and chocolate and everything in between.

If you never thought this day would come, where we’re taking a deep dive into brown and, dare I say, actually kind of crushing on it all…I didn’t either, despite knowing that in the world of design—both in interiors and fashion—things are constantly cycling, with most trends emerging as a counter-reaction to another. Sure, brown is always around in some capacity. Furniture is, after all, most often made of wood, lol, but shades and tones and the way and quantity in which it’s used certainly fluctuates.”

House and Garden Magazine wrote about it too:

“It's time 'brown furniture' had a renaissance! Falsely labelled as dated, dark and hulking - dark wooden pieces from the late Georgian period onwards are beautifully made and can be picked up from local auctions for a song. Well-chosen pieces can add weight, style and charm to both modern and traditional interiors alike.”

And then there’s the article from Insider

"After such an isolating year, I feel like we all are searching for safe, warm, and cozy colors and feelings, and after a decade of so much sterility in white and gray, many are craving a return to this cozy neutral," Griffin said.

Brown neutrals commonly appear in spaces like living rooms where it makes sense for leather or wood furniture to be.

But the experts told Insider that you can make brown work anywhere in a home if you know what you're doing.

"Brown has a stable, confident, non-flashy vibe that can work well in a lot of rooms," Liz MacPhail, the founder and principal designer of Liz MacPhail Interiors, told Insider.”