Try Art Deco Furniture for Your Living Room

Art deco: a style that originated in France is still popular today
Try Art Deco  Furniture for Your Living Room

Last update: 21 June, 2020

Art deco is a style that isn’t afraid to return to styles of the past. But it also looks to the future and becomes fascinating with technology. Because of this, it’s a style that remains popular and is perfect in your living room.

Art deco furniture is always a good choice for your living room. Starting in France, this style was very popular until the beginning of the 1950s. Their great contribution of new designs is still popular 50 years later.

During its prolific years, art deco was state of the art. We think of it as a trend that extolled shapes.  With art deco interior design we’ll return to the old lines of this decorative style. 

The main characteristic of art deco furniture is the use of the straight line. And this line is used with its various combinations, such as overlays, curves, and circles. Also, it uses geometric lines, such as hexagons and octagons, which are the most utilized shapes.

Also significant, is the use of exotic woods for furniture veneers. Among the most popular are ebony and teak. They even used tortoiseshell or animal fur, available in synthetic materials today.

A brief review of the history of art deco

Art deco style bed with a mirror on the headboard

art deco headboard/pinterest.es

Art deco is an artistic movement that was developed in the 1920s as a reaction to art nouveau. Also, this movement extended to 1939. However, in many other countries, its popularity lasted until the 1950s. It had the most influence in the fields of decorative arts and industrial design. 

As we’ve seen, art deco first appeared in Paris but arrived in many other European countries. Also, the style came to the United States and some countries of Latin America.

Not only does art deco influence furniture design, but interior design as well. Not surprisingly, it also influences automobiles and monumental architectural designs such as the Empire State Building in New York City. 

The objects that were created under the influence of art deco tried to inspire elegance and sophistication. This was done through the utilization of sharp contours, defined lines, and symmetric shapes. Even bright primary colors, chrome items, enamels, and very polished stones are used. Classic designs inspire these.

         Art deco is a geometric style for decoration and architecture. Simple touches are enough to arrive at an artistic equilibrium.

Art deco for the sitting room

The art deco style of furniture has as its main characteristic a fusion between function and design. Even though the art deco style prizes the aesthetic over the functional, there were also important pieces that were very useful.

The functionality of art deco can also be seen in the usefulness of the furniture. An example of this is bookshelves that serve as a bar or small armoirs.

The furniture that you should choose for your art deco style salon has certain principal characteristics. Read below and we’ll go over these.

Elegant lines

Living room in the art deco style

art deco furniture/batavia.es

Art deco uses elegant lines and rounded corners, aerodynamic designs, and futuristic looks. Following this style, the chair is often lightly curved toward the inside, which suggests sensuality.

Materials and industrial finishes

Art deco living room decorated in browns and tans

Art deco living room/conceptodecor.es

This style uses industrial materials in the design and the finish of the furniture. These are materials such as chrome, plastic, and glass frequently combined with wood that adds texture, reflective items, and bright and satiny finishes. Added to these, is lacquered or enameled wood that is polished to a very shiny finish.

Geometric patterns

Bench with geometric patterned wallpaper in the background

geometric wall/vix.com

Art deco uses geometric designs that frequently offer a counterpoint to round lines in classic furniture. It incorporates fan designs with triangles in layers as well as circular designs.

Art deco furniture for the living room – modular designs

Living room with aqua and gray

Textiles/decoraid.com

Art deco was first to introduce the modular furniture design. To explain, these are separate furniture pieces with curved edges that were matched together and became popular. This style was bold and innovative in that era. However, it also tried to be cozy and comfortable.

We can still find much of this modular furniture and other art deco influences on the market. Today, much of the art deco furniture maintains its antique look with a fresh and up to date touch added.