“The sun never sets in the British Empire” is the oft-repeated quotation used when trying to explain British Victorian fashion. In a nutshell, the style is a consequence of English citizens traveling the planet throughout the empire’s heyday, bringing together typically heavy woolen furnishings and adapting to warm regional climates with milder local fare.
These travelers also brought back exotic bits in the Caribbean, India, the Far East and Africa as a means to show off how far they’d traveled. They strove to travel comparatively mild; effort furniture (mild, foldable and mobile ) also became a part of the look. The results can mean a wild mixture of mild pine or cane furniture, heavier pieces, plaids combined with animal prints, dark flooring alongside white walls and paisleys combined with chintzes.
Below are some suggestions for bringing the style to your very own national empire.
Kate Jackson Design
Lighten up. The first things the British had to do when adjusting to warm and humid climates was to lighten up their dark colour palettes. In the Caribbean, white, tans and pale blues and greens replaced dark and heavy colors.
Other British oriental components within this room include the tropical bamboo dividers and the steamer trunk used as a coffee table. Trunks like this would hold breakables like china in addition to clothes when traveling, then serve as furniture.
Clifford M. Scholz Architects Inc..
Celebrate high ceilings. High ceilings retained things cooler in warm climates, an architectural move these colonialists spread around the world.
Charlie Barnett Associates
Mix in exotic global bits. These travel Brits loved to return with exotic items like bone inlay tables from India. Palm trees and rattan furniture finish the look.
Kelley & Company Home
Mix fabric types and prints. Light cottons and linens replaced wool. White and off-white upholstery and slipcovers replaced heavy fabrics and prints that are busy. Luxe prints like velvets and silks are utilized on accent pieces like throw pillows.
Things like zebra rugs became decorations from far-flung journeys, whether the traveler had anything to do with searching the creature or not. Nowadays animal print fabrics are part of the style.
Kathleen Burke Design
Start traditionally English and layer in items from around the former empire’s domain. This room starts with a conventional English base of heavy Chippendale dining chairs, then brings from the island effect with mild walls, bamboo blinds, pineapple accents and Far Eastern blue and white ceramic accents.
Zuniga Interiors
Join the effort. Campaign furniture comprises pieces like this bamboo nightstand. This piece may be folded up or broken down and readily transported to a new residence halfway around the world.
Baysix Design
Use natural-fiber rugs. Sea bud and jute stand up to moisture and were another ideal wool replacement from the tropics.
Travelers also brought back exotic flora and fauna, therefore birdcages, botanical prints and potted palms also give the style to this room.
Check out the designers who observe the style. Barclay Butera is a designer who has been celebrating this look for a long time, such as with a cloth set that spans the gamut from plaids to paisleys to animal prints, in addition to plantation furniture pieces.
India Hicks is the girl of design superstar David Hicks and grew up traveling from England to the Bahamas. Living the British colonial lifestyle has given her a keen eye to the fashion, which you may enjoy in her publication, Island Life.
Cooper Johnson Smith Architects and Town Planners
Insert farm furniture. In the British West Indies, local craftspeople pared down the kind of furnishings which the British were utilized to and utilized local woods like teak, ebony and mahogany, which could stand up to the elements without repainting, They also included neighborhood techniques like caning. Finally, they were known to throw in some island flair, perhaps in the kind of a carved pineapple or a hand.
Causa Design Group
This bed is just another fantastic example of British colonial plantation furniture. Note the caning details about the headboard and the footboard.
Causa Design Group
Bring in airy draperies and canopies. Light, flowing window treatments along with mosquito netting for beds were picked up in the islands.
Charmean Neithart Interiors
Use grass fabric. Do not limit the organic fibers to bedding and rugs; delicate neutral grass cloth wall coverings add tropical texture.
This room is giving off important”I’m well-traveled” vibes, with the farm mattress, the ornate caved piece over the headboard, the carved masks on the walls along with the exotic bedding cloths.
Elizabeth Dinkel
Bring from the pineapples. Pinepples were yet another common island motif that local craftspeople added to furniture. The bamboo mirror finishes off the look.
Kelley & Company Home
Use luggage . Steamer trunks and classic suitcases add to the look of a brazen colonial traveler.
Harold Leidner Landscape Architects
Outdoors, dark timber chaises, Chinese garden stools and clipped evergreens unite Caribbean, Asian and English traditions.
Lisa Borgnes Giramonti
Create a tablescape with mementos. Channel the soul of the style by producing a gathered global tablescape. The more diverse the items, the better it can do the job.