A chest of drawers is a versatile piece of furniture that never expires. He will change his appearance, becoming unusual, and his purpose, being in different interiors of housing. But still, he will remain a chest of drawers with shelves and drawers designed to store things and objects of our everyday life.
History of chest of drawers
The roots of the chest are in the distant past. And an ordinary forged chest is considered his ancestor. The chest turned into a chest of drawers gradually. At first it became larger, then it was installed on small legs. The next transformation of the chest into an unusual chest of drawers took place on the front part. A drawer appeared below , followed by doors and other compartments.
In the 17th century, furniture makers in Italy and France created low cabinets with doors and drawers called credit cards. Since that time, it is believed that a chest of drawers has appeared in a form that is familiar to everyone, with drawers located one above the other. By the way, the French word "commode" - means "convenient."
Rococo Dressers
The chest of drawers has changed depending on the era. The beginning of the 18th century is the Rococo era. In Paris salons, chests of drawers have become a mandatory attribute of the interior. For the living rooms, the unusual rococo dressers had sophisticated shapes with exquisite finishes: mother of pearl, ivory, gilded bronze, precious stones.
At the same time, dressers with mirrors become an indispensable element of furniture design in boudoirs. Secret chests of drawers appearing in luxurious library cabinets of the upper class, in which drawers were to be present.
Classicism, Empire style and Victorian era in the image of a chest of drawers
The era of classicism and empire leaves its mark on the forms of chests of drawers. Here is the restraint of the decor, and a clearer form of the facades, and the geometry of the regular parallelepiped dominant at that time. Chests of drawers became an indispensable part of bedroom furniture, and they stored linen that should be at hand. At that time, for chiffoniers and wardrobes there was a place in separate non-residential premises.
The elegance of the Victorian era was expressed in the sophistication of an unusual chest of drawers, covered with white lacquer and carved in the form of vignettes and flower garlands.
Dressers and modernity
Such an element of designer furniture as a chest of drawers has always been considered a symbol of prestige. In past centuries, famous furniture makers made original chests of drawers that can be found in museums, and sometimes in the homes of eminent and wealthy people of our time.
Currently, designers and manufacturers of this beautiful piece of furniture are looking for new original solutions. Despite the simple design of the chest of drawers, manufacturers are trying as much as possible to diversify the chest of drawers by rearrangement. This allows you to enter a chest of drawers in any space of the living room. The choice of place for a chest of drawers depends on how it is fixed. It can be either a wall-mounted dresser or a chest of drawers installed along the wall.
In appearance, the chest of drawers is more functional and more compact than the cabinet. The internal volume of an unusual dresser for a bedroom is used 100% thanks to drawers. From the point of view of ergonomics, the storage of objects in the chest and access to them is considered the most rational. Unlike the cabinet, the top of the chest of drawers is also functionally involved. Any family values (photos, still lifes, collections) can be placed on it.
Chest Functionality
A feature of modern dressers is their versatility. What will be inside depends on the desire of the customer. The functionality is also affected by the room in which this unusual design chest of drawers will be located.
In the hallway, this version of the furniture came as a keeper of shoes. It is sometimes called a galoshenka. The hallway also uses a chest of drawers with drawers and a mirror. The lower drawers perfectly store seasonal shoes, and the upper ones are usually reserved for all kinds of small things and items: packages, keys, telephone directories, etc.
Once, very practical Frenchmen became the authors of a narrow and unusual chest of drawers, which fit into any corner or wall of a small room, usually it was a bedroom. He had a filling of seven drawers in which linen was stored by the day of the week. Nowadays, such chests of drawers in a reduced form are used in the interior by people engaged in needlework. In boxes keep all kinds of hand-made. Sometimes such mini-dressers are created by needlewomen themselves, decorating them with decoupage.
Unique dressers
The uniqueness of modern dressers in their manufacturability. In drawers, a push-click opening system is used, which allows you to open drawers without handles by pressing. A dresser model with a system of swing and elevator doors is becoming more and more common.
Finishing materials can be varied. In the classics, expensive varieties of wood are used: maple, cherry, walnut. The interior of the hi-tech style housing involves the use of glass, plastic and metal materials in various combinations to create a chest of drawers. Sometimes they use special decorations: metal corners, legs, locks, latches and much more.
And if we are talking about the development of unusual dressers by famous designers, the methods of decoration and manufacturing technology are their know-how. Usually these are single furniture options. Such samples of dressers in the style of antiquity will perfectly decorate respectable cabinets or living rooms.
No less interesting are the options for furniture for children, including chests of drawers, which are very convenient in children's rooms. Design ideas are sometimes simply fantastic and exceed all expectations. A good example of this is the chest of drawers, made in the form of a wave (pictured above).