When it comes to furnishing your home with timeless, handcrafted pieces, two styles often come to mind: Mission style furniture and shaker style furniture. Both have a rich history and unique characteristics that make them beloved choices for those seeking quality and beauty in their furniture. But what sets these two styles apart? In this blog, we'll explore the distinct differences between Mission style furniture and shaker style furniture to help you make an informed decision for your home.
Understanding Mission Style Furniture
Mission style furniture, which saw a resurgence in the 1980s, is renowned for its simple, sturdy design and high-quality craftsmanship. This style emphasizes the natural beauty of the wood, often featuring oak, cherry, maple, walnut, or ash. At Online Amish Furniture, our Mission style pieces are crafted primarily from oak or cherry wood, ensuring durability and a classic look.
Key Characteristics of Mission Style Furniture
- Simplicity and Functionality: Mission style furniture is characterized by its straightforward design, focusing on horizontal and vertical lines and 90° angles.
- Material Quality: Traditionally made from oak, Mission style furniture now also utilizes cherry, maple, walnut, and ash woods.
- Craftsmanship: Each piece is handcrafted, emphasizing quality and durability.
- Design Aesthetic: This style often features medium to dark stains to highlight the wood grain, creating a substantial, traditional appearance.
- Minimal Ornamentation: Decoration is minimal, with a focus on the natural beauty and functionality of the furniture.
Understanding Shaker Style Furniture
Shaker style furniture, developed by the Shaker religious sect in the early 1800s, focuses on functionality and simplicity, much like Mission style, but with its own unique elements. Shaker style furniture is known for its delicate and elegant appearance, featuring tapered legs and mushroom-shaped wooden knobs.
Key Characteristics of Shaker Style Furniture
- Elegance and Lightness: Shaker style furniture is typically lighter and more delicate in appearance compared to the robust look of Mission style furniture.
- Tapered Legs: One of the defining characteristics of Shaker style furniture is its tapered legs, which give it a refined look.
- Wooden Knobs: Shaker pieces often feature mushroom-shaped wooden knobs, adding a unique touch.
- Focus on Utility: Like Mission style, Shaker style furniture is designed for functionality, but with a slightly more refined, graceful appearance.
Comparing Mission Style Furniture and Shaker Style Furniture
While both Mission Style Furniture and Shaker Style Furniture share a commitment to simplicity and high-quality craftsmanship, they cater to different aesthetic preferences and design philosophies. Here’s a comparative analysis of these two iconic styles based on their defining features.
- Sturdiness and Elegance
Mission style furnishings are recognized for the hardy and significant nature. These are dominant and appear to be strong like a man because they have broad and heavy edges which show that there is ruggedness in them. On the other hand, Shaker Style furniture is light yet fine looking. The items are usually associated with feminine since these styles have very smooth lines which make them appear sophisticated.
- Shape and Lines
Mission style furniture features fewer curves than other styles of furniture, and its lines are more straight than those found in other styles. This makes these pieces easy to stack or line up in a row on a floor plan. The Shaker style furniture also has no curves, but the short legs give it some style, elegance and interest; for when compared to the mission style furniture which uses rather strong blocks of wood the Shaker style furniture appears light.
- Wood Tones
All in all, Shaker pieces are more casual in nature. This comes from the use of wood tones that are medium to light, as opposed to those found in mission style furniture. Cherry is the most popular choice but some of these pieces are maple or pine too. This use of lighter finishes gives the furniture an open and inviting feel which characterizes Shaker pieces through this period.
- Ornamentation and Functional Details
Mission style furniture is known for having minimal ornamentation. Instead of relying on lavish decoration, it ascribes to the tenets of the Arts and Crafts movement which emphasize plainness and usefulness. If at all any adornments are attached, these are generally subdued in nature as well as practical like exposed stitching. On the other hand, even though being useful, Shaker style furniture includes some understated design features such as wood handles and inlays. These features increase the refinedness and usefulness of the furniture even if they are not showy as such.
- Craftsmanship and Historical Context
While both the Mission style furniture and the shaker style furniture focus on high-quality, handcrafted construction, they carry distinct identities because of their different historical contexts and design philosophies. Furniture in the Mission style is rooted in the Arts and Crafts movement, and it underscores the return to handcrafted quality and honesty in materials with emphasis on bold and sturdy designs. Shaker style furniture is influenced by the principles of the Shaker community, which emphasize simplicity, utility, and humility, resulting in furniture that is beautiful yet highly utilitarian and mirrors the Shaker belief that functionally intended items are inherently attractive.
- Overall Aesthetic
When creating a warm and cozy living room out of dark wood and heavily designed furniture, mission style furniture will be a good choice. It is suitable for creating a warm and cozy atmosphere because of its dark wood tones and substantial forms that make it look more robust than others. Besides, this furniture is ideal for spaces that require one to feel solid or strong. Conversely, shaker style furniture serves a more delicate and feminine sensibility with its light wood tones and elegant details. It is likely to be used in places where light permeates from all angles and the emphasis is on simplicity together with functionality, though less of beauty is seen in it.
Why Choose Online Amish Furniture?
At Online Amish Furniture, we pride ourselves on offering high-quality, handcrafted Mission style furniture and shaker style furniture style furniture. Our pieces are crafted with care and precision, ensuring they are not only beautiful but also durable and functional. Whether you're drawn to the robust elegance of Mission style or the delicate simplicity of Shaker style, we have the perfect furniture to suit your taste and home décor.
Check out all the items we have, you might just find the right one for your dream purposes. Browse and select what suits best for you, shop today!