Cane chairs have widespread versatility. They work with traditional, transitional, modern, and contemporary decor, in urban, suburban, country, mountain, and coastal environments. If you’re wondering, cane is the exterior skin of the rattan stalk, which grows in Asia and Africa.
Cane furniture was made as early as the 2nd century in India and China. However, cane furniture didn’t become popular in Europe until in the mid- 17th century, when the East India Company imported it.
Cane was typically used for seating by that time, though a woven cane bed was buried in Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1323 BCE. Fast forward to the Anglo-Indian style of cane chair, then thank Michael Thonet for his modern application. Thonet’s No. 14 bentwood café chair remains a staple today.
Le Corbusier said this about Thonet’s revolutionary chair: “Never was a better and more elegant design and a more precisely crafted and practical item created.”
Here is a range of cane seating. There are casual coastal cane pieces perfect for a beach house on either coast; country chair styles with cane seats; Scandinavian style cane chairs that take inspiration from mid-century modern influences; and elegant cane chairs suitable for urban applications.
Shop 50 styles of cane chairs from StyleCarrot partners:
Marble is everywhere. It’s leaped out of bathrooms and kitchens onto living room furniture. Marble top coffee tables and marble top side tables are available in so many styles and materials— brass bases with black marble tops, reclaimed wood bases with white marble, blackened iron bases with green marble.
All these marble top coffee tables make me wish I were in the market for one myself, but we’ll be sticking with our vintage Heywood Wakefield lazy susan coffee table that we inherited from my husband’s grandparents.
This weekend we went out to the Cape, where we ate, drank, and slept rather a lot. On a trip to Provincetown (the boys wanted new Swiss Army knives) I stopped into one of my favorite home decor shops in Provincetown, Room 68. (Actually, it is my very favorite Provincetown boutique).
Brent Refsland is the creator of home design shop Room 68, which first opened in Jamaica Plain, Boston, before relocating to 377 Commercial Street in Provincetown on Cape Cod in 2014. Over the last couple of years he has begun curating fresh, contemporary artwork in addition to cutting edge home furnishings.
Here’s a tour of what is in store at Room 68 this month:
I love this copper geo chair from Bend Goods, which would have been perfect in that model apartment I decorated last year at Troy Boston. The curved floating shelf is gorgeous.
This organic brass bowl is an unexpected piece for greens and makes a great contrast to the resin salad servers by San Francisco-based designer Tina Frey.
The PELLE Bubble Chandelier made of a cluster of blown glass globes is stunning and comes in a variety of finishes.
Sarcastic greeting cards for when you don’t really mean it, but have to say something.
Cutting boards in geometric shapes and bright, dipped colors by Bower. Use the blank side to cut and the colored side to look at.
In case you forget where you are. This graphic Provincetown print by Liz Roache comes in various colors and makes a great housewarming gift.
These nylon mesh pouches by Alaina Marie are super cute. They are inspired by a lobsterman’s bait bag, created with the same marine grade materials, but in way better colors, obv.
Resin salad servers and serving bowls by Tina Frey are hand sculpted in San Francisco. The large bowls are great for serving pasta or leafy greens.
Professor of Design and Material Culture at Parsons in NYC, Alice Min Soo Chun invented this new Solar Puff light that is useful for camping, the patio, or just whatever in the dark. They fold flat and expand into cute little cubes.
Room 68 owner Brent Refsland, who has traditionally worked in photography, takes on a new material with these cut sandpaper renditions of sandcastles. They look great in a grouping of three or four.
Cambridge-based company Nervous System gets all shiny with this statement laser cut coral necklace. The spiral cuff up in the corner is cool too.
Because everyone needs a flask, especially in summer. (Summerhouse shares, traffic, family, etc.) These well-worn copper beauties by Surname Goods are made in Brooklyn, natch.
Wheel thrown stoneware by Michele Quan is beautiful. She makes ancient style bells too.
These matte porcelain coffee pots are perfection, thanks to the minimalist silhouette and spare copper details.
A typography diptych by artist by Boston-based artist Cody Justus.
Kawa vases and vessels designed by Souda are slip-cast in reusable leather molds. The blue color-plate etching on the left is the work of Boston-based artist James Mustin III, who earned his MFA at MassArt.
Copper and smoky mirror behind the desk at Room 68.
S H O P the P O S T
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If you’re in the market for furniture (or even if you’re not), enter this giveaway for $150 to LA Furniture Store, a modern and contemporary furniture store with three locations in the Los Angeles area (including an outlet), as well as a Miami showroom and Brooklyn showroom. There are sofas (lots of sectionals, which are the store’s best sellers), bedroom furniture, dining tables and chairs, lighting, and home accessories. I’ve pulled together a few pieces of modern furniture below, all available online at LAFurnitureStore.com. See below for instructions on how to enter.
Enter to win $150 gift certificate @ LA Furniture Store
Deadline: Thursday, January 123, 2014 at 12:00 noon ET
One StyleCarrot reader will be chosen at random to win a code for $150 off an order at LAFurnitureStore.com, which is good for one time use on any item(s) on the LAFurnitureStore.com website.
If you’re feeling inspired by yesterday’s montage of rooms with blue velvet sofas, here are some options of blue velvet sofas you can buy. Some are aqua velvet sofas and others are teal velvet sofas. Many are in modern silhouettes, though there are also some tufted velvet sofas and settees. [NOTE: This post was updated with new styles and links on August 22, 2020.]
SHOP P I NG Shop blue velvet sofas from StyleCarrot partners.
