The Beautiful Necessity: Decorating with Arts & Crafts

The furniture and architectural designs of the Arts and Crafts movement were created to coexist with nature-not to dominate it, but to be joined with it. Nature was implied in both the construction and design of furniture and homes of the movement to blur the distinction between indoors and outdoors. The earthtone colors; the natural motifs and building materials of wood, earth, iron, tile, and stone; and the fireplaces all hearkened back to simpler times.

That same yearning for simplicity is resulting in a 1990s revival of the Arts and Crafts movement. Reproductions of Gustav Stickley furniture are now being mass produced by American furniture chains. The elegant simplicity of Craftsman style coupled with the sturdy mortise-and-tenon joinery used in the crafting of Arts and Crafts furniture appeals to the nineties needs for both quality and understated beauty.

The Beautiful Necessity: Decorating With Art and Crafts details everything necessary for creating Arts and Crafts interiors from wall coverings to furnishings, tiles, stenciling, accessories, moldings, and floor coverings. All one hundred forty stunning photographs showcase the Arts and Crafts movement from its humble beginnings to its present popularity.