Furniture Styles Till Present Day

Traditional

European: Today, European Traditional style can be a reproduced version of any of the styles already mentioned above-or some combination of distinct styles. Generally, modern European Traditional style will follow the Rococo or Neoclassical periods’ keynotes. Curvilinear designs and dark woods are common, as are arched sofa backs and a formal feel.

American: Likewise, American Traditional style of the present day looks back to the Colonial and Empire periods, while adapting those themes to modern sensibilities. Painted finishes and architectural flourishes, such as spindles and finials, are very typical.

British Colonial/West Indies: A tropical feel infuses the British traditions to create the British Colonial and West Indies look. Wicker, rattan, and other lighter woods (with deep finishes) replace the hardwoods of typical British furniture and lines are cleaner and simpler.

Contemporary & Modern

Urban/Loft: Lines often flare, but keep their simplicity and functional feel in the urban and loft styles of Contemporary furniture. Leather and Microfiber are popular choices for upholstery.

Danish/Scandinavian: The Norse influence in Contemporary furnishings continues with no signs of flagging. Simple, unadorned pieces of walnut and teak are very common. Contemporary Scandinavian designers employ straight lines with only occasional, gentle curves.

Minimalist: Minimalist home furnishings take Contemporary simplicity to an extreme. Inspired most directly by Bauhaus design, simple lines dominate the Minimalist approach. The emphasis is on free space, functionality and economical design, rather than flourishes in furnishing interior space.

Country & Cottage

Americana: A simple yet substantial style, Americana design emphasizes natural woods and deep finishes. Ornamentation is kept to a minimum. Fabrics tend toward muted colors, with a comfort in look and feel. Patriotic themes such as stars and stripes and colors such as brick red, off-white and navy are often incorporated.

Cottage: This variation on Country style takes its lead from the garden and natural surroundings, adding bead board to wicker and iron to soften the look. Cotton and linen upholstery in floral or checked patterns is common.

French Country: Also known as “French Provincial,” this style approach adds a light touch of ornamental flourish to the casual sensibility of Country design. French Country often takes classic French furniture design and lightens it considerably, opting for cane or rush seats (rather than heavy upholstery). Blue, gold and rust are popular colors, and Toile patterns are favorites as well.

Shabby Chic: This eclectic style uses a white or off-white base to complement floral colors and even found objects and folk art. Slipcovers are a familiar accent to Shabby Chic pieces.

Coastal: Reminiscent of a beach house, classic coastal style embraces natural materials and favors a relaxed approach. Some designs include artwork and accessories featuring nautical themes, while others purposefully do not. Coastal style variations include: Pacific Coast design which tends to incorporate Asian influence with deep finishes and comfortable fabrics; Atlantic Seaboard builds on classic Colonial style with louvers and shutters, as well as a color palette reminiscent of lighthouses; and Gulf Coast style fuses Art Deco inspiration with vibrant colors, wicker and rattan.

Rustic/Lodge: Earth tones pervade the color palette of both the Rustic and Lodge styles. Exposed wood, often in light finishes are popular, as are accents of Native American artwork, nature-inspired accessories, and iron-and-wood carvings as accents. Fabrics tend to have a hand-woven feel.

Asian

What is often referred to broadly as Asian design points primarily to the traditions and influences of Japanese and Chinese styles. Silk plays a paramount role in the texture of Contemporary Asian pieces, as do mid-tone woods and dark lacquer finishes. Bamboo is sometimes incorporated, as are other hints of nature’s influence. Graphics and textiles often feature cherry blossom and lotus flower motifs.

Bohemian

European folk art and gypsy culture heavily influence the unique look of Bohemian home furnishings. The color palette is intensely, deeply colorful, with jewel tones playing a featured role. Embroidered fabrics and fringed details further mark the style.

Hollywood Regency & Mid-century Modern

Hollywood Regency style brings lavish, luxurious fashion appointments to home furnishings. Overstuffed furniture, lush velvets and thick carpets abound in this design format. By contrast, bold, broad rectilinear shapes mark the Mid-Century Modern style, which takes the Bauhaus credo of “form follows function” to a domestic setting. Smooth, refined finishes are de rigueur for this style category.

Arts & Crafts/Mission

Painstaking craftsmanship marked the Arts & Crafts movement in American home furnishings. The overall design is simple and understated, while the workmanship is evident in the intricately detailed wood inlays and balanced forms. The Mission style added a distinctive Spanish flavor to Arts & Crafts themes.

Transitional

For a large variety of home furnishings pieces that don’t comfortably fall under any one style category-as well as pieces that blend elements from various style categories-there is the Transitional label. Representing a blend of Traditional and Contemporary styles, Transitional looks tend to be less ornate and formal than Traditional ones-yet not as severe and defined as Contemporary styles. Transitional also can refer to a style preference based on life stage-as the starting place to discovering what style you ultimately prefer. Upholstered chairs and sofas as well as occasional tables frequently bear the transitional title.

Business Presentation Tips – How To Command Attention

All eyes are on you. Yes, it’s true. In business presentations, you are in charge. You are the leader. As the leader in a presentation, you are in charge of the pace, flow, and impact of your story.

In business presenting, a lot of professionals confuse their audiences by multi-tasking. This is a really bad idea. Instead of giving your audience a clear direction, multi-tasking points them in 15-directions at once.

Let’s look at the common (but awful) practice of talking while changing PowerPoint or Keynote slides.

If you talk, change slides and keep on talking, what should the audience do? Should they listen to your words? Should they focus on the slide? What is the right place to look? They aren’t sure.

The audience doesn’t know what is the top priority. Simply put, if your audience is confused, they will check out. Instead of staying connected to your message, their attention will drift.

Next thing you know, people will be checking email, daydreaming or having side conversations. This is NOT how to command attention.

What can you do differently? Slow down. Do one thing at a time.

Here’s the simple tip: Announce where you are going. Pause. Then change the slide. Next, describe where you are.

This is just the same kind of step-by-step approach that you need to take when giving a tour, or managing the attention of a young child. Only now, you’re acting as a patient tour guide for your audience.

Here’s the break down in precise detail.

Tip 1: Tell Where You Are Going

Announce where you are going in advance. This tip applies to your entire presentation, each slide, and the next action.

For the whole presentation: always give an overview. This helps participants get oriented for the entire journey. Even if everyone is familiar with the topic and you’ve met before, give an overview.

For each slide: prepare participants for what’s in the next slide – before you go there. This is important. The mind can wander. It’s your job to tell people where you are and what’s coming next – before you go.

For each action: tell people what you want them to do. Announce this in advance.

Then…

Tip 2: Change The Picture

After you have alerted participants, it’s time to do what you promised. Change the slide.

If you are not using slides, you can still do this step. Change to a flipchart. Change to a video. Or change to a whiteboard. You also might be changing to an exercise or activity.

Whatever you promised to do, do what you have announced.

Tip 3: Show Where You Are

Now that you are in a new slide, or a new whiteboard discussion — show people around. Familiarize them with the new part of the presentation.

I like to think of this as playing the tour guide. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it shows how much you care about your audience. It shows you care deeply about their experience.

Are you commanding attention in client and prospect presentations? Get the skills you need to focus attention with visual storytelling. 

How to Effectively Train the Presentation Skills?

Many of us are anxious before going to make a presentation. Sometimes we feel that we do not have enough time left to prepare ourselves. And sometimes, we fail to find out from where to start a presentation. Once we overcome these problems, we can gain both confidence and success in a professional life. A good presentation will open doors of corporate and personal success. Providing variety of information, reporting data and conveying idea, are motives of a presentation. The human element in a presentation renders a personality to the presentation apart from giving figures and facts that are life-less.

Speaking skills and presentation skills go hand in hand. So, practicing presentation skills includes practicing speaking skills. Here are few things which one must take care while practicing presentation skills: gestures, postures, voice modulation, eye contact with the audience and delivery. These can be seen in a mirror while practicing the presentation. Apart from improving the presentation and speaking skills, one also must have the knowledge of what works best.

One of the most important aspects of an effective presentation is the incorporation of sufficient number of pictures and visuals. It has been scientifically proved that people understand and take in better information from visual aids than verbal presentations. Human eyes capture information very quickly. Hence, young children prefer picture books to reading textbooks. One must use attractive and informative pictures in his presentations for better understanding and more acceptable in the audience. Charts and colored graphs are the best for this purpose.

After all, it is a well established fact that practice makes man perfect. The more one practices, the more the number of ways he will find out to deliver the Presentation skills training in a better way. One can rehearse in front of his friends or family members. One can also record the practices to find out any fault and correct them. This is one of the best way to self rectify the flaws in a presentation.

To make the presentation more effective, one has to carefully look at the audience and make out the receptivity. This is also called as active listening. While looking at the audience, one can make out the interesting parts of the presentation. Some different gestures from the audience will promptly ask you for further vivid explanation of a point which seemed to be difficult for the audience to understand. Studying the audience reaction needs training which will teach one to interpret others body language?