HOW THE LIVING ROOM HAS CHANGED THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

Recently I watched an interesting programme on BBC4 on how our home has changed throughout the years. In this programme they are looking at how the living room has changed throughout the last 700 years. 


Firstly looking at the medieval days where the living room is arranged in a way where the most important person sits at the end of the table while people who weren't as important such as servants sat on the ground at the other side of the room, there was a divide in the room so that both the rich and poor couldn't cross. Later on in years the living room would be sub divided. With lighting being expensive in those days they used candles which were made from animal fat- to me this doesn't sound so appealing! Later on in the Elizabethan era living rooms where a way to show other how wealthy they were by their luxurious tapestries, statues and colour. The room was only used by the rich class which got used more as a ball room. Glass was also becoming more popular so rooms would be flooded with natural light. Even when moving home some people would take their windows out because they were that expensive.
  

The drawing room in the Georgian times were used more by the women for having tea parties - gilded gold rims, fire places and expensive tea ware. In the 18th century taste became a huge part of interior design and architecture. Designers such as Robert Adam designed more mass market interiors which could be seen in a more wealthy home for people who are from the working class and making it more affordable. In the Victorian times objects became a big part in the living room with every inch of the room filled with possessions. To me these rooms seem too cluttered and too much to look at with over whelming colours and different objects. Oscar Wilde changed the way in which the house hold looked by only putting hand made and unique interiors. Later on in the industrial revolution the living room had a multifunctional space for cooking, eating and for leisure time. By the turn of the 20th century electricity light bulbs became available only to the rich at first which changed the living room to a more contemporary way. The radio would become the main feature during the second world war after that the television became the main focal point of the living room. This changed the whole way the interior was laid out as the chairs needed to face the TV. In the 1960's DIY became the craze to make give the interiors of the house a new lease of life. In today's world the living room is more about technology with the games consoles and the multi functional space. 


For me this programme was a great insight into how the interiors have changed through out the years, I find it very interesting to see how the living room has gone from being very divided with wealth and class being a big part of it to then becoming a more equal space in today's world where pretty much all living rooms are very similar. To me the interiors of the Georgian and Elizabethan times are more unique and interesting than today's ordinary technology based living spaces.