American Households - Essay Example

2 March Assignment Households are a major part of a person’s life; right from singlehood to a family life, they help to provide shelter topeople as well as are a depiction of the way people live in different societies. Different parts of the world have various kinds of people who like to decorate their households in a manner that helps them express themselves. The living room is an important part of every household for the main reason that it is usually the part that is most lived in by everyone. It is meant for recreational as well as serious activities. People can have discussions as well as eat meals together in the living room. However, the concept of the living room and the way it looks has undergone a vast amount of change since the 18th century. Today, the way the living room looks in an average American household is very different from what it would look like back then in the 1700s. This essay analyses the way Americans used to live in the 18th century, with respect to their households and forms of dwelling. 300 years ago, life in the household for Americans was extremely different than what it is today; houses today are built in a different manner, keeping in mind the needs of the average American whereas in those days, houses were built separately for the middle classes and the upper classes. There are various differences that may be noticed in the style, spacing and furniture as well as how the space in the house has been used and for what purpose. In contrast to the current time, many aspects of the same have changed and evolved. Houses have become more spacious and consist of a lot more lighter furniture as will be discussed within the purview of this paper. The paper shall talk about the current as well as the past trend with respect to the living rooms within the two eras. Dell Upton has talked about slave houses which were a major part of Virginia as they were extremely distinct from the houses in other states in the United States of America. These houses consisted of barely one or two rooms and would be small in size as compared to other houses in other states. The houses were shared from six to twenty people, which is a very large number of people as compared to units of neutral families living in apartments today. The house was made of bricks and in the third quarter of the eighteenth century people began to make use of logs to construct their homes. American living rooms back then consisted of either an extravagant amount of furniture decked with ornate walls otherwise were simple in nature and reeked of normalcy as compared to the other homes. In the 18th century, people were obsessed with inviting others to their homes for the purpose of getting together and spending evenings and most of this was done in order to show off their living rooms. The living room of a house is the part which is the most looked on by visitors and guests; whenever someone is invited to another’s home, he spends the most amount of time in the living room and thus Americans made it a point to make their living rooms look the most beautiful part of the house rather than anything else in order to impress their guests, primarily. Furthermore, there were many households where the living room was not given importance at all; these homes mainly belonged to the less rich people where they did not bother to deck them up for the purpose of showing them off. Beginning with the upper classes or strata of society, the living rooms were decked in a gorgeous manner; the usually consisted of a great amount of furniture which was made of either teak or oak. These consisted of pieces like the wooden table, chairs, clocks etc which formed a major part of the room. More emphasis was laid on how the room looked fuller; curtains and drapes in the living room were also made in a manner that they gave the room a heavy and thus bigger feel. Every woman belonging to the upper class took pride in decorating her living room up in the household because of the sole reason that it would be her that would be hosting evening dinners and parties and thus impress other guests with her living room. Moving to the middle class in society, they took pride in ‘dressing up’ their living rooms as well however their living rooms did not end up looking as rich as the ones that belonged to the upper classes. The rooms were lighter or had lesser pieces of furniture because of money crunches. The lower strata of society did not have the means to make their households look better and while they were only aiming to retain shelter, most of them had cluttered living rooms with mismatched show pieces and furniture all around the house. Currently, the living rooms in households across America are very different than what was present in yesteryears. Understanding the rich situation that the upper class survived within back then; today as well, women are interested in decking their living rooms up in order to make them look privy to society and acceptable in the eyes of visitors and guests. Living rooms are thus based more on what people feel others would want to see as opposed to what the owners of the same actually want, this is primarily because of the reason that they want to impress other and have them talk about their living rooms. The living room is the one place where one can easily hang fancy photographs and canvases, risk one’s esteem and play around with modern art, as well as vintage art. In the olden days, living rooms had a fireplace, a mantelpiece as well as a great number of photographs all around, equipped with ornate chandeliers and other lighting equipments and pieces. Today however, people believe a little more in simplicity; most homes in America that belong to the upper classes consist of penthouses and bungalows. The living rooms that persist in these homes thus contain lighter furniture with respect to the colour and are spaced out in a manner that the room looks bigger. Lighter colours are chosen these days in order to give the room a more vibrant and brighter feel as compared to the 18th century when dark colours helped the room to look bigger and spacious. The furniture used these days is spaced out and chosen in a manner that it is not too much to make the room look full of clutter. Fireplaces are a rarity because of the expenses and maintenance that they require; furthermore heaters have taken their place thus reducing the space required. Air conditioners are used during the summer months for the purpose of cooling and photographs have been replaced with a few big frames of the family. Modern art holds a big place in the homes of the rich and most of these pieces are displayed in the living rooms. The purpose of the living room has gone from just indulging in discussions with guests to work and leisure activities alike; today, people even have meals together in their living rooms instead of just sitting and talking to each other. Back then when people had fancy furniture, they liked to impress others with the same; today however, living rooms consist of state of the art digital gadgets and technical equipments like LCD televisions, flat screen televisions, air conditioners, computers etc. In the technological era that we live in, people are keener on showing off their newly purchased gadgets rather than furniture. Furniture has become very minimalistic as more and more people are taking to having simple sofas and chairs in their living room. Most living rooms in the 21st century are even attached to their kitchens and dining rooms, making it easier for people to watch televisions while eating, listen to music while eating or talking to each other as well as make the house more connected to every part. Earlier, the rooms were quite far off from each other and most of the times; the living rooms were in a different part of the house altogether, due to the capacity of the entire house in the upper sections of society. This was done to distinguish among the living room and have it separated from the other parts of the house which were more personal, like the bedroom. Families have broken down as units these days and thus the house has more space o accommodate people; even in the households of the middle classes, living rooms are furnished in a simple yet proper manner with televisions, telephones, computers etc. These are the objects that actually make up the living room rather than excess of furniture, clocks and drapes. Such objects have been deemed to be belonging to the 18th century and were left there and not carried in after. However, there are still a number of people that like to decorate their living rooms and homes subsequently in a vintage style. These days, people put in extra thought into the colours and textures that even make up the walls of their living rooms; couples spend time deciding what kind of paint to use, the curtains to use as well as the textures on the paint which would help to give their room a better and more unique look. The main excitement about buying houses these days is to decorate them and provide them with a personal touch. As viewed in various television programs, and written in books, there are various aspects of the living room in American households which distinguish the same from homes all across the world. For example, in India, people believe in simplicity with respect to their living rooms; they do not indulge in spending money on their living rooms, but furnish their bedrooms in a better manner. However, as compared to the same, American households and living rooms are very greatly decorated as compared to the other parts of the house, as discussed above. Also, during festivities like Christmas, the living room is the part of the house that Americans like to decorate the most; Christmas trees are put up, lights are put up all around the living room, even the main door is decorated in a festive and bright manner so as to attract more people into the house and give off positive vibes. Finally, looking at the comparison and contrast of middle class homes then and now, it is obvious that the living rooms have more or less the same amount of differences and similarities. This is because back then as well, people were not so keen on spending money on their living rooms, and the situation is the same even now. Most American middle class households have a living room that consist of a television, telephone as well as is connected to the kitchen. This is done in order to save space as well as make the entire combined area look bigger and more spacious. It is a smart tactic used in most American apartments and the entire family consisting of about four to five people is comfortable in the living room at once. In conclusion, American households have undergone a major change with respect to the living room itself since the 18th century. From ornate chandeliers to simple lighting, from heavy oak and teak furniture to simple sofas, and from darker to lighter colours, a vast amount of changes have been incorporated within the living rooms. Furthermore, from grandfather clocks and vintage cupboards people have moved towards flat screen televisions and air conditioners to adorn their rooms. The walls consist of texture and paint instead of photographs and frames of art. In these ways, people have modernized and adapted themselves to the modern world by bringing out changes in the way that they adapt and express themselves to people around them. Society has changed a great deal, but only because of the thoughts of the people, and in the same manner, as the living room is the part of the house that contains the most amount of personal expression, it has undergone a change as people have been changing their thoughts and views over the years. Works Cited Read More