Chaise Lounges

Evidently life in early to mid colonial America was not all sweat and slog with the presence of daybeds, or chaise lounges, being some proof of an early taste for a little luxury. Arriving in the last years of Charles II, that lover of luxury himself, American chaise lounges were made in an ornate style very similar to the antique daybeds of Charles' England.

In form antique chaise lounge furniture were simply chairs with the seat extended to six feet, and the legs multiplied to six or eight. Structurally, in contrast to whatever style or fashion was the influencing factor, they had eight legs, an elaborated seat, and a back or headpiece of slightly less height than that of an ordinary chair. Headpieces could be of fixed or adjustable position.

American Chaise Lounge.

Cane was normally used for the seat and back however leather upholstery was not uncommon. Sometimes the need for upholstering was done away with when upright splats were placed in the backs. Some lounges were even fitted out as beds, being made extra wide and provided with a mattress, cushions, or some other form of padding.

Authentic American antiques of this type are very rare and most collectors will have to content themselves with reproductions.

At the same time as these fairly decorative pieces were being made, in more rustic circumstances country beds were more common, taking us into the next section.