Early American Colonial 1620-1720 The early American Colonial interior seems almost primitive when compared with the European models on which it is based, and the sensation of cramped space and makeshift furnishings can make one over-look its considerable merits. In a one-story structure with only one or two rooms, it is devised to serve many purposes, from kitchen and dining space, to guest parlor, to family room, to sleeping space. As the colonies develop, a second story and additional rooms will be added but interior for most of the 17th cent. Remain simple, sometimes Spartan, with little planned or coordinated decoration. Despite its multiple functions, the space itself is small. Low ceilings with rough wood beams, wall of plain whitewashed lath and plaster, and wide-plank floors create a bare-bones background for furnishings that are more assembled than designed. Windows are small casement style, first with panes of oiled paper and later of leaded rectangular or diamond-shaped glass. Covering them are plain wood shutters. Or simple sill length curtains of cotton or linen. Homespun textiles-every Colonial housewife makes her own fabrics, for interiors as well as cloth-ing-are supplemented by imported calico, India prints, and, only occasionally, English damask, brocade, and needlework. Floor coverings are simple hand-woven hooked rugs-imported carpets are too valuable to walk on and are used as table cover, if at all. Lighting is in the form of simple tallow candles and the massive fireplace centered in the room. Candle-sticks, later supplemented by Dutch-style chandeliers, might be pewter, brass or wrought iron. Cheerful colors- bright primary reds, greens, yellows—are the most appealing and least costly way to relieve the gloom. Furniture for the seventeenth century shows only rudimentary joinery skills, but its simplicity suits the Puritan ethic prevailing in the New England colonies. The earliest furnishings are simple stools and benches, chests and tables, of local woods like pine, maple, oak or cherry. Some pieces, especially the obligatory chest is often painted with birds, flowers or animals. The paint had more than a decorative role, for it also might conceal that the piece could have been made of bits and pieces of different wood.
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