American Households in the 1700s and Today Essay

American Households in the 1700s and Today - Essay Example 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 fur niture 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. ... 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 importan ce 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