Which do you prefer: the clean elegance of Regency or the cosy heaviness of Victorian?

If you picture a Regency drawing room filled with dark, heavy, overstuffed Victorian furniture or even overly ornate French rococo… think again!

The Regency era adored a light, elegant, and neoclassical design. Influenced by excavations at Pompeii and a fascination with Greece and Rome, interiors showcased clean lines, delicate curves, and motifs like lyres, urns, and laurel wreaths. Mahogany and satinwood gleamed under beeswax (but never, ever, ever the dance floor unless you wanted your guests to slip and fall! Dance floors were typically chalked for safety.); fabrics tended toward soft pastels. The Regency style was nothing like the somber florals of later Victorian taste or the overly ornate French rococo of earlier Georgian taste.

A typical drawing room might feature:

• a graceful chaise longue,

• a polished card table,

• an elegant writing desk,

• a pair of curved-back Grecian chairs,

• perhaps an ottoman or two,

• and plenty of mirrors to bounce candlelight around the room.

Regency interiors were airy, restrained, and refined, never cluttered.