Free Article: Wrought Iron Home Decor

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The European Roots of Wrought Iron Home Decor
By Arthur Sneddon

While not too many examples of wrought iron as home decor pop immediately to mind, they certainly exist. Take the weathervane, for example. A weathervane of wrought iron can be used to decorate the outside of a house. It becomes a functional piece (showing wind direction), but also offers a stylish accent to your home. Another common example of wrought iron home décor is in trivets containing iconic representations of cats, birds and other farm animals and symbols. Some homes display these types of collectibles hung on walls or placed on shelves.

Why Wrought Iron?

These items are appealing because of their simplicity. As mentioned above, they are iconic, meaning a cat is represented strictly by the shape of a cat. Wrought iron home decor avoids clichéd items like a white Persian cat looking serenely at the camera; the wrought iron cat is austere and timeless, while the color image is usually dated somehow. When you walk into your grandmother's house can you tell which paintings and pictures on the wall are the oldest, or belong in a particular decade? In old photo albums, you can always tell which pictures were taken in the 70's - not just by the clothes but by all the orange, tan, yellow and olive green. Wrought iron home decor does not date itself with trends or fads; it is absolutely timeless.

Where the Inspiration Came From

In many European countries, wrought iron is a common home décor material. However, there is a drastic difference: most European wrought iron can be found on the outside of houses, not on the inside. The weathervane is a good example of this, but weathervanes are not the most common example of exterior wrought iron home decor. Wrought iron decorations were a popular item to find on the outside walls of the home. Expecting to see cats on the outside of houses when you visit Paris next year? Actually, European wrought iron decoration is geometric, not iconic.

European houses frequently have wrought iron lines on their exterior walls. Stripes, you mean? No, the lines don't go the length or the width of the wall; they are simply line fragments placed on the wall here and there. Instead of using geometric patterns, the iron was most often placed at what seems to the naked eye to be random spots; from looking at wrought iron home décor in Europe, it is obvious that the definition of symmetry is not the same as the American definition.

Author Details:
Arthur Sneddon, writes for a selection of web sites about home improvement, and related subjects such as flooring, interior design & landscaping

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