I am sorry I missed kayak's discussion of large, ornate bedroom furniture.
We still use my husband's Ethan Allen maple set his mother bought when he was in high school, because it is smaller (double bed instead of a queen, even).
When I sold furniture several years ago, this ornate stuff was just starting to come into fashion. One thing I learned is that the furniture industry takes it's cue from the building industry. Since new homes are higher-ceilinged and have larger master bedrooms, this is what they are designing for. In adition, since newer homes usually have little architectural detail, they are loading up the furniture with such stuff.
Same thing with the upholstery. Most newer homes have great rooms rather than living and family rooms. Larger furniture is to go in those types of rooms.
I can't tell you how hard it was to find an upholstered chair for a small older woman! Older folks can''t sit in those huge pieces...and if they do, they can't get out of them! I had a couple of manufacturer's that I used almost exclusively because they made smaller-scale pieces.
Furniture designers are not mainstream people, if you get my drift. They are heavily influenced by the fashion industry and are not real sympatheetic to those of us who aren't fashion forward.
There is a wonderful business near us that reupholsters and refinishes furniture. We have two chairs there now for repairs, and I imagine I will just recover anything else that shows signs of wear. It's too hard to find comfortable pieces nowadays.
Wow, I am really talky this morning! LOL!
Recover, indeed.
My mom scrimped to buy Harden furniture a few years after she had her house built. I have two of her chairs that need to be reupholstered. That might happen if we ever have fewer animals.