Country Design

Country pine, a little misleading term.  There is of course the simple crudely built odd pieces we come across which are obviously country pine, but most of the pine furniture we see and considered country pine furniture actually comes from the towns and cities.

The most commonly found pine pieces like chest of drawers, wash stands and small kitchen tables along with wardrobes, night stands and hutches of all shapes and sizes were mass produced in factories for the middle income city folk.

In the 1800's without the use of electricity, hard wood pieces in oak, cherry, walnut, etc. were much more difficult to build and time consuming, hence hardwood furniture was for fine woodworkers producing high end quality expensive pieces.
So, soft pine was the wood of choice, cheaper to buy as lumber, faster to cut and chisel by hand and a lot less time to sand.

Originally the finishes would be in dark stains and varnished in an attempt to mimic the quality high end furnishings.

Following WWII, although a gray time in English history, people started to paint furniture white, cream, and light green in an attempt to brighten their homes.

At this time there was no mention of country pine furniture, this label started in the 60's as a new craze hit England.  "Strip these old pieces and polish the bare wood."  Hence the original term of "STRIPPED PINE".  Later followed by the stores calling it "COUNTRY PINE FURNITURE", a far nicer marketing name and it's certainly not contemporary in style.