Sideboard

“ If the awful sideboard must be kept, we must make it as bearable as we can by placing a coarse linen and Greek lace cloth on it which exactly fits the top, and just, and only just, hangs over the edge. ”

“ Inventories during the latter years of the seventeenth century speak of a “sideboard cupboard,” “sideboard table,” and “side-table,” but the sideboard, in our acceptance of the word, dates to the latter half of the eighteenth century. Chippendale designed no sideboards with drawers and compartments, but he did design side-tables, or sideboard tables, with marble or mahogany tops and carved frames. A Chippendale side-table is shown in Illustration 73. ”

“ Illustration 86 shows the latest type of a Sheraton sideboard, owned by the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, and now in “Stenton,” the house built in 1727 by James Logan, William Penn’s secretary. [111] The sideboard stands where it was placed, about 1805, by George Logan, the great-great grandson of James. The wood is mahogany, and the large square knife-boxes were evidently made to fit the sideboard. The legs, with spade feet, are short, bringing the body of the sideboard close to the floor. The handles are brass knobs. ”

“ Presently the street ended at a great open space where the water spread out in every direction, like a lake. The day seemed to be breaking, and it was quite light; and as the sideboard sailed out into the open water, Dorothy caught sight of something like a fat-looking boat, floating at a little distance and slowly drifting toward her. ”

“ But for sheer artistic excellence in the components of what presently became the sideboard, the Adams stand unrivalled, some of their inlay and brass mounts being almost equal to the first work of the great French school. By replacing the straight outline with a bombe front, Hepplewhite added still further to the grace of the late 18th-century sideboard. No art remains long at its apogee, and in less than a quarter of a century the sideboard lost its grace, and, influenced by the heavy feeling of the Empire manner, grew massive and dull. ”

“ A dry-goods' box that stood on end between the door and stove, and did duty as a sideboard, seemed to give an air of dignity and refinement to the apartment. It may not be in very good taste to parade the price of one's furniture; but as I know that many, at the present day especially, are apt to be curious in such matters, I will simply mention that our sideboard, though of pine, could not have been bought for less than fifty dollars. ”

“ He also gives designs for “sideboards without drawers; the ornaments to the front of which may be carved, painted, or inlaid with various coloured woods.” This kind is merely the old sideboard table.
Of pedestals he writes:
“Pedestals and vases are much used in spacious dining-rooms, where the last-described kind of sideboards are chosen; at each end of which they are placed. One pedestal serves as a plate-warmer, being provided with racks and a stand for a heater; and is lined with a strong tin; the other pedestal is used as a pot cupboard. ”

“ There is no solid furniture except a sideboard which stands against the wall between the vestibule door and the pavilion, a small writing table with a blotter, a rack for telegram forms and stationery, and a wastepaper basket, standing out in the hall near the sideboard, and a lady's worktable, with two chairs at it, towards the other side of the lounge. The writing table has also two chairs at it. On the sideboard there is a tantalus, liqueur bottles, a syphon, a glass jug of lemonade, tumblers, and every convenience for casual drinking. ”

“ There was a corner cupboard full of crockery, and two spinning-wheels, and a spindle-legged table set out with a blue-and-white tea-set and some cups and saucers, and finally a carved sideboard which made two or three clumsy attempts to get through the doorway broadside on, and then took a fresh start, and came through endwise with a great flourish. ”

“ The chairs were of oak, curiously carved, with crimson leather seats. A handsome sideboard with a plate-glass back stood on one side, presenting an array of flagons and decanters flanked by a black bottle or two. A plated spirit-stand was in the centre. ”

“ Another noticeable enrichment is the carving of wheat ears on the shield shape backs of the chairs.
To convey an idea of the fashion of the day, "the plan of a room shewing the proper distribution of the furniture," appears on page 193. It is evident from the large looking glass which overhangs the sideboard that the fashion had now set in to use these mirrors. Some thirty or forty years later this mirror became part of the sideboard, and, in some large and pretentious designs which we have seen, the sideboard itself was little better than the support of a huge glass in a heavily carved frame. ”

“ No doubt, many of the sideboards credited to him were made by Shearer, a designer to whom belongs the credit of originating the sideboard, and who included in his designs pieces with curved and serpentine fronts, a style which was later perfected by Hepplewhite. There is no doubt that Hepplewhite made sideboards, for in his book of designs he shows a sideboard model, with a deep drawer at each end and a shallow one in the center, as well as four different designs in the table form, without the drawers, which are similar to Chippendale's work. ”

“ Intimately associated with the sideboard is the table which probably shows more variety in design than any of the other old-time furnishings. From the table board or top used in 1624, square, oval, or round in contour, evolved the butterfly table popular about 1700, many examples of which are found throughout Connecticut. ”

“ The proper way to lay the different places for people and the way to arrange the silver and knives on the sideboard is always the same, but the disposition of dishes is almost each day different. For the sideboard, let it be stiffly laid, but of a different stiffness from a sideboard for breakfast. ”

“ A long rounding drawer extends across the centre and projects beyond the cupboard below it, while a slide pulls out, forming a shelf, between the long drawer and the small cupboard. There are no bottle drawers in this sideboard. The doors are inlaid with a fan at each corner, and fine lines of holly are inlaid around the legs, doors, and drawer. The silver pieces upon the sideboard top are family heirlooms. The large tea-caddies at each end are of pewter finely engraved. This sideboard is owned by Francis H. Bigelow, Esq., of Cambridge. ”

“ Desks were showing many forms, and as if to meet a growing need, the side table, or sideboard table, developing from the side table, is mentioned in the South as early as 1725, and a side, or sideboard table of walnut of a Queen Anne style, 1730-'50, is shown in this book. ”

“ A large, single door, three and a half feet wide, is preferable, though it does not always give the desired opening. Generally speaking, it is easier to provide wall space when planning a dining-room than in any of the other rooms in the house. A large number of windows is not necessary, and one of them can be placed high, and thus afford space for a sideboard. This sideboard should be placed at the end of the room nearest the entrance to the kitchen and china-closet, where such is used. The sideboard has various uses, according to the plans of the housekeeper. ”

“ This type, with the additional raised top, is often found, but rarely with the concave ends. (Property of Mrs. Paul Chatham) .
PLATE VI. Hepplewhite Half-round Sideboard—Mahogany. (North Carolina—c. 1790) . This type of sideboard, showing the bellflower in simple inlay in the leg, is one of excellent workmanship, and no other of this type has been seen by the author in the South, but two others are said to exist. This type of inlay is often found on the legs of Southern sideboards. (Property of Mrs. M. A. Devereaux) .
PLATE VII. Sheraton Sideboard—Mahogany. (Virginia—c. 1795-1800) . ”

“ The mahogany sideboard, ‘battered by its long wanderings,’ as our father used to say, when he and his family and his furniture were ceaselessly hunted from north to south and from east to west by the Minister of the 2nd of December. ”

“ The Young Doctor beamed with simple pride. "My sister's German governess taught me when I was a kid," he explained. "We have it every night—it's the only tune I know."
"The sideboard is to support the empty glasses of the bridge-players after the Padre has put down one of his celebrated 'no-trumps' hands—we had to keep the sideboard. ”

“ If you cannot have exactly what you want, be patient. Sideboards, sideboard tables, and china closets of glass all come in such simple yet tasteful designs that one may be sure to like them all one’s life. ”

“ The sideboard requires to be laid as carefully as the dinner-table itself, and everything that can be put there ready for placing on the table afterwards, such as finger glasses, glasses for dessert wine, dessert plates, decanters, and knives, forks, and spoons of every kind should be there ready and carefully arranged. ”

“ They stand as high as an English sideboard, and have a rough border of curved or dog-tooth pattern falling down from the slab, so that they very much suggest a rough dressing-table. They are often brought in and out of the rooms as they are wanted. ”

“ The pedestals, when incorporated as an integral part of the piece, became cupboards and the vases knife-boxes, and, with the drawers, which had been occasionally used much earlier, the sideboard, in what appears to be its final form, was completed. Pieces exist in which the ends have been cut away to receive the pedestals. ”

“ Nothing should be a fixture except the two sofa-seats in the main cabin, the one forward of the mast, and the two sideboards fitted aft at each end of the sofas. If the yacht has to race, these sideboards should be made self-contained, and to shape, so that they may fit into their places and be kept there by hooks or catches. There should be only a curtain forward between the forecastle and main cabin, and instead of a regular solid bulkhead aft, gratings should take its place, with one wide grating as a door. ”

“ The most prominent article in nearly every house is the deck chair, faithful and much travelled chair, which has accompanied its master over the sea from England, and wandered with him into many a dreary little out-of-the-way village, where perchance he sees for months no fellow white man, and where his chair and pipe alone receive his confidences, and solace his soul in the utter loneliness of the jungle. No wonder then that the deck chair wears an important air, and regards other pieces of furniture, which probably change owners every six months, with contemptuous scorn. ”

“ Every one is out today, and as it is cold, the entire saloon deck is lined with a much-wrapped, many-rugged assembly, whose chairs are fastened to the house-side of the deck, while those who have their sea legs are marching to and fro in front of the line of chairs. The deck steward has the chairs placed for us each morning on the side free from the winds. Most of the time these past days I have been sitting in my chair looking at my feet, first with the sea and then with the sky, as a background. ”

“ When the side-boards A, A of the boat are notched a cleat of hard wood 5 or 6 inches wide, and extending some distance each side of the side-boards, must be used, as is shown by diagram V (Fig. 204) and Fig. 203. The diagram R (Fig. 203) explains itself; there is a centre block nailed to the side-board and two more each side, leaving spaces for the thole-pins T (Fig. 203) to fit and guarded by another piece (R) bolted through to the sides.
[151]
If bolts are out of your reach, nails and screws may act as substitutes, and Fig. 204 will then be the best form of rowlock to adopt. ”

“ The steamer chair that we used to drag out upon the narrow strip of deck and doze in, over the pages of a well-thumbed novel; the deck itself, of afternoons, redolent with the skins of oranges and bananas, of mornings, damp with salt-water and mopping; the netted bulwark, smelling of tar in the tropics, and fretted on the weather side with little saline crystals; the villanously compounded odors of victuals from the pantry, and oil from the machinery; the young lady that we used to flirt with, and with whom we shared our last novel, adorned with marginal annotations; our own chum; our own bore ”

“ A center-board is a plate of wood or metal, suspended, usually by a corner pivot, within a sheath or box in the waist, which can be let down through the keel into the water, so as to form an adjustable keel. It is the most convenient form of a very old device for preventing a boat’s drift to leeward, or tendency to capsize under the pressure of the wind. ”

“ The whole front is exposed to view in the daytime, not by opening all the doors and windows, but by taking down much of the front siding, which consists of boards varying from ten to twelve inches in width, standing up endwise, and fitted into grooves above and below. These boards are slid out early every morning, one by one, and laid away out of sight under the floor, in a place reserved for them during the day. Early in the evening each board is put in its place for closing up the front of the shop, leaving not the least door or window by which one may have direct access to it. ”

“ Across, from side-plate to side-plate, lay some loose boards, for a platform; then, standing on these boards, let your assistant lift one end of the ridge-plank, while with one nail to each rafter you fasten the two end-rafters on to the ridge-plank, fit the jaws of the bird’s-mouth cuts (Fig. 71) over the ends of the side-plates, and hold them temporarily in place with a “stay-lath”—that is, a piece of board temporarily nailed to rafter and end-plate. ”