Laid-back meets luxurious in Rhapsody furniture collection

How do you marry a casual lifestyle with a love of opulence? With furniture that’s as luxurious as it is laid-back.

Hooker Furniture’s exuberant new Rhapsody collection offers an unexpected mix of classic and old world sensibilities, feeding our fascination for rustically-inspired comfort and deeply personalized spaces. And it does this without abandoning opulence, or furniture well-anchored in traditional pedigree.

In fact, Rhapsody’s grand scale and classic European design is the defining element of the collection. The collection’s luxurious serpentine shapes and solid wood carvings celebrate a love of quality and timelessness, and they abound here.  Look for…

1. Curvaceous scrolls… recalling the tops of columns on classic and neo-classic buildings… found here on table bases and decorative cabinet-front details. Notice the scroll motif on this Rhapsody writing desk.

2. Acanthus leaves… of Greek architecture, medieval art and damask fabric fame… found here on table and cabinet moldings.

3. Fluting… also of Greek architecture fame… outlining cabinet fronts and table bases. Look at both the fluting and the scroll motif detail on this Rhapsody Credenza.

4. Button tufting … a time-honored way to create dramatic light-and-shadow effects… beautifully applied here to dining chairs and on the Rhapsody upholstered bed.

5. Rope twist molding… an old-world way to dress up a simple edge… found here on table edges.

6. Fleur de lis… a stylized lily or lotus flower once connected to French royalty… applied here to table-top veneer patterns.

The rectangle Rhapsody dining table is a great example of both the fleur de lis motif, shown in the table top, and the rope twist molding, on the edge of the table.

But even with Rhapsody’s traditional roots and old world mystique, it’s the collection’s colors and textures that imbue this grand-scaled collection with a relaxed aura. A rustic walnut-colored finish over pecky pecan, hickory, walnut and other character-filled woods offers a laid-back, well-worn character… while seven specialty accent finishes let you vary, or personalize, the look.  Hand-painted and timeworn finishes in antique Venetian and old world European styles create a well-traveled look at home , a rustic raw wood finish simulates the feeling of an antique barn door, while a naked bleached patina looks inspired by serene, natural wood tones.

Such a blend of relaxed and exuberant feels sophisticated, but livable; the perfect blend of casual and opulent. This is a look that suits a European villa or atrium as much as a coastal interior or New York penthouse.

Undeniably influenced by youthful, changing aesthetic preferences, this fresh, but simpler approach to traditional style is less tied to rules about what goes with what or even what traditional design should look like. Offering a more relaxed interpretation of the past, Rhapsody is as right for today as it is connected to history.