I can't put my finger on it, but this rooms seems a bit scary to me. (?).

Ditto Lyonstill. The simplicity is nice, the colours are nice, the wood is nice. Maybe it's the tiny beds?

A great place to lay your head but don't get any ideas about pushing those beds together, kids. The Shakers were celibate and lived in gender seperated dormitory type housing.

Oh, the post said all that. Ha. Thats what I get for paying more attention to the comments than the text. (I'm mostly here for the pictures!)

The Shakers made some pretty clever things. I like the clothes-pegs all around the room thing, too, with candle holders and such that you can hang from them as well.

interesting. it must have been such a different world to them, living such a restrictive and conservative lifestyle. it's no wonder that the religion died out, it was unpleasant and reproducing was theoretically impossible.

I love this look, but at the end of the day, I generally just love "stuff" more. Oh well.

Beautiful and inspiring.

I think it looks rather cold,uninviting and as though it's during a poor time. I'll pass.

This reminds me of the budget guest houses I've stayed in when backpacking around SE Asia, South America and Egypt. It's a very impersonal look, which is fine when you're on the road, but I doubt that many would wish to live in this sort of environment full time.

Thank God there are finally some country pics on this site. Shaker style is among the best made, best quality furniture around. Especially compared to Ikea pieces, which fall apart. Love the look.

I love the Shaker style too. To me this looks cozy, safe, warm even. I love practical simplicity, neither cold hard edged minimalism or very decorative is to my taste. Wood, rough linens, rag rugs.. adore!

That candle sconce looks like a torture device. Not the stuff of sweet dreams.

The creepy observation cracks me up. Perhaps picking up on the celebacy vows of these folks as another post shared?

The Shakers were along the east coast and here in Kentucky. What's left of the thousands and thousands of acres are some beautifully restored buildings, meeting house, kitchens, black smith, dormitories. They invented the flat broom, were industrious and in their hay day, boasted huge populations. There's a beautiful tragic journal out there somewhere written by a wife whose husband converted. Since women didn't have contract or property rights, and getting a divorce was difficult at best, many women like her had no choice but to also join. Their children were raised communally. Despite this kind of hardship, the Shakers thrived and stood for some extraordinary things - like equality between the races and the sexes. They were led by two women and two men, called Elders. Their demise wasn't actually the celibacy bit - but the generosity during the Civil War. Their stores of food were depleted since they would feed any and all soldiers, north and south. Afterwards, men had to leave Pleasant Hill to find work, and the population never recovered.

What strikes me with their design is the modern clean aesthetic. It's spartan, yes, but that's in keeping with their modest adornment.

If you like this, consider also looking at Scandinavian antiques from the 19th century. No IKEA issues there, durable and elegantly simple.

http://www.pooterolooms.com/ has some gorgeous pieces.

I read they helped to keep up their population by taking in orphans.

In the days before the legalization of birth control (even information about it was illegal in some places), celibacy was one way a woman could avoid continually risking her life through a never-ending cycle pregnancy and child birth. Not to mention caring for all those children and watching many of them die young of disease, injury, or malnutrition. From our perspective, the Shaker lifestyle might seem restrictive, but I'm not sure ordinary life was so much less so. They had converts.

i hate this