Living room furnishings in selected homes of Beirut, Lebanon

This study concerns changes in trends of furnishings of living rooms of middle class families in Beirut from mid 19th century to the present. The first part deals with Arabic living room furniture from about 1850 to the end of World War II. Because very little source material about Lebanese furniture exists, most of the information was gathered from families owning old Arabic furniture and from a few old carpenters who were masters of arabesque wood carving. The second part indicates changes in living room furnishings in Beirut since World War II, present day preferences, and the supplying of customer demand by the furniture market. Information for this part of the study was gained through visits to homes and planned interviews with homemakers selected according to income and also according to religion. Selected interior decorators, furniture store owners, and furniture manufacturers were also interviewed