Hepplewhite’s furniture has much of the delicacy of Adam’s work, by whom, without doubt, he was influenced, as he was also by the French styles of the time.  Luckily his own personality and sense of beauty and ingenuity were strong enough to develop a marked and beautiful style of his own.  His favorite chair back was shield-shaped (see page 83), and he also used heart-shaped and wheel backs, either round or oval, and charmingly painted little panels.  The three feathers of the Prince of Wales was a favorite design.  He also made ladder-back chairs, usually with four rails.  On much of his furniture the legs tapered on the inside edge only and were put in at a slight angle which gave security both in fact and appearance.  He also used reeded legs.  His console and other tables are beautiful in design and workmanship, being painted usually in different forms of the radiating fan design, or inlaid with beautiful colored woods.  The inlay used was often oval in shape, sometimes only a line and sometimes panels of different woods or matched veneer.  The handles used were round or oval.  He made sofas and settees with either chair-back backs or all upholstered with the frame showing and the covering tacked on with brass tacks close together.  His cabinets are fascinating, with their beautiful inlay and delicate strap work over the glass.  He made four-post beds with fluted posts, and chests of drawers and little work tables and candle-stands and screens; and one thing we must be deeply grateful to him for is that he developed the sideboard into a really useful and beautiful piece of furniture.  He made nearly everything in the way of necessities, and all show the marks of his taste.  His dining-tables were on the plan of those of Chippendale but lighter in effect with tapering legs instead of the long cabriole leg ending in claw feet.  His mirrors were usually oval with charming festoons.  His favorite woods were mahogany and satin-wood, and he used many fine woods for inlay.  Chintz and taffeta and fine velvet are all appropriate to use.

In his best designs Sheraton was much influenced by Adam and Hepplewhite and the style of Louis XVI, but like them he also developed his own special and beautiful style.  He used mahogany and a great deal of satin-wood of beautiful grain and of a delightful straw color, which was often veneered on oak frames.  He was exceedingly fond of inlay, and his designs called for inlaid panels, borders, and festoons.  He used the shell, bell-flower, fan, etc., all carried out in fine colored woods.  He also used much painted furniture, and often designed white and gold furniture for drawing-rooms.  His characteristic chair back was rectangular in shape with a central splat resting on a rail a few inches above the seat (see page 83).  This splat was in many different forms, both inlaid and painted.  The legs of his furniture were tapering and either square or reeded, the square usually being inlaid.  He made beautiful