30 Wonderful Photos Capture People at Home in the Early 20th Century

During Edwardian era, there was a fresh change that did away with the Victorian heaviness, darkness, and clutter and replaced it with something clean, bright, and light. The interior style was heavily influenced by Queen Anne and arts and crafts movement so everything became less formal – from colors to wall coverings to furniture.

There was also a hint of the feminine to the interior style of an Edwardian home, including pastels, floral patterns, wicker and bamboo furnishings, and chintz and damask upholstery. These pastel colors included primrose yellow, lilac, gray and leaf green mixed with cream walls and slightly darker colors for the upholstery.

The floors were simple with polished floorboards in light wood stains accented with oriental rugs. Fireplaces were scaled back into smaller versions with decorative tiles and copper hoods while electric lighting started to illuminate these interiors. Heavy draperies were also replaced with lacy, plain, or floral curtains or even roller blinds.

These wonderful photos were found by simpleinsomnia that captured people at their home in the 1900s and 1910s.

Couple reading books in front of a fireplace

Couple relaxing in the living room with a dog and guitar

Creepy little boy holds his cat in front of a mirror

Elderly woman reading a book in her parlor

Family gathered around a dining room table

Family gathered around a table

Family sitting in the living room

Little girl reading at a table

Loving couple sitting in the parlor

Man reading a book by the window

Man shaving his face while his friends sit in their pajamas

Man sits in his library

Man smokes a cigar and reads the paper

Man smokes a pipe in his room

Man with a pipe reading a book

Man working at his desk

Old Danish man reading the paper and smoking a cigar

Three women together

Tired man sitting on a sofa

Two German women pouring a glass of wine

Two women embracing

Unusual group photo with everyone looking off camera

Woman examining herself in a mirror

Woman in a dress hunches over in her bedroom

Woman plays a mandolin in her bedroom

Woman rests in a large hammock

Woman sits next to a mirror with another watching on

Woman working on her sewing machine

Women gathered around a fireplace playing musical instruments

Young man smoking a long pipe