Editing Shakers (section)

==Architecture and furnishings==
{{See also|Shaker furniture}}
[[File:Shakertown Bedroom 2005-05-27.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|Shakertown bedroom, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky]]
The Shakers' dedication to hard work and perfection has resulted in a unique range of architecture, furniture and handicraft styles. They designed their furniture with care, believing that making something well was in itself an act of prayer. Before the late 18th century, they rarely fashioned items with elaborate details or extra decoration, but only made things for their intended uses. The ladder-back chair was a popular piece of furniture. Shaker craftsmen made most things out of [[pine]] or other inexpensive woods and hence their furniture was light in color and weight.

The earliest Shaker buildings (late 18th – early 19th century) in the northeast were timber or stone buildings built in a plain but elegant New England colonial style.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.colonialarchitectureproject.org/index?/category/1799-shaker_architecture|title = British Empire / Thirteen Colonies (USA) / Early Independence-era / Shaker Architecture &#124; Colonial Architecture Project}}</ref> Early 19th-century Shaker interiors are characterized by an austerity and simplicity. For example, they had a "peg rail", a continuous wooden device like a [[pelmet]] with hooks running all along it near the [[lintel]] level. They used the pegs to hang up clothes, hats, and very light furniture pieces such as chairs when not in use. The simple architecture of their homes, meeting houses, and barns has had a lasting influence on American architecture and design. There is a collection of furniture and utensils at [[Hancock Shaker Village]] outside of [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts]], that is famous for its elegance and practicality.

[[File:Enfield Shaker Bed.jpg|thumb|Ornate Shaker Bed, Enfield, New Hampshire, c. 1880.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2001.3.1 – Bed |publisher=Enfield Shaker Museum|url=https://shakermuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/CCC34263-2C3F-4469-B8BC-413392503527|access-date=2022-02-09}}</ref>]]
At the end of the 19th century, however, Shakers adopted some aspects of Victorian decor, such as ornate carved furniture, patterned linoleum, and cabbage-rose wallpaper. Examples are on display in the [[Hancock Shaker Village]] Trustees' Office, a formerly spare, plain building "improved" with ornate additions such as fish-scale siding, bay windows, porches, and a tower.