Pride & Prejudice: Decorating Netherfield Park

As I wrote in my last post on the decor of the Bennet's house, Netherfield Park was the large mansion which has been leased to young Mr. Bingley and his sisters. With an annual income of £4,000 per year (according to the wonderful Jane Austen's World), Mr. Bingley is quite the catch. Most certainly to Mrs. Bennet who must get her daughters married to wealthy men in order to maintain their fairly modest current standard of living.

Mr. Bingley's total fortune in todays dollars is about £3.3Million, or about $6 Million USD. Not bad! Nethersfield is a large, although not palatial, mansion filled with beautiful furnishings, befitting their high status in society. Although, it's still a country estate, so the furnishings are still a bit less refined than one would find in the city. One sees stained and ebonized furnishing of a higher quality and refinement than we saw at the Bennet's. Crystal chandeliers, opulent window treatments and wall coverings and liberal use of silver fittings abound.






Here are some items from 1st Dibs that we might have seen in a some such as this. Larger pieces with more refined woods with marquetry inlay - made by truly artistic cabinet makers would have been the norm.

Book cabinet at Gary Morell

Overmantle mirror ca. 1810 at Florian Papp Antiques

Mahogany sideboard at Royal Antiques

Bronze and gilt candelabra at Florian Papp

Regency style console at Parc Monceau Antiques

One can see why Mr. Bingley was such a sought after bachelor.

At the top end of the wealth scale in Pride and Prejudice is Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley's friend and travel companion. With £10,000 a year (per Jane Austen's World), Mr. Darcy is in a class by himself, and so is his house, Pemberley.

Click here to read my post on the Bennet House.
Click here to read my post on Netherfield Park.
Click here to read my next post on Pemberley.


Pride and Prejudice is currently airing on PBS, Sundays at 9:00PM.