Bar stools are a type of tall chair, often with a foot rest to support the feet. The height and narrowness of bar stools makes them suitable for use at bars and high tables in pubs or bars. In the 2010s, bar stools are becoming more popular in homes, usually placed at the kitchen counter or at a home bar. Bar stools are becoming more popular in homes because they are available in varied styles. As well, bar stools allow for a higher view when eating, drinking, or socializing.
A bathroom cabinet (or medicine cabinet) is a cabinet in a bathroom. It is often placed above a sink or toilet and is made to hold hygiene products, toiletries, and medications.
A bean bag (also beanbag) is a sealed bag containing dried beans, PVC pellets, expanded polystyrene, or expanded polypropylene with various applications.
A nightstand, alternatively night table or bedside table, is a small table or cabinet designed to stand beside a bed or elsewhere in a bedroom. It serves the role of a coffee table during nighttime hours, at a person's bedside.
A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which billiards-type games (cue sports) are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pool or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate that is covered with cloth and surrounded by vulcanized rubber cushions, with the whole elevated above the floor. An obsolete term is billiard board, used in the 16th and 17th centuries.
A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture, almost always with horizontal shelves, used to store books. Bookcases are used in private homes, public and university libraries, offices and bookstores. A bookcase may be fitted with glass doors. A bookcase consists of a unit including two or more shelves which may not all be used to contain books or other printed materials. Bookcases range from small, low models the height of a table to high models reaching up to ceiling height.
A cabinet is a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors or drawers for storing miscellaneous items. Some cabinets stand alone while others are built into a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood or, now increasingly, of synthetic materials. Commercial grade cabinets, which differ in the materials used, are called casework.
A canape is a piece of furniture similar to a couch, and is meant to describe an elegant sofa made out of elaborately carved wood with wooden legs, and upholstered seats, back, and armrests that seats three, that emerged from France in the 18th century. A style created during the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, similar yet different from designs used by Thomas Chippendale, it later became popular in the United States during the 19th century.
Wicker is a material made of plant stalks, branches or shoots formed by a kind of weaving into a rigid material, most often used for baskets or furniture. Wicker is traditionally made of material of plant origin, but plastic fibres are now also used. Wicker is light yet sturdy, making it suitable for furniture that will be moved often like porch and patio furniture. A variety of plants are used, from reeds, grasses (including bamboo), creepers such as rattan, and thin tree branches, especially willow. Rushwork and wickerwork are terms used in England.
A cellarette or cellaret is a small furniture cabinet, available in various sizes and shapes, which is used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages (e.g., wine, whiskey). They are found in many different designs.
A chabudai is a short-legged table used in traditional Japanese homes. The original chabudai ranged in height from just 15 cm to a maximum height of 30 cm. People seated at a chabudai may sit on zabuton or tatami rather than on chairs. The four legs of a chabudai are generally collapsible so that the table may be moved and stored easily.
A chair is a piece of furniture with a raised surface commonly used to seat a single person. Chairs are supported most often by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape. Chairs are made of a wide variety of materials, ranging from wood to metal, and they may be padded or upholstered, either just on the seat or on the entire chair (e.g., with a La-Z-Boy chair). Chairs are used in a number of rooms in homes (e.g., in living rooms, dining rooms and dens), in schools and offices (with desks) and in various other workplaces.
A chaise longue is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs.
A changing table is a small raised platform designed to allow a person to change someone's diaper. Typically made of wood (such as oak or pine), it is often part of a nursery set. The topmost surface is used to rest the person being changed, during the changing process while there are usually shelves or drawers to store necessary supplies such as diapers, baby wipes, baby powder and sometimes clothing as a dresser would have.
A chess table is a table built with features to make it useful for playing the game of chess. A chess board is usually integral to the table top and often two drawers are provided to hold the pieces when not in use. Chess tables can be extremely decorative, well made and potentially expensive pieces of furniture. Most chess tables have the board inlaid or engraved though cheaper tables may have it painted on. A chess table is not necessary to play chess and is not restricted only to playing chess.
A chest of drawers, also called (especially in North American English) a bureau, is a piece of furniture that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers stacked one above another. A chifforobe (from chiffonier + wardrobe) is a combination of a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. In American English a dresser is a piece of furniture, usually waist high, that has drawers and normally room for a mirror. In British English a dresser or a Welsh dresser has shelves in the upper section for storing or displaying tableware.
A chest (also called coffer or kist) is a form of furniture typically of a rectangular structure with four walls and a liftable lid, for storage. The interior space may be subdivided. The early uses of an antique chest or coffer included storage of fine cloth, weapons, foods and valuable items. A cassone is a kind of carved or painted chest associated with late Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Cassones, also called marriage chests, were often used to carry the dowry goods in a marriage ceremony.
A closet (especially in North American usage) is an enclosed space, small, and is most likely not bigger than a garage, or basement, etc. so to say this, a closet in North America is about the size of a cupboard and no bigger. Rooms like the attic, basement, and garage do not apply to be a closet. A cabinet, or a cupboard in a house or building are used for general storage or hanging or storing clothes.
A clothes horse , sometimes called a clothes rack, drying horse, clothes maiden, drying rack, drying stand, Frostick, airer, or (Scots) winterdyke, is a frame upon which clothes are hung after washing, indoors or outdoors, to dry by evaporation. The frame is usually made of wood, metal or plastic.
Clothes valet, also called men's valet, valet stand and suit stand, is an item of furniture on which clothes particularly men's suits may be hung. Typical features of valets include trouser hangers, jacket hangers, shoe bars, and a tray organizer for miscellaneous, day-to-day objects like wallets and keys. Some also feature jewellery boxes.
A coffee table, also called a cocktail table, is a style of long, low table which is designed to be placed in front of (or next to) a sofa or upholstered chairs to support beverages (hence the name), magazines, books (especially large, illustrated coffee table books), decorative objects, and other small items to be used while sitting, such as beverage coasters. In some situations, such as during a party, plates of food may be placed on the table.
The computer desk and related ergonomic desk are furniture pieces designed to comfortably and aesthetically provide a working surface and house or conceal office equipment including computers, peripherals and cabling for office and home-office users.
A couch or sofa is a piece of furniture for seating two or more people in the form of a bench, with or without armrests, that is partially or entirely upholstered, and often fitted with springs and tailored cushions. Although a couch is used primarily for seating, it may be used for reclining and napping.
A credenza desk (often simply, credenza) is a modern desk form usually placed next to a wall as a secondary work surface to that of another desk, such as a pedestal desk, in a typical executive office. When used as an active work surface, the credenza desk is often placed against the wall immediately behind or perpendicular to the main desk, but close enough that the user can reach it from the seated position at the main desk by simply swivelling and wheeling their office chair over to it.
A credenza is a dining room sideboard cupboard, particularly one where a central cupboard is flanked by quadrant glass display cabinets, and usually made of burnished and polished wood and decorated with marquetry. The top would often be made of marble, or another decorative liquid- and heat-resistant stone. The term credenza became very fashionable in the US during the second half of the 19th century.
A cupboard is a type of storage cabinet, often made of wood, used indoors to store household objects such as food, crockery, textiles and liquor, and protect them from dust and dirt. The term cupboard was originally used to describe an open-shelved side table for displaying plates, cups and saucers. These open cupboards typically had between one and three display tiers, and at the time, a drawer or multiple drawers fitted to them. The word cupboard gradually came to mean a closed piece of furniture. The word cupboard is also frequently used in British English to denote what Americans would call a closet.
A curio (or curio cabinet) is a predominantly glass cabinet with a metal or wood framework used to display collections of figurines or other objects that share some common theme. Most curios have glass on each side, or possibly a mirror at the back, and glass shelves to show the entire figurine. A curio may also be used to display a single crafted doll or other object of special interest.
Davenport was the name of a series of sofas made by the Massachusetts furniture manufacturer A. H. Davenport and Company, now defunct. Due to the popularity of the furniture at the time, the name davenport became a generalized trademark, like aspirin.
A Davenport desk, (sometimes originally known as a Devonport desk) is a small desk with an inclined lifting desktop attached with hinges to the back of the body. Lifting the desktop accesses a large compartment with storage space for paper and other writing implements, and smaller spaces in the forms of small drawers and pigeonholes. The Davenport has drawers on one of its sides, which are sometimes concealed by a panel. This stack of side drawers holds up the back of the desk and most of its weight.
A deckchair (or deck chair) is a folding chair, usually with a frame of treated wood or other material. The term now usually denotes a portable folding chair, with a single strip of fabric or vinyl forming the backrest and seat. It is meant for leisure, originally on the deck of an ocean liner or cruise ship. It is easily transportable and stackable, although some styles are notoriously difficult to fold and unfold. Different versions may have an extended seat, meant to be used as a leg rest, whose height may be adjustable; and may also have arm rests.
A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture and a type of table often used in a school, office setting or home for various academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading, writing, or using technology such as a computer. Desks are usually made of wood or metal, although materials such as tempered glass are sometimes seen.
A director's chair is a lightweight chair that folds side-to-side with a scissors action. The seat and back are made of canvas or a similar strong fabric which bears the user's full weight and can be folded; the frame is made of wood, or sometimes metal or plastic. The seat and scissors members work together to support and distribute the sitter's weight so that the seat is comfortably taut.
Primarily, in the Middle East (especially the Ottoman Empire), a divan was a long seat formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the floor or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean against. Divans received this name because they were generally found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers of a bureau called divan or diwan (from Persian, meaning a government council or office, from the bundles of papers they processed, and next their council chambers). Divans are a common feature of the liwan, a long, vaulted, narrow room in Levantine homes. The sofa/couch sense was taken into English in 1702 (early 18th century).
Door furniture (British and Australian English) or door hardware (North American English) refers to any of the items that are attached to a door or a drawer to enhance its functionality or appearance.
A drawer is a box-shaped container that fits into a piece of furniture in such a way that it can be drawn out horizontally to reach its contents.
A drawing board (also drawing table, drafting table or architect's table) is, in its antique form, a kind of multipurpose desk which can be used for any kind of drawing, writing or impromptu sketching on a large sheet of paper or for reading a large format book or other oversized document or for drafting precise technical illustrations. The drawing table used to be a frequent companion to a pedestal desk in a gentleman's study or private library, during the pre-industrial and early industrial era.
A drop-leaf table is a table that has a fixed section in the centre and a hinged section (leaf) on either side that can be folded down (dropped). If the leaf is supported by a bracket when folded up, the table is simply a drop-leaf table; if the leaf is supported by legs that swing out from the centre, it is known as a gate leg table.
A fainting couch is a couch with a back that is traditionally raised at one end. The back may be situated completely at one side of the couch, or may wrap around and extend the entire length of the piece much like a traditional couch. However, fainting couches are easily differentiated from more traditional couches, having one end of the back raised.
A fauteuil is a style of open-arm chair with a primarily exposed wooden frame originating in France in the early 17th century. A fauteuil is made of wood, and frequently with carved relief ornament. It is typically upholstered on the seat, the seat back and on the arms (manchettes). Some fauteuils have a valenced front seat rail which is padding that extends slightly over the apron. The exposed wooden elements are often gilded or otherwise painted.
A filing cabinet (or sometimes file cabinet in American English) is a piece of office furniture usually used to store paper documents in file folders. In the most simple context, it is an enclosure for drawers in which items are stored. The two most common forms of filing cabinets are vertical files and lateral files. A vertical filing cabinet has drawers that extend from the short side (typically 15 inches) of the cabinet. A lateral filing cabinet has drawers that extend from the long side (various lengths) of the cabinet. These are also called side filers in Great Britain. There are also shelf files, which go on shelves. In the United States, filing cabinets are usually built to accommodate 8.5 in x 11 in paper, and in other countries, filing cabinets are often designed to hold other sizes of paper, such as A4 paper.
A floating shelf is a form of shelf designed so as to avoid showing any unsightly brackets, appearing as though it is "floating" on the wall.
A folding chair is a light, portable chair that folds flat, and can be stored in a stack, row, or on a cart.
A folding table is a table with legs that fold up against the table top. This is intended to make storage more convenient and to make the table more portable. Many folding tables are made of lightweight materials to further increase portability.
A footstool (foot stool, footrest, foot rest) is a piece of furniture or a support used to elevate the foot. There are two main types of footstool, which can be loosely categorized into those designed for comfort and those designed for function.
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., chairs, stools and sofas) and sleeping (e.g., beds). Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work (as horizontal surfaces above the ground, such as tables and desks), or to store things (e.g., cupboards and shelves). Furniture can be a product of design and is considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from many materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflect the local culture.
Garden furniture, also called patio furniture or outdoor furniture, is a type of furniture specifically designed for outdoor use. It is typically made of weather-resistant materials such as aluminium which does not rust. The oldest surviving examples of garden furniture were found in the gardens of Pompeii.
A gateleg table is a type of furniture first introduced in England in the 16th century. The table top has a fixed section and one or two hinged leaves, which, when not in use, fold down below the fixed section to hang vertically.
A hall tree is a piece of furniture, usually found in hallways or near the entryway of homes, on which people hang items such as hats, coats, or other clothing.
A hatstand (UK), hatrack (US) or hall tree is a device used to store hats and often coats on, and umbrellas within. Some upscale catalogues in Europe markets it as a portmanteau from the French words Porter (carry) and Manteau (cloak).
A Hoosier cabinet (also known as a "Hoosier") is a type of cupboard popular in the first decades of the 20th century. Named after the Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of New Castle, Indiana, they were also made by several other companies, most also located in Indiana.
The term is now usually used to describe a set of shelves or cabinets placed on top of a lower unit with a counter and either drawers or cabinets. Hutches are often seen in the form of desks, dining room, or kitchen furniture. It is frequently referred to by furniture aficionados as a hutch dresser.
Kitchen cabinets are the built-in furniture installed in many kitchens for storage of food, cooking equipment, and often silverware and dishes for table service. Appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens are often integrated into kitchen cabinetry. There are many options for cabinets available at present.
A loveseat is a couch or sofa designed for seating two persons, and it typically has two cushion seats. A proper loveseat has the two parties facing parallel to each other.
A lowboy is an American collector's term for one type of dressing table, or vanity. It is a small table with one or two rows of drawers, so called in contradistinction to the tallboy or highboy chest of drawers.
Metal furniture is a type of furniture that uses metal parts in its construction. There are various types of metal that can be used, such as iron, aluminium, and stainless steel.
An ottoman is a form of couch which usually has a head but no back, though sometimes it has neither. It may have square or semicircular ends, and as a rule it is what upholsterers call 'stuffed over' - that is to say no wood is visible.
A poker table is a table specifically designed for playing card games, usually poker. It is often covered with baize which is a type of felt, or speed cloth, a Teflon-coated fabric that helps the cards slide easily across the surface. It is either an actual table or a fold-out tabletop surface. Those used in professional televised poker feature "pocketcams" which can view a player's pocket, or hole cards.
Rattan (from the Malay rotan) is the name for the roughly 600 species of palms in the tribe Calameae, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia. Rattan is also know as manila, or malacca, named after the ports of shipment Manila and Malacca City, and as manau (from the Malay rotan manau, the trade name for Calamus manan canes in Southeast Asia.).
A recliner is an armchair or sofa that reclines when the occupant lowers the chair's back and raises its front. It has a backrest that can be tilted back, and often a footrest that may be extended by means of a lever on the side of the chair, or may extend automatically when the back is reclined. A recliner is also known as a reclining chair, lounger and an armchair.
A rocking chair or rocker is a type of chair with two curved bands (also known as rockers) attached to the bottom of the legs, connecting the legs on each side to each other. The rockers contact the floor at only two points, giving the occupant the ability to rock back and forth by shifting his/her weight or pushing lightly with his/her feet. Rocking chairs are most commonly made of wood. Some rocking chairs can fold.
A room divider is a screen or piece of furniture placed in a way that divides a room into separate areas. Room dividers are used by interior designers and architects as means to divide space into separate distinct areas.
A shelf (pl. shelves) is a flat horizontal plane which is used in a home, business, store, or elsewhere to hold items of value that are being displayed, stored, or offered for sale. It is raised off the ground and usually anchored/supported on its shorter length sides by brackets. It can also be held up by columns or pillars.
A sideboard is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes such as silver, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers, all topped by a flat display surface for conveniently holding food, serving dishes, or lighting devices. The overall height of the tops of most sideboards is approximately waist level.
A stool is one of the earliest forms of seat furniture. It bears many similarities to a chair. It consists of a single seat, without back or armrests, on a base of either three or four legs. A stool is distinguished from chairs by their lack of arms and a back. Variants exist with one, two or five legs and these various stools are referred to by some people as "backless chairs".
A trestle table is an item of furniture comprising two or three trestle supports linked by a longitudinal cross-member over which a board or tabletop is placed. In the Middle Ages the trestle table was often little more than loose boards over trestle legs for ease of assembly and storage.
A tuffet, pouffe or hassock is a piece of furniture used as a footstool or low seat. It is distinguished from a stool in that it is completely covered in cloth so that no legs are visible, and is essentially a large hard cushion that may have an internal wooden frame to give it more rigidity.
A TV tray table, TV dinner tray, or personal table is a type of collapsible furniture that functions as a small and easily portable, folding table. These small tables were originally designed to be a surface from which one could eat a meal while watching television. The phrase tray-table can also refer to a fold-away tray, such as those found in front of airline seats.
A wall unit is a premanufactured furnishing that has become very popular the past 25 years. It is an assembly of several discrete components that are usually fixed to an internal wall of a room. Wall unit fixtures range in style from contemporary to traditional in order to match the decor of the home or business establishment in which they are installed. The furnishings are generally customized per installation at request of the customer to ensure the best fit and integration.
A wardrobe is a classic closet used for storing clothes. Many people argue that wardrobes are different in use and style of closets, but they were created by the French to be used as a closet. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that separate accommodation was provided for the apparel of the great. The name of wardrobe was then given to a room in which the wall-space was filled with closets and lockers, the drawer being a comparatively modern invention. From these cupboards and lockers the modern wardrobe, with its hanging spaces, sliding shelves and drawers, evolved slowly.
A Welsh dresser (British English) or a china hutch (American English), sometimes known as a kitchen dresser or pewter cupboard, is a piece of wooden furniture consisting of drawers and cupboards in the lower part, with shelves and perhaps a sideboard on top. Traditionally, it is a utilitarian piece of furniture used to store and display crockery, silverware and pewter-ware, but is also used to display general ornaments.
A Windsor chair is a chair built with a solid wooden seat into which the chair-back and legs are round-tenoned, or pushed into drilled holes, in contrast to standard chairs, where the back legs and the uprights of the back are continuous. The seats of Windsor chairs were often carved into a shallow dish or saddle shape for comfort. Traditionally, the legs and uprights were usually turned on a pole lathe. The back and sometimes the arm pieces (if arms are present) are formed from steam bent pieces of wood.
A wine rack is a device that stores and organizes wine. Wine racks can be built out of a number of different materials. The size of the rack and the number of bottles it can hold can vary widely. Wine racks can be located in a winemaker's professional wine cellar as well as private homes for personal collections.
A wing chair (also, wing-back chair or wing-back) is an easy chair or club chair with "wings" mounted to the back of the chair, typically, but not always, stretching down to the arm rest. The purpose of the "wings" was to enclose the head or torso areas of the body in order to provide comfortable protection from drafts, and to trap the heat from a fireplace in the area where the person would be sitting. Hence, in historic times these are often used near a fireplace. Currently most examples of wing chairs are fully upholstered with exposed wood legs, but, many of the oldest wing chair examples have an exposed frame with padded cushions at the seat, arm rests, back and sometimes wings.
A workbench is sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewellers benches to the huge benches used by staircase makers. Almost all workbenches are rectangular in shape, often using the surface, corners and edges as flat/square and dimension standards.
A writing desk or bureau acts as a kind of compact office. Traditionally, a writing desk is for writing letters by hand. It usually has a top that closes to hide current work, which makes the room containing it look tidy, maintains privacy, and protects the work. The closing top may contain several joints so that it can roll closed, or may simply fold closed. The writing surface (or place for lap-top) typically folds down (perhaps being the lid) or slides out, to preserve the compact size when closed. They often have small drawers or "pigeon holes".
