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Innovative Old School Furniture Designs: Combination Chair-Tables

Here’s an innovative vernacular piece of furniture popular in past centuries: A chair that doubled as a table.

It speaks of thrift, ingenuity, and a scarcity of materials or space. While the ruling classes undoubtedly had both the room and budget for separate tables and chairs, a commoner family living in a small abode would need furniture to do double duty. The chair might not have been comfortable, but it was certainly useful.

There’s a fair amount of latitude as to what shape the tabletop could be.

Once folded down some of the tables, like this one, simply rested on the chair arms.

Others were secured into position via pins, like the ones seen in the hog slaughtering table.

There were bench-length variants too with, of course, storage beneath the seat.

While the form factor has fallen by the wayside, its spirit lives on in every recent college grad’s futon-couch-bed.