The furniture handbook A guide to choosing, arranging, and caring for the objects in your home

"What are the important things to look for when considering a piece of furniture?" asks Trendenser blogger Ramstedt (The Interior Design Handbook) in this valuable reference book. She recommends paying close attention to ergonomics and anthropometrics (the measurement of the human body and its proportions), suggesting that chair seats should rise 16.5--18 inches above the floor to prevent hunched posturing, and that coffee tables should ideally be four inches higher than the tops of sofa seat cushions. Surveying the pros and cons of various materials, Ramstedt notes the durability of elm and maple, but warns that marble is easily stained by red wine or coffee. She also describes how to spot superior craftsmanship and observes that miter joints (which "join at 45 degrees, between the end wood and the fibers running lengthwise") and inset fronts (when the front of a closed drawer rests on the same plane as the cabinet or dresser's body) require precision carpentry. Ramstedt's comprehensive guidance sometimes belabors the obvious (she warns that "fingerprints and marks show up immediately" on glass-topped coffee tables), but there are still plenty of helpful tips (she recommends three-legged tables for uneven floors because they won't wobble). Readers would do well to consult this before their next interior design purchase. (May)

Have a Seat What does that actually mean? It's an offer that can be interpreted in slightly different ways, of course, and you might just as easily say: make yourself comfortable, or make yourself at home. Well-meaning invitations, but not necessarily achievable on every piece of furniture. Nowadays many things are pleasing to the eye while being hopelessly uncomfortable to use. How has that come about, and what can we do about it? In my first book I shared the basic principles of domestic interior design and the tricks of the trade used by interior designers and stylists. In this book, I have brought together various aspects of the knowledge and experience of furniture designers and makers that are important for us to bear in mind when buying furniture--furniture that is both good to look at and comfortable. During the last decade, we've spent more money on domestic design than ever before. Not only do we acquire more things--and more expensive things--for our homes but also more pieces of furniture that we haven't tested first. And never before have we had so much to choose from: things from every corner of the world made available to us by the internet and e-commerce. In spite of this, we are given remarkably little reliable guidance as to what we should be thinking about when we buy furnishings, beyond what is fashionable in terms of color and style in a particular season. These days we often know more about which chairs we think are trendy than which we think are nice. And there are times when we have to double-check whether the chairs of our dreams are actually sittable. Are they individual items of sculpture or are they comfortable? And in that case, for whom? What are the important things to look for when considering a piece of furniture and comparing it with alternatives in order to come to a better informed decision? Especially if we are serious about making our furnishing more personal: after all, we don't expect a particular style of jeans to fit every bottom, so why do we expect one and the same chair to do so? And, taking the long-term view, if we want to become better consumers, I am convinced that there is just as much need for us to increase our knowledge about this kind of question as to recognize the importance of choosing suitable materials and shorter transport distances. Excerpted from The Furniture Handbook: A Guide to Choosing, Arranging, and Caring for the Objects in Your Home by Frida Ramstedt All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.