Furniture and Furnishing

Furniture and Furnishings 3(1+2)

Lesson 01: Introduction To Furniture And Furnishing

The Furniture Used In the Rural Homes

The furniture available for sitting in the rural areas includes a stool of the three to four inches high and eight to nine inches wide with a hard wooden seat. No support is provided for the back. Due to the poor design and the continued sitting on this stool produces fatigue in the lower legs, the knees and in the hips. When working at such a low height, kyphosis of the spine occurs which is very inconvenient and causes formatives of the spine and the inter vertebral discs. The same is true when sitting pihari a square stool, with a loosely woven seat, which allows the curvature of the hip. When sitting on stool it is causes less discomfort at the hips, however owing to the back of the back rest and uncomfortable height, the load on the muscular supporting the head is increased. It produces pain in the neck and in the back and causes trouble in the discs.

In addition to these two items of furniture, i.e. chairs which are used for multi – purpose uses e.g. studying relaxing, dining, etc. the back rest of these chairs is too straight which causes stretching of the spine muscles and very painful and in the long run it can damage the inter vertebral disks. If height of the chair is too high, then is very uncomfortable for the lower legs and causes pain and fatigue while sitting with the legs hanging down wards. The height of the table used in the villages was also very high in relation to the height of seat. This causes painful fatigue in the neck and the shoulders and back muscles and in acute cases the hunching of the shoulder.

The beds which are used in the rural areas are also very high and loosely woven. The loosely woven bed produces kyphosis of the back while lying on it, which is very uncomfortable for the back and produces some degenerative changes in the inter vertebral discs. The excessively high bed is also very uncomfortable for the lower legs when sitting with legs hanging downward, and it becomes difficult for getting up from such high bed.

To make the rural furniture more functional the following modification can be made:

1. The piharis, Muras and stool should be of right height. If these are used on floor level, their height should not be more that 23 cm, if above the floor level, then height should be equal to the height of the lower leg to avoid the excessive bending of back and legs muscles.
2. It should be provided with adequate back rest, high up to the neck and shoulder
3. The seat should be wide and soft enough to give the maximum comfort for the hips.
4. A soft cushion of 2 to 3 cm high padding can be used for pihari stool and muras
5. The height of chair and table should also be adequate to give the maximum comfort on the back, shoulder and hip. The back rest should keep the spine in the natural curve.
6. The height of the bed should not be more than the height of the lower leg of the shortest person.
7. The length of the bed should be equal to the height of the tall person with some allowance for the movement.
8. The width should be according to the width of the fattest person plus some allowance for the movement on both side.
9. The bed should not be loosely woven and the mattresses and bed clothes should be good heat insulator, perspiration absorber and should have bacteriostatic property, dust and vermin resistant. It should be able to maintain its shape.

In addition to all these correct dimensions for each piece of furniture should be 1) light in weight, 2) easy to move, 3) simple in design, 4) attractive to look, 5) less in cost, 6) easy to maintain, 7) noiseless when moving and if possible 8) serve more that one purpose 9). Children furniture should have adjustable legs, so that it can be adjusted to the convenient changing height of the children.