🛋️ Furniture Trivia - Surprising Facts Hiding in Your Living Room

Q: What was the title of Thomas Chippendale's influential 1754 pattern book?

The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director

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A 'Murphy bed' is famous for doing what when it is not in use?

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In a mortise-and-tenon joint, the mortise is the hole. What is the projecting piece that fits into it?

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In the TV show Friends, what color is the famous couch in Central Perk?

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In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the children reach Narnia by stepping through what?

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Which city hosts the world's largest home furnishings trade show, held twice a year and known simply as 'Market'?

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In American English, a chest of drawers for clothing is commonly called what?

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Which 18th-century English cabinetmaker became the first to have a furniture style named after a craftsman instead of a monarch?

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Who designed the single-pedestal Tulip chair to clear up what he called the 'slum of legs' under tables?

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Which Danish architect designed the Egg chair for Copenhagen's SAS Royal Hotel in 1958?

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What famous food is served in IKEA's in-store restaurants?

🔴hard

In northern China, the traditional brick platform bed called a 'kang' has what special feature?

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A loveseat is designed to seat how many people?

🟡medium

In Greek myth, which villain stretched or chopped his guests to make them fit his iron bed?

🔴hard

During World War II, Charles and Ray Eames perfected plywood molding by mass-producing what for the US Navy?

🟡medium

WWE's 'TLC' matches feature Tables, Ladders and what?

🔴hard

What was the title of Thomas Chippendale's influential 1754 pattern book?

🟢easy

What liquid-filled mattress became a bedroom craze in the 1970s and 1980s?

🟡medium

The word 'bankrupt' comes from the Italian for a broken what?

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The opening credits of The Simpsons famously end with a gag involving what piece of furniture?

🟡medium

The Resolute Desk was a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes from which monarch?

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Which S-shaped 1960s design was the first chair molded from a single piece of plastic?

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Which Japanese American sculptor designed the 1947 coffee table with a glass top resting on two interlocking wooden pieces?

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What is the padded fabric covering on sofas and armchairs called?

🟡medium

The word 'hammock' comes from the language of which indigenous people met by Columbus?

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What is the decorative technique of inlaying pieces of wood veneer to form pictures and patterns?

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Which famous psychoanalyst had his patients lie on a couch draped with a Persian rug?

🔴hard

When it opened in 2021, the world's largest IKEA store was located in which country?

🟡medium

Marcel Breuer's tubular steel Wassily Chair of 1925 was inspired by the frame of what?

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At the 2012 Republican National Convention, which actor delivered a speech to an empty chair?

🔴hard

Which Dutch designer created the De Stijl 'Red and Blue Chair' around 1918?

🟢easy

What famous desk, used by most US presidents since 1880, sits in the Oval Office?

🟢easy

Which poolside lounger takes its name from the French for 'long chair'?

🔴hard

Jane Austen wrote her later novels at a tiny walnut table whose top has how many sides?

🟢easy

Of these standard US mattress sizes, which is the smallest?

🟡medium

In The Big Bang Theory, who fiercely guards his 'spot' on the couch?

🟢easy

Which Scandinavian country is most famous for sleek mid-century 'modern' teak furniture by designers like Hans Wegner?

🟡medium

The 1968 'Sacco,' the original bean bag chair, was designed in which country?

🟢easy

What are the horizontal boards that support a mattress on a bed frame called?

🟢easy

Which agency's research in the 1960s led to the invention of memory foam?

🔴hard

Before rebranding in 2011, online retailer Wayfair operated under what name?

🔴hard

What is the design-world name for the ubiquitous one-piece stackable plastic patio chair?

🔴hard

Hans Wegner's 'Round Chair' became famous in America when it seated the participants at which 1960 televised event?

🟢easy

What woven straw mat covers the floor of a traditional Japanese room?

🟡medium

Gustav Stickley's sturdy, plain oak pieces are most associated with which American furniture style?

🟡medium

What is the Japanese low table with a built-in heater and a blanket draped over it?

🟡medium

Bamboo furniture is technically not made of wood, because bamboo is a type of what?

🔴hard

Some of the world's oldest surviving furniture, 5,000-year-old stone beds and dressers, is found at which Neolithic village in Orkney?

🔴hard

Which Victorian scientist fitted his armchair with cast-iron bed wheels to roll between specimens, creating an early office chair?

🟡medium

Which US president is credited with inventing the swivel chair, reportedly using it while drafting the Declaration of Independence?

🔴hard

The hand-woven seat of Hans Wegner's Wishbone Chair uses about 120 metres of what material?

🔴hard

IKEA's beds and wardrobes are traditionally named after what?

🟢easy

In the story of Goldilocks, whose chair does she break?

🟡medium

In 1888, Vincent van Gogh painted his own humble chair and a companion picture of which fellow artist's armchair?

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What folding chair with a canvas seat and back is a symbol of Hollywood filmmakers?

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Who designed the Barcelona chair for the 1929 International Exposition?

🔴hard

Alvar Aalto's stackable Stool 60 of 1933 stands on how many bent L-shaped legs?

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In Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the castle's dog is transformed into what piece of furniture?

🔴hard

'Boulle work,' named for Louis XIV's cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle, is marquetry combining brass with what material?

🔴hard

Steelcase, founded in 1912 as the Metal Office Furniture Company, first found success with a fireproof steel what?

🔴hard

Traditional East Asian lacquer comes from the sap of a tree closely related to which plant?

🟢easy

What chair sits on two curved runners so it can sway back and forth?

🟡medium

On which singing competition do the coaches sit in big red chairs that spin around?

🟡medium

What is the name of the talking armchair on Pee-wee's Playhouse?

🟢easy

The futon originated as traditional bedding in which country?

🟡medium

How did Shaker communities famously store their chairs to clear the floor for sweeping?

🟢easy

What small L-shaped tool comes packed with most IKEA furniture?

🟡medium

Which husband-and-wife team designed the 1956 molded plywood and leather Lounge Chair for Herman Miller?

🟡medium

'Credenza' comes from the Italian for 'belief,' because food set on it was first tasted to check for what?

🟢easy

What kind of desk hides its work surface behind a sliding cover of wooden slats?

🔴hard

A Roman dining room was called a 'triclinium' because it held how many dining couches?

🟢easy

What do you call furniture sold unassembled in a thin cardboard box?

🔴hard

Shellac, the classic furniture finish, is made from the secretions of what creature?

🟢easy

What do you call one bed stacked directly on top of another?

🔴hard

Which conceptual artist created 1965's 'One and Three Chairs': a chair, a photo of it, and a dictionary definition?

🔴hard

Florence Knoll asked Eero Saarinen for a chair 'like a basket full of pillows.' What 1948 design resulted?

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The 'E' in IKEA stands for Elmtaryd, which was what?

🟢easy

What hanging bed of fabric or netting is strung between two trees?

🟢easy

Which reddish-brown tropical hardwood has been prized for fine furniture since the 1700s?

🟡medium

IKEA gives its products names rather than code numbers because its founder struggled with what?

🔴hard

Which playwright wrote the 1952 absurdist play The Chairs, in which a stage fills with empty seats for invisible guests?

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Which company launched the mesh-backed Aeron office chair in 1994?

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The ornate, eight-foot-long 'Lincoln Bed' bought by Mary Todd Lincoln in 1861 is carved from what wood?

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La-Z-Boy was founded in 1927 by Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker, who were related in what way?

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What bed has a tall post at each corner, often supporting a canopy?

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What do you call a couch with a fold-out mattress hidden inside?

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In 2005, which actor famously jumped up and down on Oprah Winfrey's couch?

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Which aromatic wood is used to line hope chests because its scent repels moths?

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Which piece, sold for about £19 million in 2004, holds the record for the most expensive furniture ever auctioned?

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How many round cushions make up Herman Miller's 1956 Marshmallow Sofa?

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In his will, William Shakespeare famously left his wife Anne what?

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Britain's 700-year-old Coronation Chair was built to hold which famous object?

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Before it meant a desk or an office, the French word 'bureau' referred to what?

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In the Odyssey, Odysseus's bed cannot be moved because one of its posts is a living what?

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A cathedral takes its name from the 'cathedra,' which is what piece of furniture?

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Which elaborate 1874 patent desk from Indianapolis, with more than 100 compartments, was nicknamed the 'King of Desks'?

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The Goddard and Townsend families, masters of block-and-shell carving, worked in which colonial city?

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How many disassembled No. 14 chairs could Thonet pack into a single one-cubic-metre shipping crate?

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Small beads of what material typically fill a bean bag chair?

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Marcel Breuer's Wassily Chair was later named after which painter, his Bauhaus colleague?

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What kind of furniture is the La-Z-Boy brand best known for?

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King Arthur's knights gathered around what legendary piece of furniture?

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The Bauhaus school, which pioneered tubular steel furniture, was founded in 1919 in which German city?

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The backless 'récamier' daybed is named for a socialite painted reclining on one in 1800 by which artist?

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Office furniture giant Herman Miller is headquartered in which Michigan town?

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Which English firm made the first compact 'Davenport' desk for a Captain Davenport in the 1790s?

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In Arthurian legend, what was the name of the Round Table seat that was fatal to anyone but the Grail knight?

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Who founded IKEA in 1943 at just 17 years old?

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What is the ceremonial chair of a king or queen called?

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In Andersen's The Princess and the Pea, how many mattresses were piled on top of the pea?

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The word 'sofa' derives from 'suffah,' a word from which language?

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In Game of Thrones, the Iron Throne is forged from what?

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Which town is home to the 56.5-foot rocking chair certified by Guinness in 2015 as the world's largest?

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IKEA's flat-pack concept was born in the 1950s when designer Gillis Lundgren sawed the legs off which table to fit it in his car?

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What small table sits beside a bed?

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Which small 18th-century table with two short drop leaves is named after an English countess?

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The enormous Great Bed of Ware, now in the V&A Museum, is mentioned in which Shakespeare play?

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Compared with a standard king, a California king mattress is what?

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Which designer's 'Dragons' armchair, once owned by Yves Saint Laurent, sold for nearly €22 million in 2009?

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What tall freestanding timepiece is also known as a longcase clock?

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Which actress rode a flying bed in Disney's 1971 film Bedknobs and Broomsticks?

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Wicker furniture is most often woven from which climbing tropical plant?

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Which Japanese designer created IKEA's bentwood Poäng armchair in 1976?

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The South Asian woven rope bed called a 'charpai' literally means what?

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In the opening credits of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rob Petrie famously trips over what?

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Archie Bunker's armchair, now in the Smithsonian, comes from which TV sitcom?

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Which chair-back shape is the signature of George Hepplewhite's designs?

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The ottoman footrest is named after which historic empire?

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NFL fans of which team are notorious for leaping onto folding tables at tailgate parties?

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The slanted-back wooden Adirondack chair is named after mountains in which US state?

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In the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, what did the princess feel beneath her tall stack of mattresses?

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Which Persian ruler carried off the Mughal emperors' jewel-encrusted Peacock Throne after sacking Delhi in 1739?

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In Norse myth, the high seat Hlidskjalf, from which all the worlds can be seen, belongs to which god?

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What is the S-curved furniture leg typical of Queen Anne style called?

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Michael Thonet's 1859 No. 14 café chair was made possible by what then-revolutionary technique?

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Celebrated New York cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe was born in which country?

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What folding X-framed stool was reserved for the highest magistrates of ancient Rome?

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Around 1900, William Murphy invented his fold-away bed in a one-room apartment in which city?

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What is the name of IKEA's famous bookcase, of which one is sold every few seconds worldwide?

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What rotating tray sits in the middle of a table so diners can share dishes?

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Who wrote and illustrated the 1982 picture book A Chair for My Mother, a Caldecott Honor winner?

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On Frasier, which character owns the hideous recliner patched with duct tape?

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What Swedish company is the world's largest furniture retailer?

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In Friends, Joey's beloved recliner has what name?

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What tall chair lets a baby eat at table height?

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Which religious group, nicknamed the 'Shaking Quakers,' became famous for simple, beautifully made furniture?

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Which president made the rocking chair a 1960s status symbol after his doctor prescribed one for his bad back?

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In which 1997 film do recruits squirm through a written exam while sitting in 1968 Ovalia egg chairs?

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The Eames Lounge Chair was reportedly first created as a gift for which Hollywood director?

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What is a 'chesterfield'?

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Questions (150 of 150)

A 'Murphy bed' is famous for doing what when it is not in use?

In a mortise-and-tenon joint, the mortise is the hole. What is the projecting piece that fits into it?

In the TV show Friends, what color is the famous couch in Central Perk?

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the children reach Narnia by stepping through what?

Which city hosts the world's largest home furnishings trade show, held twice a year and known simply as 'Market'?

In American English, a chest of drawers for clothing is commonly called what?

Which 18th-century English cabinetmaker became the first to have a furniture style named after a craftsman instead of a monarch?

Who designed the single-pedestal Tulip chair to clear up what he called the 'slum of legs' under tables?

Which Danish architect designed the Egg chair for Copenhagen's SAS Royal Hotel in 1958?

What famous food is served in IKEA's in-store restaurants?

In northern China, the traditional brick platform bed called a 'kang' has what special feature?

A loveseat is designed to seat how many people?

In Greek myth, which villain stretched or chopped his guests to make them fit his iron bed?

During World War II, Charles and Ray Eames perfected plywood molding by mass-producing what for the US Navy?

WWE's 'TLC' matches feature Tables, Ladders and what?

What was the title of Thomas Chippendale's influential 1754 pattern book?

What liquid-filled mattress became a bedroom craze in the 1970s and 1980s?

The word 'bankrupt' comes from the Italian for a broken what?

The opening credits of The Simpsons famously end with a gag involving what piece of furniture?

The Resolute Desk was a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes from which monarch?

Which S-shaped 1960s design was the first chair molded from a single piece of plastic?

Which Japanese American sculptor designed the 1947 coffee table with a glass top resting on two interlocking wooden pieces?

What is the padded fabric covering on sofas and armchairs called?

The word 'hammock' comes from the language of which indigenous people met by Columbus?

What is the decorative technique of inlaying pieces of wood veneer to form pictures and patterns?

Which famous psychoanalyst had his patients lie on a couch draped with a Persian rug?

When it opened in 2021, the world's largest IKEA store was located in which country?

Marcel Breuer's tubular steel Wassily Chair of 1925 was inspired by the frame of what?

At the 2012 Republican National Convention, which actor delivered a speech to an empty chair?

Which Dutch designer created the De Stijl 'Red and Blue Chair' around 1918?

What famous desk, used by most US presidents since 1880, sits in the Oval Office?

Which poolside lounger takes its name from the French for 'long chair'?

Jane Austen wrote her later novels at a tiny walnut table whose top has how many sides?

Of these standard US mattress sizes, which is the smallest?

In The Big Bang Theory, who fiercely guards his 'spot' on the couch?

Which Scandinavian country is most famous for sleek mid-century 'modern' teak furniture by designers like Hans Wegner?

The 1968 'Sacco,' the original bean bag chair, was designed in which country?

What are the horizontal boards that support a mattress on a bed frame called?

Which agency's research in the 1960s led to the invention of memory foam?

Before rebranding in 2011, online retailer Wayfair operated under what name?

What is the design-world name for the ubiquitous one-piece stackable plastic patio chair?

Hans Wegner's 'Round Chair' became famous in America when it seated the participants at which 1960 televised event?

What woven straw mat covers the floor of a traditional Japanese room?

Gustav Stickley's sturdy, plain oak pieces are most associated with which American furniture style?

What is the Japanese low table with a built-in heater and a blanket draped over it?

Bamboo furniture is technically not made of wood, because bamboo is a type of what?

Some of the world's oldest surviving furniture, 5,000-year-old stone beds and dressers, is found at which Neolithic village in Orkney?

Which Victorian scientist fitted his armchair with cast-iron bed wheels to roll between specimens, creating an early office chair?

Which US president is credited with inventing the swivel chair, reportedly using it while drafting the Declaration of Independence?

The hand-woven seat of Hans Wegner's Wishbone Chair uses about 120 metres of what material?

IKEA's beds and wardrobes are traditionally named after what?

In the story of Goldilocks, whose chair does she break?

In 1888, Vincent van Gogh painted his own humble chair and a companion picture of which fellow artist's armchair?

What folding chair with a canvas seat and back is a symbol of Hollywood filmmakers?

Who designed the Barcelona chair for the 1929 International Exposition?

Alvar Aalto's stackable Stool 60 of 1933 stands on how many bent L-shaped legs?

In Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the castle's dog is transformed into what piece of furniture?

'Boulle work,' named for Louis XIV's cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle, is marquetry combining brass with what material?

Steelcase, founded in 1912 as the Metal Office Furniture Company, first found success with a fireproof steel what?

Traditional East Asian lacquer comes from the sap of a tree closely related to which plant?

What chair sits on two curved runners so it can sway back and forth?

On which singing competition do the coaches sit in big red chairs that spin around?

What is the name of the talking armchair on Pee-wee's Playhouse?

The futon originated as traditional bedding in which country?

How did Shaker communities famously store their chairs to clear the floor for sweeping?

What small L-shaped tool comes packed with most IKEA furniture?

Which husband-and-wife team designed the 1956 molded plywood and leather Lounge Chair for Herman Miller?

'Credenza' comes from the Italian for 'belief,' because food set on it was first tasted to check for what?

What kind of desk hides its work surface behind a sliding cover of wooden slats?

A Roman dining room was called a 'triclinium' because it held how many dining couches?

What do you call furniture sold unassembled in a thin cardboard box?

Shellac, the classic furniture finish, is made from the secretions of what creature?

What do you call one bed stacked directly on top of another?

Which conceptual artist created 1965's 'One and Three Chairs': a chair, a photo of it, and a dictionary definition?

Florence Knoll asked Eero Saarinen for a chair 'like a basket full of pillows.' What 1948 design resulted?

The 'E' in IKEA stands for Elmtaryd, which was what?

What hanging bed of fabric or netting is strung between two trees?

Which reddish-brown tropical hardwood has been prized for fine furniture since the 1700s?

IKEA gives its products names rather than code numbers because its founder struggled with what?