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)