kauri - wardrobes

Wardrobe. A cupboard with space for hanging clothes. As an item of furniture as opposed to a separate closet, the wardrobe did not generally appear until the early 19th century. Until then, clothes had been stored in clothes presses.

Wardrobes may have single doors, sometimes mirrored, sometimes double doors, often double-heightened with several drawers beneath the cupboard. Many breakfront wardrobes have survived, with a chest of drawers in the middle section and hanging space on either wing. The clothes hangers hung on rails or hooks, usually facing the front. Antique wardrobes are often too shallow to fit hangers comfortably side on.

A Beaconsfield wardrobe is the term used to describe an Edwardian period wardrobe that has an open storage area, usually backed by a mirror.

Wardrobes have been made in most of the usual furniture timbers oak, pine, cedar, mahogany, walnut, satinwood and redwood and the styles range from the plain and simple to the elaborate and ostentatious. Many were made as part of a bedroom set together with matching dressing table and washstand. Some wardrobes were fitted with small drawers, shelves and cupboards down one side.
2 item(s) found:
Mottled kauri wardrobe c. 1885 This popular wardrobe variant…
Mottled kauri wardrobe c. 1885 This popular wardrobe variant incorporates drawers and a cupboard as a multipurpose clothes storage cabinet.…