Height of Home Fashion
Heads Toward the Floor

Oct. 27, 2003 -- When it came time to furnish her 17-foot-high Manhattan loft, Dana Barnes wanted a look that was down-to-earth -- literally. The fashion designer outfitted her space with chairs a scant 10 inches off the ground and paid about $11,000 for a custom claro walnut table that's only slightly higher. "It just kind of floats along the floor," she says. "It's brilliant."

How low can it go? To the surprise of homeowners, the popular look in furniture these days is barely off the floor, from platform beds and sunken-bottom chairs to ultralow coffee tables. B&B Italia has platform drawer units that, at 15 inches off the floor, really make you work every time you want to grab a pair of socks, while Washington's tony Vega home shop is pushing a squashed coffee table that looks more like an ottoman. Then there's Roche-Bobois, which is bringing back "chairs" that are actually oversize cushions for your guests to sit on the floor (at as much as $2,500 each).

Designers say low furniture is partly a reaction to years of heavy nesting, when homeowners gravitated toward comfortable -- and hulking -- overstuffed sofas. But makers have another reason for pushing it: The short, modern pieces tend to look better in matched sets -- which makes it easier to tempt shoppers into buying more than one. Indeed, Ikea says buyers of its floor-hugging Malm bed (under 5 inches ground clearance) are twice as likely to buy a matching nightstand or other accessory than customers who purchase standard-height beds. "It's allowed us to create a lot of accessories," says Rodney Sexton, Ikea's U.S. bedroom-sales manager.

Of course, just above the floor isn't necessarily the most comfortable place to sit. In San Francisco, interior designer Jay Jeffers usually tries to talk clients out of an ultralow couch. "If you're really tall, the depth is fine but your knees are up to your chin," he says. By forcing the knees up, a low-rise position also causes many people to sit farther back on the sofa, making conversation a little tougher. And then there's the matter of lifting oneself up out of the seat -- not necessarily the friendliest thing for aging boomer backs.

It didn't take Sean Ragan too long to figure that out. When the 27-year-old student in Austin, Texas, furnished his apartment, he set up the living room with a foot-high table and floor pillows for seating. He's gotten good reviews from friends, who told him the setup looks cool. Then he tried it out on his parents. "They always groan when they stand up," says Mr. Ragan.

This isn't the first time homeowners have been brought low by the furniture industry. In the '60s, hippie-style mavens got in touch with gravity thanks to slouchy bean-bag chairs and Eastern-inspired floor cushions (remember the Beatles' Maharishi days?). It faded out in the '70s and didn't really suit the supersize tone of the '80s, but has sprouted up again over the last three years, as trendy restaurants and lounges like B.E.D. in Miami and Ice in Las Vegas decided to get groovy and go low.

Optical Illusion

Now it's popping up everywhere, like in the bar at New York's trendy Soho House private club that opened this year, where there's a low 40-foot-long chesterfield sofa and footstool-like "poufs." At the same time, the approach has spread into homes as decorators from Dallas to Seattle tell clients it's the way to add a modern twist. At BDDW, a New York company that custom builds chairs, tables and beds, customers have been requesting ever-lower pieces in the last two years, says designer Tyler Hays. "Sometimes you don't want to impose too much height on a space," he says.

Indeed, space is part of the draw. Fans say their short couches and tables help create an optical illusion that pushes up a room's ceiling, lending a pseudo-loft look even when a space isn't all that big. Furniture in this genre tends to be very spare and modern in design, which only adds to the room-opening effect. And by keeping sightlines across a room unobstructed, the space can seem less cluttered.

Hansine Goran likes it so much she's practically lowered her whole house. The Oakland, Calif., art therapist started out with two low and sleek sofas just 16 inches high, then added two chairs even lower. Then came a squat Cappellini table from London-based designer Marc Newson. So far, she's spent more than $30,000 to get the look right and she's got her eye on a "very low" daybed. "Once you get one piece, it really isn't right unless you get another," she says. "The scale's got to be right."

Package Deal

That's a logic makers and retailers are counting on. At Natuzzi, a furniture line sold in Bloomingdale's, Domain and other stores, their new Douglas sofa puts the user's bottom just 14 inches above ground. But marketing executive Steve Bailey says the idea is to sell a "total room package," with coordinated coffee tables, side tables and even lamps. "You need everything scaled to match the couch," he says.

Still, even some of those pushing the trend admit it isn't always the most practical approach. At The Magazine, a trendy furniture store in Berkeley, Calif., they're getting ready to sell the Icebabe, a funky-looking outdoor chair that parks a sitter about 8 inches off the ground. Store co-owner Rainer Lagemann says it can cause a bit of a backache. "It's nice to look at," he says. "But if I'm going to sit in it I can bring a cushion."

There's more on the way. Crate & Barrel's CB2 line came out with its low-riding Zoom and Citrine couches a little more than a month ago, but they're already the line's best-selling sofas. Avant-garde maker Zweimineral jumped on the bandwagon this year with a massive (30 inches x 30 inches) floor cushion made out of woven felt. And the new fall collection for Maurice Villency includes the $1,800 Freedom table -- barely taller than a coffee mug.

For Derrick Carter, there's a practical side to low furniture -- it's so awkward it keeps him from oversleeping during a nap. The 34-year-old music producer and DJ in Chicago says it's impossible to spread out entirely on his new 14-inches-off-the-ground Pietro Arosio Reverso couch. He admits he falls off from time to time. "It's not high, so I don't break my back," he says. "It's safety furniture."

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