The Step Ladder Chair

The best old furniture often did two jobs at once, and this looks like an ordinary chair until you tip the seat forward and a set of steps unfolds out of it. Found in Normandy and dating to the 19th century, it stands as a plain spindle-back chair, its seat hinged to swing down and open into three steps, held in place by a little iron hook. A chair that turned into a ladder was a clever answer to a small house, kept by the shelves to reach the high books and then folded back into a seat when the reaching was done. Sylvie keeps it by a bookcase, half chair and half ladder, useful in the best way.