To Live Without Furniture

I've been considering what it would be like to live without furniture, as in the movable chairs, tables, and sofas. This would certainly be a minimalist way of life. Don't some asian cultures have homes without chairs, and the beds are on the floor.

I'd do it, but I may wan't one short legged round table in the dwelling. Other than that, I think that I could sit indian style, or just lay down on comfy durable blankets.

What do you think?

 

Traditional Japanese houses have multi functional rooms, during the day they would sit on the floor which is covered in grass mats called tatami.....they also slept in the same rooms on futons. They would roll them up and place them and the blankets into a closet. They used foldable short legged tables for eating and working and moved out of the way when not in use.

A lot of cultures around the globe live or lived with out furniture in the sense that we know it ....I myself prefer no or limited amount of furniture it allows more functional use of space and when it is limited, thats even more important.

I myself would prefer lots of rugs and pillows .............I say go for it!

 

I currently own and live in a house that is a three bedroom with two baths and a den and kitchen. I am remodeling the whole house, and have no furniture at all except this desk I sit at, a bed, and an entertainment center and a few lawn chairs. I have next to nothing right now; what I do have I am selling, fixing, or getting rid of for the most part. My girlfriend and I don't have problems with it; we are trying to get the living room totally done now, and have so far finished the kitchen and the bedroom. We will rebuild our collection of belongnings after the remodel.

 

when my ex and i got married, we didnt bother to buy furniture for over a year (not even a bed)

everyone thought we were insane but we honestly didnt care. we sat on the floor for meals, slept on the floor, etc etc................
it really wasnt a big deal.

 

So, the Japanese live that way.

Yes, rugs, pillows, and blankets is what I have in mind. I may place an organic mattress (a simple one) down for a bed, but it would still be right on the floor.

 

I traveled a lot in the middle east. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, U.A.E., etc. Their tradition is to live tents and have no furniture. Pillows, etc. to sit on or lean against and eat from trays sitting on the ground/floor. One of the most incredible meals I've ever had was with a bunch of men, sitting on the floor, around a very big tray of food with all of us eating from the tray.... no plates, silverware - just our hands.
Now I am a hermit who is a small organic farmer & I have almost no furniture.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

what do you mean as furniture, how basic is your description, lot's of cultures have very little furniture but most still have some sort of table and sitting on rocks or logs is common for more primitive peoples.

furniture is important if you live connected to the modern world. once I started inviting people over to my place I started to buy more furniture to make sure that my friends would be comforatble spending time in my home and to make things more organized(shelves...)

also I suggest anyone reading or interrested in this post look up Ray Mears world of survival, it's a tv show all about primitive peoples and how they survive in their environments, very interresting and gave me a few ideas too!

 

poor old dad, so you're an organic farmer, that is great! It is my goal in life to earn a living farming the natural way, and living a natural life.

Selfsustaingsociety, I understand what you mean about making friends comfortable. I definitely won't worry about that early on in my dwelling, but I will probably feel pressure to get furniture. I would love to have only one table, with pillows and rugs to sit on.

 

When I first got my own place I had very little furniture. About all I had was a small bed and a small kitchen table with two chair, which I rarely actually ate at. My living room only had a tv sitting on the floor. I bought a cheap computer that I sat on the floor as well. To be honest I really miss things that way, except now I have a much more comfortable mattress. It really gives flexibility to a room when it is not cluttered with furniture. Most of the furniture I have now has been given to me, but if I had it to do all over again I would have declined.

What I would do, and plan to do, is go with rugs if there are bare floors along with big pillows and cushions. A short leg table is a possibility but I have not decided on it yet. Mattresses for a place to sleep would probably be a good idea, but you don't really need a frame for it. I think this is ideal for anyone who has or is planning on having kids as well. Kids are going to mess up any furniture you have, so with cushions just cover them with something that you can remove and wash and things will be a lot easier. Plus this way you don't have to worry about the little ones falling very far.

I say go for it!

 

One really doesn't need furniture to live. It's actually quite powerful spiritually to sit closer to the ground. I only rent efficiencies and the only thing I have in my room are my pillows and futon mattress.

 

There are cultures that don’t use chairs, eating utensils and other crap we could do w/out.

Apparently Westerns have more hips problems than other folks and it’s been attributed to chairs or the way we sit on them. Cultures that sit cross-legged, as they often do on the floor, are more flexible in the hips. Just a rumour I heard, not gonna try to verify that.

My siblings and I have always kinda slid down the sofa and ended up sitting cross-legged on the floor, or even sitting upside down with our backs on the floor and our calves on the seat, yees we were silly. When I started doing yoga I took to the lotus position quite easily, maybe my sitting style had something to do with it. I sit cross-legged all the time.

Anyways, I prefer eating at the coffee table sitting cross-legged on the carpet.