Article: Boxes of tricks; Babies cots that become settees, and chairs that become steps - the Victorians created clever furniture.

Byline: KATRINA BURROUGHS

WE ALL want flexible space: kitchens that double as dining rooms and bedrooms that turn into studies. And we now shop for multipurpose home goods: hence the present popularity of metamorphic furniture - furniture that can transform from one use to another (chair to steps or chair to table; writing desk to dressing table; bed to sofa). This furniture has been popular since the 18th century. The earliest sofa bed, a settee that converted to a cot for a maid, is a beautiful piece by Thomas Chippendale, still in the building for which it was commissioned: Nostell Priory in West Yorkshire. And today, buyers are demanding good-looking, witty ...

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