The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #143612   Message #3331131
Posted By: Penny S.
30-Mar-12 - 10:41 AM
Thread Name: Exercise & Declutter March into Spring 2012
Subject: RE: Exercise & Declutter March into Spring 2012
Ah, how words change meanings with needs. I would call those dressers, if in the bedroom, chests of drawers, though those tend to be taller. (Some ignoramuses, even in the business of selling the things, now write draws instead of drawers - drives me wild.) They aren't quite the same as dressing tables, which have mirrors, which I suspect is where the Venn diagram overlaps. In a dining room, sideboard. And when we use dresser, even without Welsh in front of it, we mean one of those, in a kitchen, with a set of shelves above it.

Here's rather a nice dressing table, with the customary place for the legs to go while sitting brushing one's hair.

Posh dressing table

And a modern chest of drawers. (Or in the vernacular, chester draws.) I think, by comparing with my Grandad's tool chest, they got their name from putting drawers into a chest (as in pirate's treasure) to make it easier to get things out. His had handles to carry it with, as well as drawers.

Modern designer chest of drawers

Sideboards usually have cupboards under drawers, but when I was searching images, some of them looked exactly the same as the chests of drawers - indeed, were the same pictures.

(Aside - two pigeons are playing lovey-dovey in the bird bath, sitting side by side, dipping beaks in the water, preening each others' necks and heads. Every now and then, they lift up one wing Can't photograph them through the window, and can't open it, as it would scare them off.een off a magpie which came for a drink. They've just s)