Let me start by saying that I love this website. I want to build a bunch of stuff. I wish we had found it when we bought our house 3 years ago so we could have done a better job with some things.
So I have a question to pose that may seem odd, but WHY do you leave a gap for dust to get through under the furniture? Is it decorative? Is there a good reason to have so much space under there?
In Make Your House Do the Housework, one of the tips to prevent extra cleaning is to not have a gap under your furniture to collect the dust. That is why I am posing the question here. Do I have to leave the gap or can I build it to the floor?
Thanks.
Tsu Dho Nimh
Sun, 05/08/2011 - 06:45
It's mostly decorative, BUT
It's mostly decorative, BUT it has some practical reasnis.
It leaves room for your toes and minimizes scuffing and damage from shoes and vacuum cleaners.
It prevents vermin (spiders and such) from setting up housekeeping inside a furniture base.
It's a place for the cat to store his toys.
claydowling
Sun, 05/08/2011 - 18:03
Structural Reasons
Very few floors are perfectly level. By having legs, rather than a wide base, your furniture can still stand on the floor in a stable way. I would like to say that most modern houses do have level floors, but I just bought an 8 year old house with a kitchen floor that had a pronounced wave (after a week's work it just has a funny little hump that's gonna be where a tile seam sits).
But also, the cat does need a place to store his toys. Furniture designers understand this.