Twisted Barley Foot Stool
Recent Sales
Antique 19th Century English Stools
Mid-20th Century French Provincial Stools
Wood, Leather
Antique 19th Century English Victorian Stools
Oak, Upholstery
Antique Late 19th Century English Late Victorian Stools
Oak, Rush
Antique 19th Century English Victorian Stools
Linen, Oak
Antique 19th Century English Victorian Stools
Oak, Upholstery
Antique 1880s Scottish Stools
Oak
Antique 19th Century British Footstools
Antique 19th Century French Stools
Oak
Vintage 1960s British Mid-Century Modern Stools
Wood
20th Century Stools
Vintage 1930s English Jacobean Footstools
Oak
Antique Mid-19th Century French Stools
Oak
Antique 1890s Scottish Benches
Oak
Vintage 1920s Scottish Benches
Oak
20th Century French Footstools
Upholstery, Linen
Vintage 1930s French Stools
Wood
Finding the Right stools for You
Stools are versatile and a necessary addition to any living room, kitchen area or elsewhere in your home. A sofa or reliable lounge chair might nab all the credit, comfort-wise, but don’t discount the roles that good antique, new and vintage stools can play.
“Stools are jewels and statements in a space, and they can also be investment pieces,” says New York City designer Amy Lau, who adds that these seats provide an excellent choice for setting an interior’s general tone.
Stools, which are among the oldest forms of wooden furnishings, may also serve as decorative pieces, even if we’re talking about a stool that is far less sculptural than the gracefully curving molded plywood shells that make up Sōri Yanagi’s provocative Butterfly stool.
Fawn Galli, a New York interior designer, uses her stools in the same way you would use a throw pillow. “I normally buy several styles and move them around the home where needed,” she says.
Stools are smaller pieces of seating as compared to armchairs or dining chairs and can add depth as well as functionality to a space that you’ve set aside for entertaining. For a splash of color, consider the Stool 60, a pioneering work of bentwood by Finnish architect and furniture maker Alvar Aalto. It’s manufactured by Artek and comes in a variety of colored seats and finishes.
Barstools that date back to the 1970s are now more ubiquitous in kitchens. Vintage barstools have seen renewed interest, be they a meld of chrome and leather or transparent plastic, such as the Lucite and stainless-steel counter stool variety from Indiana-born furniture designer Charles Hollis Jones, who is renowned for his acrylic works. A cluster of barstools — perhaps a set of four brushed-aluminum counter stools by Emeco or Tubby Tube stools by Faye Toogood — can encourage merriment in the kitchen. If you’ve got the room for family and friends to congregate and enjoy cocktails where the cooking is done, consider matching your stools with a tall table.
Whether you need counter stools, drafting stools or another kind, explore an extensive range of antique, new and vintage stools on 1stDibs.
Read More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
Fred Rigby’s Modular Seating Can Be Configured in So Many Handy Ways
The plush Cove Slipper 2.5 Seater sofa is just one of many convenient combinations from the London-based maker.
This Chubby-Chic Quilted Stool Stands on Its Own Two Feet
Sam Klemick's cool stool is edgy, cozy and environmentally sustainable all at once.
Riotous Shapes and Colors Have Made Uchronia’s Designs the Toast of Paris
Julien Sebban’s energetic design collective is radically reshaping the look of 21st-century European furniture and interiors.
Is Lionel Jadot the Willy Wonka of Upcycled Belgian Design?
From his massive collaborative workshop in a former paper factory, the designer concocts funky furniture from disused materials, as well as luxe hotel interiors like the new Mix Brussels.
Rock Your Cares Away on This Sunny Hand-Crocheted Swing
The boho-chic Enchanted Forest Swing, handmade by marginalized women from Turkey and Syria, is uplifting in every way.
Learn Why Designer Maarten Baas Set This Charles Rennie Mackintosh Chair on Fire
What happens when you do something to a piece of furniture that you shouldn’t? It becomes an entirely new object.
Eileen Gray’s Famed Cliffside Villa in the South of France Is Returned to Its Modernist Glory
After years of diligent restoration, E-1027, the designer-cum-architect’s marriage of romance and modernism, is finally complete.