by Furnishly | Jul 22, 2026 | Design Inspiration, Style
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independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
In a world full of builder-grade flips, homes that still retain now-defunct but character-filled features — like in-home razor blade disposal slots or Victorian stair clips — are a breath of fresh air. Watching how people repurpose these nearly extinct fixtures that were once everywhere is endlessly entertaining, but some of my favorite videos are from homeowners who are trying to crowdsource the internet to figure out what a fixture even is.
Case in point: a 99-year-old bathroom fixture that left its owners (and TikTok) stumped. In a 2025video shared by @agoodkaren, the TikToker revealed they discovered an unusual built-in feature in the bathroom at a friend’s older rental home.
I’ve never seen anything like this pull-down seat.
The bathroom appears relatively modern, with a walk-in shower, hardwood floor, and tan tiling. However, it has a hidden feature: A cabinet that, once you tug on the knob, reveals a pull-down seat that looks directly across at the toilet.
Revealing that they had never “seen anything” like the built-in before, the TikToker came up empty-handed Googling what the vintage fixture is and what it was used for. As TikTok chimed in with their guesses, I asked a historian to confirm what this bathroom built-in chair really is — and how people can re-create its function in their homes today.
Folding wall seats had a brief moment of popularity in California.
Several people in the video’s comment section guessed that it’s a shaving bench, estimating it to have been a popular option during the 1930s. However, design historian Maile Pingel told Apartment Therapy that the exact product from Peerless — a furniture manufacturer in Berkeley, California, that became known for built-in kitchen fixtures — was sold as a “folding wall seat,” per a brochure from 1926.
Pingel said that this type of metal bathroom seat could be used for shaving (especially as hemlines rose in the 1920s). She pointed out that many bathrooms from the time had seating because of norms of the time.
These seats were super convenient.
“It’s not a shaving bench, per se, although it could certainly be used that way and women did start shaving their legs as hemlines rose in the 1920s,” she says. “It’s really just a super-convenient fold-out seat. Seats of any sort — a chair, a bench, a stool — were often used in bathrooms… simply for practicality: at a vanity, putting on one’s socks, etc.”
While a modern bathroom user might just close the toilet seat and sit on it, this was not the case in the past, per Pingel. “It would have been considered unhygienic to sit on the toilet for anything other than its intended purpose. So, a place to sit was necessary. The example we see in the TikTok video is really a terrific example of functionality, keeping things streamlined, and maximizing space.”
How Long Were Folding Wall Seats Popular?
It’s unsurprising that many people have never seen these built-ins before, as Pingel said this design had a pretty short lifespan and never caught on widely. “By now, probably most have been torn out in renovations, or they’ve been painted shut over the years and forgotten about,” she said, comparing it to the built-in laundry baskets and ironing boards from the mid-20th century. “This was a time when people wanted new and modern homes with every convenience and living made easier with purpose-built features.”
The manufacturer itself, Peerless (which she said was not to be confused with “similarly named steel companies in Chicago, Philadelphia, and the U.K.,”) was founded around 1915, “and by the 1920s had expanded into Southern California,” which was experiencing rapid population growth at the time. “Peerless also made items like medicine cabinets, but their focus ultimately became complete kitchens with lots of built-in features they billed as ‘helpful and woman-pleasing’ — ha!” Pingel adds.
Are there modern built-in pull-down shelves?
While you might want to think twice before installing one in front of your toilet, yes, you can still buy a version of these online; they are great for overall comfort and also accessibility in the bathroom. Nowadays you can mount pull-down seats in your bathroom, including directly in your shower, to give you a seat when you need one without compromising your limited space. You can also just buy teak seating for your shower.
Pingel says that the TikTok example was repurposed into an effective modern-day seating solution (despite its vintage roots), and calls it a “terrific example of functionality, keeping things streamlined, and maximizing space.”
by Furnishly | Jan 30, 2026 | Design Inspiration, Style
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independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
When scrolling through real estate listings, traditional, builder-grade homes are a dime a dozen. White walls, cream wall-to-wall carpet, zero trim, mini-blinds — you know the look, and you probably scroll right past it. So when Robert Lueke listed this Bellevue, Washington home, he brought in Modernous, a staging firm with a mid-century twist, to give the home a unique, vibrant upgrade that would stand out on the market — and they had to do it using only furniture.
“This house was a large, traditional tract home,” explains Sally Julien, principal at Modernous. The client wanted the staging to give it a modern look that would differentiate it from the other, similar houses in the neighborhood that were also for sale and vying for buyer attention. The house itself needed cosmetic updating that the seller did not want to tackle before listing, so Julien’s goal was to create a design that would showcase the blank slate of the house while inspiring a young, cool family up for the challenge of updates. “We wanted them to walk in and be able to imagine what it could be,” says Julien.
They layered a rug over the carpet.
Starting at the literal bottom, Julien made the bold choice to layer a rug over the plush wall-to-wall carpet — a decision she acknowledges isn’t always straightforward. “We like to layer rugs in certain rooms to add texture and pattern. The key is to get the right texture so the two rugs aren’t similar,” says Julien.
In this room, the rug not only distracts from the standard carpet, it adds print and interest too. “You can see a flat-weave rug on top of the pile carpet. This ensures that they aren’t competing and allows us to add an element of texture to these key spaces.” Julien also explains that the size of the rug is important, especially when layering over a wall-to-wall carpet. It’s tempting to go too small, but for the layering to work, the top rugs need to be generously sized. “If the rug is too small and you see a lot of carpet around it, it will look ‘off’ and unbalanced,” notes Julien.
They rearranged the layout.
Rather than having the sofa face the fireplace, Julien arranged the sofa and two welcoming, large scale accent chairs perpendicular to the hearth. This living room layout creates a more approachable conversation space that encourages buyers to walk into the living room and linger. “If the sofa was facing the fireplace, you would have been looking at the back of the sofa as you walked in. It feels inviting,” says Julien. This is key when appealing to buyers, but it also makes sense for homeowners. “This arrangement allows people to sit facing each other while enjoying the fire. You want to walk in and sit down!”
They brought in warm colors.
A glass and metal coffee table fits the scale of the furniture and allows the rug to have its moment. Throughout the space, Julien brought in colors that flowed with the rest of the house. While this room is white, there are red walls visible from the room, and Julien echoed that hue by bringing warm tones into this living room. “We decided to bring in other warm, tonally similar colors to speak to those dark red walls, without making red the main color. We went with pepper-y orange, red, and complementary colors like green to keep everything feeling fresh and authentic.”
The art continued the color palette, and the pieces are sourced by Modernous, not acquired through a mass market store. “We source all of our art piece-by-piece. The extra large piece behind the sofa came from the estate of the artist, Inez Starr. Her paintings are huge, bold, and colorful,” says Julien. The vibrant abstracts bring the mid-century-inspired space alive, giving it a feeling of warmth and energy that you won’t find in most tract house Zillow listings — and it sold over asking price in just a week. Closing was exactly one month after the mid-century makeover went in.
by Furnishly | Nov 17, 2025 | Design Inspiration, Style
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independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
I’ve often heard the simple, go-to advice for making a cramped space appear bigger: paint it white. Homeowners (and sellers) have long relied on this classic hue to craft an illusion of openness for potential buyers. However, nowadays, real estate professionals are recommending more unconventional hues to entice future buyers.
“A common misconception about paint colors is that white walls will make a space feel bigger. For white to work in a cramped space, you need natural light and other natural features. Otherwise, it can look dingy,” mentions Libby Fehsenfeld, home stager and owner of Tralala Interiors.
To help you move beyond white walls and choose the best paint colors to transform any cramped room, we consulted a few leading real estate professionals. Here is their best advice.
by Furnishly | Oct 17, 2025 | Design Inspiration, Style
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independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Zillow just released its 2026 Home Trends Report, which analyzes millions of homes listed for sale over the past year to determine what’s in, what’s out, and what’s new in the world of home buying and selling. As it turns out, more and more people are looking to bring their self-care home — specifically, to their bathroom.
The Biggest Bathroom Trend in 2026, According to Zillow
Zillow’s 2026 Home Trends report reveals that “spa-inspired bathrooms are appearing 22% more often” on listings, and “mentions of wellness features rose 33%.” This isn’t exactly a shock; Zillow’s 2025 Home Trends Report, also covered by Apartment Therapy, has tracked the change in what buyers and sellers want in their bathrooms.
That 2025 report found that “wet rooms” were “featured 19% more often in listings on Zillow” compared with the prior year, and in general, people who list their homes were more 16% inclined to talk about the property’s “wellness features.” The fact that these trends continued to hold strong the following year makes sense, but they haven’t just persisted; they’ve become even more popular. It’s safe to say the pursuit of a luxurious bathroom experience isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
From the name alone, a “wet room” may conjure images of damp countertops and puddles on the floor. Don’t worry, it’s much more luxurious than that. Wet rooms are a more compact style of bathroom historically more popular in other countries like Sweden. If a standard American bathroom setup is a cubicle, a wet room is an open-plan office.
This means instead of a distinct shower/tub combo, or a totally separate shower and tub that have nothing to do with one another, the whole bathroom is kind of like one big shower. “As you are not as confined to the standard sizing requirements of showers and tubs, you can create a much more open, airy, and uncluttered bathroom layout,” interior designer Tamarra Younis told Apartment Therapy in 2023. They can also be easier to clean, since you can just spray everything down. Plus, folks might have a tub in the corner of a wet room, making a luxurious shower/bath combo an entire experience.
Why Spa-Inspired Bathrooms Are on the Rise
It’s not just about wet rooms; Zillow’s newest report mentions the broader category of “spa-inspired bathrooms,” which can mean anything from a wet room to a sleek groutless shower to a bathroom with an upgraded showerhead, candles, and towel warmers.
Choosing a bathroom with an expansive groutless shower instead of a bathtub isn’t just for those seeking extra luxury or making the most of a small space. It can also be more accessible: Since you have to step into a tub, it can be dangerous for people with mobility issues and might not make sense if you’re in the last home you ever plan on owning. With a wet room, you don’t have to maneuver in or out of the shower, and in some smaller rooms (like this one remodeled by Portland-based Hammer & Hand), the toilet can double as a shower seat.
Are Bathtubs Really Disappearing?
For all the people eyeing a wet room or spa-like bathroom remodel, there are plenty of others who are perfectly content with their tub. It can also have its own kind of “wellness features.” As Andrew Hancock, president of Gilman Heating, Cooling & Plumbing told Apartment Therapy in 2024, bathtubs are “evolving into a luxury feature rather than a standard one,” and the right soaking tub can “turn a bathroom into a real retreat.”
Ultimately, you can do whatever you want with your own space. If you want to hold on to your beloved claw-foot tub, please do. But at the same time, if you’ve been considering tearing it all down for the sauna-inspired shower of your dreams (or of the buyer who will buy your house one day’s dreams), now’s a prime time to get your feet wet.
by Furnishly | Sep 25, 2025 | Design Inspiration, Style
Lara Walsh is a freelance lifestyle writer covering home, wellness, travel, and beauty topics from an experiential angle. Previously the Associate Experiences Editor at Elite Daily, Lara has also written for InStyle, Bustle, Business Insider, and the EveryGirl. When she’s not…read more
