Karen McCartney writes about why she's powerless to resist a small backless seat, and illustrates with two images from her own home plus her favourite pins. 

OK, there are two things I cannot resist buying – one is a bowl – small timber, large ceramic, super cheap, super expensive, old and slightly cracked, new and designer - I am totally without boundaries. The other, you might have already guessed, is a stool.

What is not to like? There are a million reasons why you need them. There are ones that can be stacked and brought out when extra guests arrive, they make a handy bedside table, can double as a coffee table beside a sofa, act as a plinth for a plant or small display of ceramics (bowls?), they are a handy styling prop in the bathroom with a neatly folded hand towel and bar of specialty soap on top. Need I go on?


This Mushroom Stool from Japanese compnay Tendo Mokko is more sculpture than practical.

From a styling perspective, I like the seemingly casual air they bring to a room. Larger pieces of furniture need a fixed position whereas these little articles can move around as required. They have replaced the slightly dated idea of a nest of tables and you can have a few styles that complement one another without having to be a 'set'.

I am loathe to confess exactly how many I have but there are two Japanese ones (home of the sculptural stool), several Danish ones (mostly from second hand shops), one I brought home on the plane from England, one my husband bought from a junk shop hoping it might be an early Charlotte Perriand (that was his excuse anyway) and last week we bought two aluminium stools with leather tops (a sale bargain). Oh ,and our TV sits on one. Writing this it is hard to believe that there is room for any other furniture in our house.


This basic vintage Danish stool is one of three we keep for extra visitors or use as a side table.

So, as you can imagine, choosing great examples for a Pinterest board has not been a hardship. Here are five favourites with another 13 on the board – each with an idea of how they work within the home. I hope you enjoy the selection – it did give me a few ideas.


Image - Kira Brandt.

I was delighted to find this photograph as it combines the novel idea of stacking stools with a few simple bowls. It has overtones of a Chinese rusticity but the pretty rubbed-back colours stop it being too country.


Photo - Marc van Praag & Sunna-Ra Bijl. Styling - Marianne Luning. 

The textures of the baskets and the stools perfectly complement one another combining white and straw to create a sense of beautiful utility. I love the baby stool tucked away under the larger ones. Very Goldilocks.


Moroccan tabore stools by UK-based Twenty One Tonnes.

A clever way to store stools is to turn them into an end of bed bench by placing them in row. This creates a useful area for books but should never become a dumping ground for clothes (who would do that? Ahem!)


A Swedish bathroom inspired by an Arabic hammam. Image - Klas Sjöberg.

I am currently obsessed by the combination of concrete and pattern tiles; the fact that there is an ancient Japanese stool in the middle of the room is just the icing on the cake.


Image via sfgirlbybay - Victoria Smith. Custom cabinetry by Michael Woo (in San Francisco).

We have a stool just like this little three-legged item, which here doubles as a resting place for coffee, or a stool for sitting (imagine) to work at the desk behind.

For more inspiration shop for stylish stools.