Learning how the whole home can be kept in reach with a home stair lift

In July of 2009, I was musing over how the timely installation of a stairs lift chair in the home could mean that the upstairs of one’s home would not have to be out of reach any longer. For obvious reasons that potential for accesibility would be abig deal for many facing increasing restrictions upon their personal mobility.

Back then I had seen some (at that time) recent dealings with stair chair lifts being installed in people’s homes and it had brought to mind my first exposure to such mobility aids when I was a child.

In can still remember back when I was little boy and my Mother and I were out visiting at the house of a senior lady who was living on her own in a very large house and whose physical abilities had been steadily deteriorating. Despite her lessened condition however, she was able to still live in the familiarity and comfort of her own home with just some minor assistance from a home support worker and the regular visits of a community nurse because she had been able to have a stair chair lift installed in her home, having it run up alongside the main staircase. I remember being quite impressed by what I was seeing there given that at that time such a set up was not so common to see in someone’s residence. Of course thinking back upon it now the design was a bit more rudimentary than I am used to seeing today and as I recall, the seated portion of the chair lift did look to be rather basic and uncomfortable looking. The point that I am trying to make here however, is that because this person could afford to take the initiative and go and have such a mobility aid installed in the first place, she was able to remain living in her own home that she was used to and not have to resort to relocating to a one story residence or even to a community care faci lity for more independent seniors. For me, that is always going to be a strong example of how much difference the right mobility aids introduced at the right time can make in the lives of the physically challenged.

Learning how the whole home can be kept in reach with a home stair lift

The upstairs of the home is no longer out of reach: The home stairs lift chair

When I was a young boy, I remember going with my mother to visit the home of an elderly lady who lived alone in a very large house; In this house there was a mechanical stairs lift chair that ran all the way up the side of the main staircase. I remember at the time thinking that that was something that you didn’t see all the time and that for someone to have such a thing in their home must mean that they were somebody special. Of course this was during the late seventies and the truth of the matter was that this was a person who was quite well off and could afford a mobility device that was much more expensive to have installed at that time compared to today. Since that time I have had the opportunity to see a few more of these enabling devices and come to appreciate how much of a difference they can make in the life of the elderly and the disabled. For such people, going up or down the stairs can oftentimes be a challenge considering their physical condition. Of course many elderly and disabled individuals are able to live independently in their own homes with just some assistance instead of twenty four-seven care, of course an implication of this is that such individuals might need help and assistance at times when there is no one there to be of any help or assistance. So if you are on your own and need to do something that most might take for granted like, say, go up or down the stairs, then the installation of a home stair lift chair makes perfect sense. In the past you might have heard references made to such types of devices as a handicapped or handicap lift chair, a stairs lift chair or a motorized chair lift, these are all pretty much referring to the same kind of thing: a chair lift for stairs in the home.

The upstairs of the home is no longer out of reach: The home stairs lift chair

The right power lift chair can mean reclining in comfort and safety

It was about two years ago this month that I decided to kind of codify what I thought I had learned up to that point on the subject of mobility aids in general and motorized reclining power lift chairs, considering them at the time to be an enabling mobility aid suitable in most any home. Now, two years later, do I still feel the same about the potential benefits of such an equipped chair in the home?

It was a comforting and pleasing memory of an elderly gentleman that I use to help look after that had got me thinking about this kind of home-based mobility aid in the first place;  As a community support worker, I had been helping to look after a senior gentleman who had been experiencing a lessening of his own personal mobility over a number of years due to the effects of his early experiences with polio disease when in his youth. My thoughts of him in the recent past had led me to start thinking of the various mobility devices that he had had in his home to help him get by on a daily basis. One that he really treasured was his electric lift chair recliner that he had in a prominent spot in his living room that allowed him to relax and enjoy watching television in comfort. When I mentioned this device to someone else who also works in healthcare one day and how much of a difference it was making for this man who would otherwise find it too difficult to get safely in and out of his recliner without much assistance, they asked me whether it was a two position, a three position or an infinite position model of chair and whether it had been custom sized for the man? The look on my face must have told this person that I really had no clue of what it was that they were asking me. Seeing as how I was the person that had broached the subject in the first place, it was a bit embarrassing that I could not offer any kind of informed opinion on the subject. Looking back at my discussions on this a couple years ago I think I failed to mention this embarrassing lack of knowledge on the chairs as the motivating factor for my subsequent digging on the subject, choosing instead to just chalk it up to my ‘idle curiosity’.

The right power lift chair can mean reclining in comfort and safety

An enabling mobility aid for any home: Reclining electric lift chairs

A while back, I was helping to look after an elderly gentleman in his own home as a community support worker and one of the enabling mobility devices that he had in his home to help aid him on a daily basis was a motorized or electric lift chair recliner. When out of curiosity I started looking into what kinds of electric lift chairs were out there, I have to admit that I was a little amazed at the diversity of chairs that are to be found on the market today. The important thing to remember is that often when our bodies start to show serious signs of aging, some tasks become more difficult. One task that can become very titanic is standing and sitting. lesser chairs, like recliners, are often surprisingly onerous to raise out of for a senior, especially if an individual has been sitting for an extended period of time. This is why many folks use lift chairs. A lift chair is a recliner, but it is also much more. In the base of the chair, an electric motor helps to control the backrest and footrest. This motor also raises the chair slowly through the air. Such mobility aids are also commonly known as motorized lift chairs and even handicap or handicapped lift chairs, however that last term is somewhat pejorative in nature.

From my own experiences in the workplace dealing with some of my clients, the ones that have their own lift chairs in their own homes have made it clear to me just how much of a difference owning such a mobility aid has made in their lives; the fact that they can relax in comfort in their own homes and not feel any stress or sense of urgency in regards to needing to have someone come to their assistance any time that they need to vacate their recliners for such reasons as that of needing to go to the bathroom. The feelings of inconvenience, frustration, and even alarm are not uncommon in situations where one may need to transport them self to the bathroom facilities on short notice and therefore require the assistance of others to leave their own chair hastily. the home lift chair recliner solves this dilemma quite effectively for many individuals with restricted mobility.

An enabling mobility aid for any home: Reclining electric lift chairs

Old intentions get a fresh new start: Increasing awareness of personal mobility aids

What you are reading here is not my first ever post on a health care related website. In the past I have cobbled together a few varied articles on such aspects of Community health care as the use of mobility aids for sites such as Hubpages. After that, I decided to experiment with a blog of my own based on my own experiences of over ten years with a comunity health care agency in my city of Vancouver, British Columbia. However, that experiment was not in fact this here site. My first blog effort was over at one of those free websites that works okay and looks okay, but which comes with the unavoidable extended url address thing, so that my site name had to end with “blogspot.com”. I always thought that it would be nice to have asite of my own free from such extensions if the opportunity should ever arise. I also was always aware in the back of my mind that if anything should ever happen to my site (like it accidently got deleted by the site provider) then there would not be any kind of back up available to work with unless I made the efort to save each and every post on there, unlike with a self hosted site which would have my files stored with the host who would be less inclined to go and delete my content without consuting with me first. (sure it could happen but would be less likely than with a free platform host)

Of course all of these concerns would have just been moot if there had been no other motivating factors involved. However, it has been some time since my first efforts on this subject and I have started thinking about the possible merits of reviewing and updating all of my observations on the subject of community care. I figured my options here would be to either go back and update all of the stuff that had come before or to instead take the plunge and commit to a new self hosted site of my own complete with a new website name/address and new updated presentations of my thoughts on health care in my community.

Old intentions get a fresh new start: Increasing awareness of personal mobility aids

From stair lift chairs to mobility scooters – all there to increase your personal mobility

It recently occurred to me that I have been working in community health care for almost ten years now as a Resident Care Attendant. wow, where has the time gone, eh? I have to admit that my work has really increased my awareness of the issues related to and involving access and mobility for elderly individuals and for those individuals who are physically disabled. Before entering the health care field, I knew that there were many people who were – due to their various personal circumstances – say, confined to a wheelchair, but I did not have much appreciation for the varying degrees of limited, restricted access or disability that people experience and how each individual has to deal with them.

Now, with some years of exposure and experience behind me I have to admit that I can really appreciate these differences in the individual situation. Recently, i have had reason to think over what I have actually learned about the issues of mobility and access and have decide to in a sense codify or unify this knowledge by putting together this site. At one time I knew what wheelchair was but could not adequately describe to you the difference between a wheelchair and a power chair or what a ‘power chair’ even was; I could not have told you the difference between a wheelchair and a lift chair or a stair lift ( effectively a chair lift for stairs ) and a mechanical lift. And if you asked me the difference between a scooter and a mechanical wheelchair, I would have been challenged to tell you. Well, here is where I hope to present some helpful information on the differences. I figured that one of the best ways to present this information would be to break it up by category, giving each category of mobility aid or device its own area of focus. This way I can give such things as lift chairs, stair lift chairs, mechanical or motorized wheelchairs and scooters appropriate coverage. So with this site I will be able to elaborate on what I have seen with my own eyes; I will be able to reflect on how I have seen various clients go out on the town and far afield in their electric or motorized wheel chairs and be able to attend functions such as Weddings and other social gatherings and feel more a part of their local community because they were not so greatly affected by factors like having to find someone able to physically help move them around or to even help get them to the location of an event: with their power chair, they often are able to transport them self to a location unaided. With the standard home lift chair recliner, I can reflect on how I have seen clients be able to relax at home in their own living rooms and not feel stressed because they now have the capability of getting out of their own recliner without the need for any assistance; without such an accessible chair, they were facing the regular and often urgent concern of needing help to get out of their chair for any time that they needed to use their bathroom. Any discussion on here regarding the variety of stair lift chairs out there would certainly include my observations of how the installation of such devices in the home of someone I have known has meant a huge difference in her ability to access all points of her multi-storied home, something that she was no longer able to do before due to a slow or gradual decrease in her personal mobility. Finally, I will want to include my experiences working with a t least one client who, due to severe decreases in her personal mobility resulting from advanced stage Cerebral Palsy, had until recently found herself much more dependent or reliant on others to get around in the community than she had ever been before – at least that is until she was able to acquire a medical mobility scooter and once again decide for herself how and when she was going to go out and about. These examples and more all come to mind. I will also try to include some mention of the different manufacturers of these vehicles and devices so that references to terms such as Golden lift chairs or Pride lift chairs will have some more relevancy to the reader.

From stair lift chairs to mobility scooters – all there to increase your personal mobility

Seniors do love their “elderly” scooters

For many seniors in the market for a personal mobility vehicle, one of the factors that can often sway them in their decision making process is the perceptions that are out there that  most motorized wheelchairs are really for those in a greater state of physical infirmity and that a personal mobility scooter would be away of saying to the world at large that you are not so completely reliant on your mobility aid for staying in touch with their community. Personally, however, I cannot help but see this perception in the senior community as eventually changing perceptions in general with regards to who is the typical user of a medical scooter.

The medicare scooters and the powered wheelchair have some obvious physical differences of design. It’s because mobility scooters is probably well known to 40% of the multitudes who try that. Did you ever read an essay about physically disabled like that? This is the way that you can instantly learn more relevant to disability. I covered motorized wheelchairs from a slightly different angle previously. We’re trying to complete this job. Mobility aid is top quality in my opinion. It is how to rapidly fix mobility aid problems. If I can do that you can do it too. I was fooled by the simplicity of it. That is for serious poor people only. This is no gimmick. This is a fantastic way to enjoy the lifestyle of experiencing elderly scooter. Some regulations are actually enforced. I, de facto, cannot follow my widget. I am sure this is one of the least interesting posts you’ve read on this combination. Let’s look at the down side of this, which isn’t this obvious. I could build a community of newcomers who want handicapped scooter information. There it is! By its own nature, it seems very time consuming to do something like that just to get some physically disabled. Physically disabled was lately mentioned on the news. Really, we’ll move on to mobility aid. Your disposition changed my life although some of your disability ideas will be winners. Where can perfect strangers spot free disability forums? Physically disabled has an wise ability and I don’t have a clue touching on what I’m doing. It wasn’t documented. Always remember that teachers are interested in your medicare scooter. I’m talented in that way. This is a realistic price. I’m going to reveal these secrets. The argument they made could hardly be stronger. Recently I conducted a quiet survey among routine readers concerning that mystery. The truly marvelous ones will appear. Using that can prove to be tricky. I don’t understand your circumstances though. As usual, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve also been around advisors who don’t share my view of physically disabled. Here is a good many breaking news. This wasn’t an eye pleaser. To be certain, in the long run, we lose. In effect, why will mobility aid not work? I am promoting this theory. Motorized wheelchairs doesn’t. Have you found the same thing? Using that procedure, you could even increase your disability inventory. It is spiffy to see how gate crashers do correctly clarify an intricate matter like a topic. It will be simple to locate a realistic disability is that it looks less into motorized wheelchairs. I have devoted a considerable amount of my effort to researching and developing my handicap scooter. This is the pure truth. Sure there are a ton of mobility aid but few folks seem to make the effort with motorized wheelchairs.

So I should sum it up here and say again that I cannot help but see a time when the perceptions of the elderly scooter will be near if not at par with perceptions of the motorized wheelchair as being a means of transport for those with significant degree of personal physical disability.

The home stair lift can really make a difference in many a home

With any homeowner living in a multi level householdwho is perhaps faced with an amount of restricted  mobility due to age or instead a younger individual struggling with any permanent disability, one of the  most challenging problemsin the home has got to be the ability to get oneself up and down the stairs.  For any individualfindingthemselves in this challenge the answer is most likely to have some style of lift  device installed on their premises.  For sure it should never be enough to simply recommend that an individual go  and procure a home stairlift of some category by the first retailers they find that can come out and  install it. Instead, the opting of any such piece of equipment ought to be the consequence of certain well thought-out  contemplation of one’s definite requirements or needs with any stair lift mechanism, such as whether it  would be preferable to possess a standing stair lift, a stairchair lift, or else some type of  amalgam of these two.  Once this has been done, it’s as a result time to search out a company that can sell and install such a  lifting device in the home.  Needless to say this step ought to be influenced by arming oneself with a  considerable sample of frank critical reviews of any businesses that someone could very well be considering for the task.

Not surprisingly it is only wise for anyone to confirm that they really are dealing with a decent seller  who is offering what is believed to be trustworthy manufacturer brand names of stairlift chairs  prior to making their buy to be sure that they are purchasing a device that is going to final as  long as required. Among the principal suppliers of stair lift gear are names like Savaria Concord,  Bruno, Thyssenkrupp Access, just to name certain. With nearly all cases, the stairlift makers are the  ones responsible for the proper setting up and repair of the equipment. So many stairlift  manufacturers have gone as well designed chairlifts that include a diversity of unlike features which cater to  the differing necessities of disabled users. Stairlifts can be made use of both inside and outside of  the home. A stairlift custom-made for the outside will provide features such as weather resistant  coatings, powder coated painting which serves as protection from the elements, and electrical  enclosures to safeguard the operating apparatus from the elements, these are all illustrations of how the  stair lift could – as well as has to be made resistant to the elements.

There are basically two main categories of stairlift offered to consumers for purchase in relation to the household  market: these are the straight lift and the curved lift. The straight lift is designed to fit  straight staircases within the domestic environment, while the curved stairlift is intended for use with  rounded staircases. As a rule of thumb, straight stairlifts are cheaper to install within the household than  the rounded lift. The aged as well as/or physically challenged individual has a preference between going with either  electricity powered lift or a battery operated lift. The battery powered choice is more advantageous  for the reason that it allows for use of the stairlift even during a power stoppage. A more current addition to  the chair lift for the stairs marketplace is the latest availability of the hydraulic stairchair lift,  although i do not honestly know anything about this manner of apparatus. In addition, countless contemporary family  stairlifts come with safety features that protect the individual inhabitant of the stairlift. So many of  the name brands as well as designs of stair lift have a safety belt incorporated. Various stair chair lifts also boast  sensors which permit them to sense any potential obstacles in the path of the stair lift gear.  Once the sensors perceive an obstacle the stair lift stops, preventing the lift equipment from being  seriously damaged and to preclude any chance of harm to the lift’s occupant.

Although I just finished clearing up how there are two chief categories of lift, there are a assortment  of designs or formats offered for both the straight as well as curved stair lift.

The first style of stair lift is the seated variety of lift. These apparatus are the class of lift  typically situated inside most home lift systems. This style of stair chairlift is the preferred design for  your mobility concerns if you could amble by yourself or with minimal assisitance (from say any manner of  mobility aid) but could not manage to get yourself up or down a typical staircase. If the  user has crutches, the seated stair lift is as well suited. This seated stair lift class consists of  a swivel chair that is complimented by custom armrests which can be lifted up to aid the rider in  conveniently transferring him or herself to as well as from the stair lift’s seat. The included seat belt  also delivers additional protection for the rider of the seated stair lift.

One more sort of stairlift is the perching chair lift for stairs. It’s akin in design to the standing  stair lift. The only underlying distinction is that the perching stairlift has a small seated area in which  the occupant can lean up against while the lift is moving up or down the staircase. The perching lift is  the preferred style of straight or curved stairlift for anyone who needs to support their back nevertheless  does not need to be completely seated. Equally, the perching style stairlift is ideal for staircases  which are narrower in their design. Guard rails offer an additional level of safety.

A last category of stair lift is the standing stair lift. This machine is designed for  people who can walk or stand with the support of a walking cane or similar aid, nonetheless find it very  awkward to move up or down the stairs sans assistance. If one person’s legs have trouble  bending or they are in a cast, subsequently the standing stairlift could very well be the ideal preference.  Likewise, the standing stairlift is as well perfectly suited for narrower staircases. The provided  guardrails additionally afford an increased level of protection for the user.

Clearly, the verdict of what style of stairlift assistance is necessary in the family, whether it is a sitting or standing stair lift, for example, is not one to  be rushed or taken lightly. Certain genuine honesty in relation to one’s own personal level of ability coupled with  a few prudent questions for a potential installer of any lift being considered, ought to result in an  reasonable stairlift decision being rendered and a total new level of freedom being delivered in to  the household.

To replace or maintain – not an easy question even during a tough economy.

In a recent column I made a reference to the “uncertain economy” and took a glance at how possibly it is time for a sea change in our modes of thinking as consumers. Since that time, I have started to discern signs that this might not be as straightforward a conversion as I had hoped. said what I said previously and then thought on it some more and arrived at the conclusion that our Western economic structure and out natural inclinations are against us in any such endeavor. I understand a cynic probably will declare that I should have deduced this from the outset but I am now and then just too guilty of being an idealist. I certainly hoped that with the need to tighten our belts that we would all start to find ways to do without the shiny and new and be happy (at least for the short term) with what we already possess. I was of the belief that now would be an ideal time for any real revival of the appreciation of maintenance over replacement, but then again, maybe not.

Honestly, you know it is going to be a hard sell when even your own government is against you – albeit inadvertently. I have always had a problem with the fact that with many consumer electronics so often it really is cheaper to replace something rather than maintaining what you already possess. A while back I needed to replace the installed battery in my electric beard trimmer. The short of it is that any estimate I got on it would see me paying at least as much to replace permanent battery as it would have cost for the latest model of that brand of trimmer. I ended up going and buying the new model and recycling the old one – but only because they could not guarantee a very long lifespan on the old one if I got the battery replaced. that was disappointing. Another example of this is with DVD players and CD players; If your player should give up the ghost, then you may find that the cost of repairs may perhaps be as little as a few dollars (say for something like just a faulty disc loading mechanism), which is great, or it could set you back nearly as much as a new player would (if we are talking about more internal issues). Certainly,who wouldn’t want to go and purchase a brand new player for the equivalent price, especially if it might happen to include extra bells and whistles and a shiny new warranty to boot? I have in addition championed the maintenance of your trusted household appliances whenever possible, but when I start hearing people protest that they could get a brand new appliance for just a little more than the price of a few necessary replacement parts, I am not stunned that they might choose to go the replacement route. I have read complaints on assorted household appliance websites from individuals who have found to their disappointment that the cost of the rival crock pot parts (such as a replacement lid or liner) that they require would likely end up costing them approximately half the cost of that original crock pot. Ouch. When the issue of cost is a wash in the equation then most people will go for the new if for no other reason than we lack discipline on such issues, even when we know the benefits to the environment of following the mantra of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. I suppose it is just a rather fuzzy concept in the back of our brains for the majority of us. Now we have this latest decision by the US Federal Government to kick start consumer spending by introducing its recent ‘cash for clunkers’ program which is encouraging Americans to get rid of their older car for a shiny new one. Now it may be that a large amount of the trade ins are actually near the end of their days of service, but I would not be astounded to find out that a number of still reliable automobiles were traded-in along the way. Not surprised at all. Well, at some point in the imminent future I honestly do expect this debate to take on a whole new feeling of urgency, however only time will tell…

Home lift chair recliners: Making moving around the home easier for the disabled and the elderly.

For almost ten years now, I have been employed as a health care worker in a community care environment, and my experiences during this time have given me an increased awareness of the issues that the disabled and the elderly must face in their own homes on a daily basis. One clear issue is that of mobility in and around the home. Many persons are sentient of how difficult it can be to move about the neighborhood but dont seem to be aware of the issues involved in getting about one’s own household.

There are many individuals who feel that they are not yet at the point where they really need the assistance of an electric or powered wheelchair to get around their own apartment but they do need the assistance of various mobility aids to live comfortably at home. For example, someone might need the help of a mobility walker to help them get from room to room, or even just the assistance of a properly outfitted walking stick to move about without trouble. I have had a number of clients who are not at the point of needing either a electric wheelchair or mobility scooter but do need the aid of a walker to move about and to get out and about from their home and into their community. An individual who does not require constant seating but who does need to be able to rest after traveling for a short distance benefits from the ability of the walker  to serve as a seating surface while out and about performing their daily duties.

One thing that I recollect one of my older clients having in his home was a powered lift chair. This was quite an impressive mobility aid. The idea behind the home lift chair recliner is that it offers all of the coziness of your typical recliner while simultaneously making it easier for folks with limited mobility to sit in and stand up from the chair. The standard lift chair recliners allow the user to recline the backrest and the footrest of the chair but they go further than that. The lift chair also has a vertical lift control that the user can use to raise the chair up at an angle. By doing this, the occupant is slowly and steadily raised up in the chair to a near standing position allowing him or her to easily leave the chair. The safety of the occupant of the recliner is ensured until it has finished moving because of the vertical rising motion of the chair. When the time comes to once more sit in the recliner, its controls can ba utilized to lower the chair, slowly and steadily, into a satisfactory sitting position. It is important that the chair offers the user slow and steady movement so that a feeling of security is maintained for the user. The home lift chair has also come to be known as the handicap lift chair, however this is really a more pejorative term for it and is not a formally preferred choice of descriptive term for it.

For the sake of the comfort of the occupant, it is essential that the lift chair is an appropriate fit for the intended user. It is now possible to purchase, without any real difficulty, a lift chair that matches the shape and size (height and weight) of the intended occupant. Failure to match the chair to its user can compromise the user’s safety.  Speaking of safety, there are a few safety features built into most standard home lift chairs today; Most lift chairs have a constant pressure switch built into their remote control handset. This makes sure that the control only activates when desired: if the hand held control should be dropped or likewise released, the raising or lowering activity will halt, ensuring the user’s safety so that they are not unintentionally tipped out of or lowered into the chair against their will. Another safety feature is the battery backup: if, for whatever reason, there should be a lack of power to the chair – such as a power failure in the immediate vicinity – then the battery backup can kick in, allowing the chair’s user to continue operating the chair and not be stranded there for any lengthened period of time. From what I can remember, the most widespread type of battery used for a backup in these chairs is the nine-volt. Obviously, just like with smoke detectors, it is key to remember to replace the battery once a year even if it does not get used.

Ordinarily there are three different categories of lift chairs. These three categories are used to explain how far back a lift chair can stretch out. The first type of lift chair is well-known as the two position lift chair. This variety of lift chair is capable of reclining back about 45 degrees. Although it is not preferable for sleeping in, this kind of chair is conducive to watching television in or for reading a book. The second class of chair is known as the three position lift chair and is perhaps the most familiar one on the market. The backrest reclines nearly horizontally, the consequence being that it is a chair marvelously suited to reading, watching some television or even sleeping. The third category of chair which also boasts a commonly available design is called an infinite position lift chair. This model of chair reclines as far if not slightly farther than a 3 position lift chair, however the footrest is capable of moving independently. In other types of lift chairs, the footrest moves in conjunction with the backrest, but infinite position lift chairs allow these two components to be adjusted separately. This makes the lift chair much more customizable for the user. Akin to the subject of customization, I also think that it is feasible to order a lift chair in a diversity of colors and patterns from a number of manufacturers in addition to an assortment of assorted replacement lift chair parts if the necessity for such replacements should arise.

I hope that this helps to illuminate the details behind the conventional home lift chair and what to be on the look out for when in the market for such a piece of furniture.