Carolina Cottage Chestnut Wood Folding Library Chair: Home Depot Reviews

As you might expect, my TikTok For You Page is pretty consistently filled with home interior inspo and trends. I’ve seen dozens of cloud couches, disco ball decor, mushroom lamps, and more — it comes with the job territory — so it’s not often that I come across a piece of furniture that I’ve never seen before. (Or, at least seen some similar version of before.) That’s why when this post about something called a “library chair” popped up on my feed, I didn’t keep on scrolling — and boy, am I glad I didn’t.

In the video, we see interior design creator @thegratzlife demonstrating a gorgeous vintage chair flipping over and into a step ladder. “Why don’t they make cool things like this anymore?” one of the top comments reads. Several users added that they’d even gotten theirs as family heirlooms, and a quick search reveals that most vintage ones on the market cost a pretty penny. But all hope isn’t lost: Home Depot sells a brand new, equally-as-stunning ladder chair, so you can get the exact look for less!

This library chair combines utility and vintage-inspired aesthetics in a way we don’t often see in modern furniture — often, you’re sacrificing one for the other. Said to have been designed by Benjamin Franklin back in the 1700s, this chair is an ingenious two-in-one that, as a short person often struggling to reach the top shelves, I immediately wanted to buy. I suppose you could even consider it a three-in-one because it has a small shelf below the seat for extra storage, where you can put other trinkets on display.

After assembling it, all you have to do is undo the hinge, flip the top half forward, and it becomes a sturdy step ladder. And since the chair is brand new instead of an antique, you don’t have to worry about rickety-ness when you climb on it, which is a major plus. Finally, you can ditch that eyesore of a step stool and carry this beauty between rooms instead.

I can’t believe I’ve never heard of a library chair before now, but now that I know about it, I can’t stop thinking about it. Who knows — maybe after you add it to your furniture collection, it’ll be passed down as a family heirloom one day, too!