Lumber room

The large houses of the well-heeled of Britain commonly had much very old, well-built furniture in them, more than was to be used in every room at any given time. Every piece was made-to-order. When not needed, it was neither sold nor discarded by them. At least one out-of-the-way room was selected to store the pieces that were not in use. This was called the lumber room. Such is what is alluded to in the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), whose first reference is Richardson's novel Pamela and which is mentioned in a bit more detail in Daniel Pool's literary reference book of the 1990s, "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew," among other literary reference works.

The phrase "lumber room" is found in British fiction at least during the 19th century (e.g., Arthur Conan Doyle's 1891 Sherlock Holmes short story "The Five Orange Pips"), and the use of the word lumber in this phrase is that found in many obsolescent turns of phrase heard in various English-speaking countries. Probably one of the most evocative references is the short story by "Saki" (H. H. Munro) called "The Lumber Room": "Often and often Nicholas had pictured to himself what the lumber-room might be like, that region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes and concerning which no questions were ever answered. It came up to his expectations. In the first place it was large and dimly lit, one high window opening on to the forbidden garden being its only source of illumination. In the second place it was a storehouse of unimagined treasures."^[1] In Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, The Lumber Room is one of several places Scrooge looks for intruders when he returns to his dismal, dark home after his 'melancholy meal in his melancholy tavern' on Christmas Eve.

The OED mentions in the verb "lumbering" that it first meant to obstruct with pieces of wood to make things from, and then shifted to general obstruction, hence furniture fit the later meaning.

Also referenced by J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings. "His memory is like a lumber room. Thing wanted always buried." Found in book 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring.

References

↑ http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/397/| accessed 10/06/2010

Rooms and spaces of a house

Shared residential rooms	Billiard room Bonus room Common room Den Dining room Ell Family room Garret Great room Hearth room Home cinema Home office Kitchen Kitchenette Living room Man cave Recreation room Shrine Study Sunroom

Spaces	Alcove Atrium Balcony Breezeway Conversation pit Deck Elevator Entryway / Genkan Foyer Hallway Loft Loggia Patio Porch screened sleeping Ramp Secret passage Stairs Terrace Veranda Vestibule

Utility and storage	Attic Basement Box room / Carport Cloakroom Closet Electrical room Equipment room Furnace room / Boiler room Garage Janitorial closet Larder Laundry room / Utility room Mechanical room / floor Pantry Root cellar Semi-basement Spear closet Storm cellar / Safe room Studio Wardrobe Wine cellar Wiring closet / Demarcation point Workshop

Private rooms	Bathroom Bedroom / Guest room Boudoir Cabinet Jack and Jill bathroom Nursery Suite Toilet Walk-in closet

Great house areas	Antechamber Ballroom Butler's pantry Buttery Conservatory Courtyard Drawing room Fainting room Great chamber Great hall Long gallery Lumber room Parlour Porte-cochère Saucery Sauna Scullery Servants' hall Servants' quarters Smoking room Solar Spicery State room Still room Swimming pool Undercroft

Other	Building Furniture House plan Multi-family residential Secondary suite Single-family detached home

Architectural elements	Arch Baluster Ceiling Colonnade Column Floor Gate Lanai Lighting Medallion Ornament Portico Roof Vault

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