From the old, open fireplace, often situated in a small cavity, below ground level, this evolved into a ground level fireplace, and later on to the stone, clay or brick foundation, 40 to 50 cm high, on top of which the oven and the smoke stack were built. In two-roomed houses the open or partly closed fireplace is continued in the “living-room” by the oven or “blind stove”, the warmest corner of the room. This appears only in the south and west parts of the country – Dobruja, Wallachia, Oltenia, Banat, Bihor. At the other end of the room, next to the windows, was the corner with the table. Alongside the walls there were two wide benches (Romanian: lavita) used as beds by some members of the family. Later on, they were closed with boards and transformed into a kind of case (wardrobe), a protected space for clothes, textiles and other valuables of the household. This simple piece of furniture is found all over Romania; in Transylvania it functions both as a case and a bed. These wooden benches seem to be the oldest types of peasant furniture. The bed, as a separate piece of furniture, only came into use from the beginning of 18th century or even later. The oldest type of bed – the earthen or clay bed – was to be found in Dobrudja and the Wallachian Plain.The dowry chests (Romanian: lada de zestre) are found only in some areas like the Cris Country, in the western part of Romania, central Transylvania, and Valcea county. Another piece of furniture that you would see in all peasant houses is the table. South and east of the Carpathian Mountains (Oltenia, Wallachia, Dobrudja, Moldavia), the Oriental and Balkan influence can be seen in the shape and height of the table: small, round, with three low legs. The tall, rectangular, four-legged table was especially common in Transylvania, Banat and parts of Moldavia. At the end, came the chairs - the most representative chairs, from the point of view of decoration, are the chairs from Bihor, the Lapus County, Maramures and Oltenia.
