The  arrangement of  furniture offers a faithful image of the familial and social structures of a period. The  typical bourgeois interior is patriarchal; its foundation is the dining-room/bedroom  combination. [...]

The  pieces of furniture confront one another, jostle one another, and implicate one another in a  unity that is not so much spatial as moral in character. They are ranged about an axis which  ensures a regular chronology of actions; thanks to this permanent symbolization, the family is always present to itself. Within this private space each piece of furniture in turn, and each room, inter- nalizes its own particular function and takes on the symbolic dignity pertaining to it - then the whole house puts the finishing touch to this integration of interpersonal relationships within the semi-hermetic family group. [...]