A widespread domestic innovation in the early nineteenth century was the creation of a room in which all the diversions of family life could be accommodated. This would include the provision for music, reading, drawing and social life of an informal nature. It is interesting to note the 'Napoleon' chair by the fireplace, a distinctive design supposedly devised by the Emperor with one high arm and one low. Examples of this chair were in the Imperial private rooms at Malmaison and the Tuileries and this evidence that they were more widely available is significant.