Where are the best places to buy commodes?

It can be difficult to find good deals nowadays on both modern and antique commode toilets, especially the latter as over the years more value has been placed on having antique French styles of furniture. Of course the obvious places that spring to mind are auction places, as well as car boot sales for getting some of the best deals. And with the season coming up for car boot sales, antique commode furniture and toilets are bound to be in abundance here. When going to car boot sales, try and haggle a little to see if the seller will offer a bit of a discount. This all adds to the fun.

For modern commode toilets, the best places to buy is generally online or at disability shops. Often the online stores will offer postage discounts for buying their commodes, perhaps enhanced if you buy other products from them. You may also be able to pick up some modern styles of commodes at car boot fairs as well, but these will be few and far between.

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Potty training for cats

Commode furniture

It's a reminder of perhaps the decadent times of the past, in the 17th century commode furniture was all the range and had to be displayed in people's homes. Then the first commodes had marble tops, fitted with pairs of doors. Moving towards the 18th century the commodes took on a slightly different appearance shifting towards a more convex shape, and long cabriole legs. The method of lacquering used East Oriental techniques such as japanning or marquetry. The style further changed during Louis XV reign to extravagant Rococco curves became the order of the day, thus contributing to a more lavish style than previously. The French commode was immitated all throughout Europe, but many countries including the Italians reproduced a slightly exaggerated and grotesque version of the French commode. English furniture makers, however, were able to reproduce the elegant French style and add some subtlety to it, it became a common piece of furniture in houses. The term commode up until the late 18th century was used to term low cabinets with chest draws and serpentine fronts, but reaching the late 18th century it was also used to refer to a night table containing a small chamber pot for waste - as we know it today.

Asia paving the way for more modern toilets

So last week I featured a post from a new novel design from Korean designer living in Italy: Young Sang Eun. It seems on my travels around Asia that some countries are light years ahead of clean, modern and fully functional commode toilets, whilst other countries are still relying on the hole in the ground toilets - which are undoubtedly a playground for all kinds of germs, bacterias and even diseases. When one thinks about the more modern and sophisticated designs in regards to toilets and commodes, invariably they're usually coming out of the richer Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Singapore etc. But also we shouldn't neglect the designs that are coming out of some parts of Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries which seem to always have a firm handle on the edgiest and most modern designs.

However, it's all very well having these snazzy and multi-factional commodes, but what good are they if they out of many peoples' price ranges? It is my hope that one day even the most modern of designs are affordable for everyone, and that we can help improve the sanitation and hygienic practices of even the poorest countries.

A solution to unhygienic toilets

Using public toilets can be sometimes a nightmare, especially for someone who values hygiene. Although, at present it's just a concept at the moment, Young Sang Eun - a designer from Milan, Italy has come up with the perfect solution for shared toilets in public places. It's a unique contemporary design that changes from a urinal to a toilet commode at the press of a button. Furthermore, it self sanitizes leaving a nice clean and hygienic commode after its use. This is activated by a UV triggered sterilization system. What's more is that it can be used by both males and females. As you can see form the pictures below, it's pretty high-tech, and got a great design to it. Let's hope it's not too long before we can see this product in our public toilets:

Asian Commode Furniture

Perhaps the most famous asian commodes are those made out of rosewood. Laotian rosewood has proved a cheaper alternative to sourcing rosewood from other Asian countries such as Thailand, but yet not compromising on quality. A lot of furniture designers will carefully craft their commodes to maintain the Asian authenticity, often juxtaposing linear lines with round shapes to achieve this, as in the image pictured above. If you're looking for asian commodes it's well worth checking out your local auction house, or perhaps looking into furniture companies that export to where you are if you're after something really genuine and authentic. Having a great carved and decorated asian commode, will certainly add value to the room it's going to go in.