Furniture Glossary for Furniture Shoppers - R

Rabbet Joint: A joint used in furniture and home decor construction that's formed by fitting together boards into which rectangular grooves have been cut.

Ragging Off: A paint effect caused by rubbing/wiping a painted surface with a rag or piece of leather.

Rail: The horizontal piece running across the top of a dining room chair back.

Rail Joints: The places where the horizontal members of an upholstered frame meet.

Railroaded: A fabric that's been applied with warp (length) running horizontally across the piece of furniture and from front to back along the arms.

Rake: The angle or slant of a non-vertical furniture leg.

Rattan: A type of climbing palm with very long and tough stems that are often used in wickerwork. Find wicker and rattan furniture.

Rayon: A synthetic fiber that's derived from the cell wall of plants. Rayon is famous for its rich luster, pilling resistance and absorption of dye colorings.

Ready-Mades: Standard sized draperies that are factory-made. Find curtains and drapes.

Récamier: An elegant sofa or chaise popularized in the Victorian and Empire eras of furniture design. Often called fainting couches. Find a fainting couch or chaise lounge.

Receding Colors: Colors that appear more distant, such as blue, gray or bluish-greens.

Recliner: A chair or rocker that reclines back. Find a recliner.

Reclining Furniture: Furniture that has a mechanical system allowing the user to adjust into a reclining position. Also called motion furniture. Find reclining furniture.

Reeding: Basically the reverse of fluting in which beaded lines are projected onto a surface.

Refectory Table: A narrow long table design that was originally used in the dining rooms of religious orders.

Regal: Generically, a traditional furniture style characterized by majestic forms. Many especially European furniture styles are further characterized by the name of the specific monarch or monarchical dynasty during the style's time period, such as William and Mary and Tudor style furniture.

Régence Style: This furniture style spanned from about 1715 to 1723, when France was ruled by a regent. This style of furniture design was a transition from massive straight lines to graceful curves.

Regency: Neoclassical style of British furniture popular during the first half of the 1800’s. This style spawned adaptations and true reproductions of Greek and Roman furniture and coincided with Directoire and Empire furniture styles in France.

Relief: Any sculptural ornamentation raised above its surface or background.

Renaissance Style: This furniture design movement began in Italy in the 13th century and continued through the 17th century. It often features ornamentation inspired by Michelangelo and Raphael. The furniture is true to the purpose of the piece and often incorporates mythological or biblical figures. Walnut is often the wood of choice.

Rep: A plain-woven fabric that has a heavy filler thread, which creates a corded effect.

Reproduction: New furniture that’s a copy of an antique style or period.

Republic: A variation of the Federal furniture style.

Resiliency: Term used to describe the property of foam, fiber, fabric or a spring unit to spring back to its original form.

Restorations: Antiques or collectibles that have been brought back to their original condition through reconstruction, refinishing, and/or the replacement of parts. Restoring a significant piece can considerably decrease its value, which is important to consider before doing, or when buying a piece of furniture that may have been restored.

Retro: A contemporary retrospective view, which reinterprets some of the best-loved furniture looks from the 1930's to 1980's. The mood of these pieces is playful and ironic. The classics have extra emotional punch because you recognize such items as exaggerated Hollywood sofas, 1950's boomerang tables or wacky 70's chairs.

Return: The piece of an L-shaped desk that is perpendicular to the main desk unit, which provides extra working or computer space. Find office furniture.

Revival: Reproductions of classic American furniture styles from the 1700’s, although not always accurate in detail. Revival pieces were popular from the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. Also known as just "Revival".

Ribbon-Back: A chair with a back resembling entwined ribbon.

Ribbon Band: A narrow trim of fabric around the edge or base of a sofa, chair, pillow, drapery, etc.

Rice Carved Posters: Tall heavy bedposts that are carved with decorative details such as rice or tobacco plants. They are symbolic of the wealth of plantation owners in northern Georgia and the Carolinas where the style originated.

Rick-Rack: A waved braid used for trim.

Rietveld Style: In the early 20th century, the Rietveld furniture style grew from the Dutch Arts and Crafts movement with a strong Frank Lloyd Wright influence. Machined forms and manmade materials figured in this furniture style, which sought to preserve the integrity of Arts and Crafts while embracing the modern world.

Rocaille: An ornament style from the Rococo Period consisting of an abstract shell or leaf motif.

Rococo: A very elaborate style of European furniture design originating in France during the early 1700’s.

Rococo Revival: A very ornate Victorian furniture style originally popular in the mid 1800’s, which is best known for elaborately carved rosewood parlor furniture, balloon-backed chairs and triple-crested sofas.

Rod Pocket: The hollow space in the top or bottom of a curtain through which the rod is inserted. Find curtains.

Roll-Together: The result of a worn-out or defective mattress that sags in the center, which causes your body to want to roll towards the center. Find a new mattress.

Roll Top Desk: A desk with a slatted panel front that rolls down to hide its writing surface. Find home office furniture.

Rolled Arms: Arms appearing to have ruffled effect that flare out and down, and return to meet the sides of a sofa or chair.

Roman Shade: A tailored fabric window shade that folds sideways. Find shades and blinds.

Romanesque: Early medieval furniture with crude Roman influences. Characterized by arches and curves, simple geometric arrangements, coarsely rendered animal and plant forms, and painted in decorative hues. Found throughout Europe, the Romanesque style preceded Gothic and Renaissance furniture styles.

Rosemaling: A Scandinavian/Norwegian folk art rose painting.

Ruching: A narrow gathered/pleated strip of decorative fabric.

Ruffled Pleat (Sheer Pleat): A skirt treatment in which fabric is gathered to achieve a ruffled effect.

Rule Joint: A knuckle joint as between a table top and drop leaf that leaves no open space when the leaf is down.

Runner: A rocking chairs curved rocker, the piece that allows the chair to rock. Find a rocking chair.

Rush Seat: A seat that’s woven with a series of rushes.

Rush Seat Chair: Traditionally a rustic American or French chair with woven rush seats.

Russian Style: The Russian furniture style is a blending of styles from throughout Europe. The production of metal furniture can be considered a purely "Russian" phenomenon since the production of metal furniture was not found elsewhere in Europe at the time.

Rustic: Simple furniture style typical of country life, more recently the term has been applied to rustic southwestern furniture.

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