A dressing table that closes — and moves.

Most vanities want a wall, a stool and a corner of the room given over to them permanently. This one is a chest on wheels. Eighty centimetres wide, forty-five deep, standing 120 cm tall — four drawers of clothing below, and a fitted dressing station hidden under the lid. Lift it and a bevelled mirror rises with it; underneath sit lined divisions for rings, chains and watches, a removable tray for perfume and creams, and a well deep enough to stand brushes upright. Close it and the room sees a tall chest.

It rolls on castors, which is more useful than it sounds. Few bedrooms have a dressing corner with good light in the morning — this one you push to the window and back against the wall by evening. It also means a piece this tall gets moved rather than lifted.

Because it stands at 120 cm, the mirror meets you at standing height. This is a dressing chest you use on your feet, not one you sit down to. Allow roughly 50 cm of clearance above the lid for it to open fully, which rules out a low shelf or a sloped ceiling directly overhead.

It is made two ways. Photographed here in ivory coated canvas — the material trunk-makers have used for a century, light, tough and unfussy — bound at every edge, studded and capped in brass. We normally hold one finished in the Delhi showroom. Choose leather instead and the body is wrapped in the colour you pick, with the binding and drawer straps cut in a second leather so the two can match or contrast; plain or croc-embossed on request.

Either way the body is built as a campaign trunk is built: a plywood carcass, every edge bound and set with hand-driven domed studs, half-round metal caps at the corners where a trunk takes its knocks. A cast lock plate and swing catch close the lid, and the lid locks — which is the reason for putting jewellery in it rather than in an open drawer.

Four drawers run on soft-close steel runners, each pulled by a curved strap on a metal plate. The top drawer is compartmented for watches, rings and small leather goods; the three below run the full width for folded clothing. The back is finished to the same standard as the front, so the chest is not confined to a wall.

Construction

• Plywood carcass in ivory coated canvas, or in leather in your choice of colour
• Binding and drawer straps in a matching or contrasting leather
• Bound edges set with hand-driven domed studs; half-round corner caps
• Lift-up lid with bevelled mirror, cast lock plate and working swing catch
• Fitted top compartment — lined jewellery divisions, removable tray, deep brush well
• Four drawers on soft-close steel runners; top drawer compartmented, three full-width below
• Rolls on castors; back finished to the same standard as the front
• Studs, corner caps, hinges, lock and pulls in antique brass, nickel or gold, applied throughout
• Leather plain or croc-embossed on request
• 80 cm W × 45 cm D × 120 cm H