Hello and welcome! It’s easy to overlook that many everyday conveniences are quite modern. We're not talking about cutting-edge tech like Peloton bikes or smartphones, but everyday items that haven’t been around much longer than you have. Let’s take a look at some everyday inventions that are newer than you might think. Feel free to let us know in the comments about any other unexpected innovations you'd like to hear about!
Sofas
It's hard to imagine a time without sofas. While the French had sofas as early as the 1600s, these were more for lying on than sitting. The first recognizable sofa was the Chesterfield, created in the 1700s by Lord Chesterfield, who wanted a dignified piece of furniture for sitting. The Chesterfield became popular among the British upper class, but average people didn't start having them in their homes until the Victorian era. The rise in popularity of sofas coincided with the explosive growth of radio and television in the early 20th century. By the end of World War II, most Western homes had a living room dominated by a sofa and a television.
Interstate Highways
If you wanted to drive across the United States before 1956, you had to navigate some awful local roads. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 planned for over 40,000 miles of high-capacity interstate roads to ensure speedy cross-country travel and make urban centers easier to evacuate in case of a nuclear attack. The interstate highway system wasn't fully completed until 1992, but it remains under constant construction.
Plates
In medieval times, plates weren't commonly used. Most meals were soups, stews, and porridges, which didn't work well on flat surfaces. People used trenchers, trays made from stale bread, which could be eaten after the meal or given away. The upper classes used pewter plates, which often contained lead. In the 1600s and 1700s, European nobility became obsessed with Eastern ceramics and porcelain, known as fine china. By the 1900s, thanks to industrialization, most people in the UK and US were eating from ceramic plates.
Novels
In Shakespeare’s time, plays were meant to be watched, not read. Nearly all entertainment was performed communally. Books were mainly non-fiction, used by a scholarly elite. The birth of the novel coincided with the spread of literacy among common people. Early novels of the 1700s often posed as biographies of real people with sensational stories. The novel as we know it emerged in the 1800s, with one of the first widely popular ones being Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published in 1812.
Picnics
Picnics, as we know them, aren’t as old as you might think. They were introduced to Britain in the late 1700s by exiled French nobles who began hosting parties where guests brought food and drink. Initially, these were indoor parties. In the early 1800s, influenced by the Romantic Movement, picnics moved outdoors. By the early 1900s, the outdoor picnic became more popular, but the modern image of a picnic with sandwiches and wicker baskets didn’t fully emerge until the mid-20th century.
Supermarkets
Before supermarkets, food shopping meant visiting various specialty stores. The first supermarkets appeared in the 1930s, but it took a while for them to catch on. In Britain, the first supermarket opened in 1948. By 1950, only 35% of America's food was bought in supermarkets. The retail world we know today developed in the 1960s with the rise of large, stylish supermarkets.
Ovens
While almost every home today contains an oven, this wasn't always the case. In medieval times, most households didn't have their ovens. Instead, they bought cooked foods from a baker or paid to use a communal oven. Cast iron ovens began appearing in the 1700s, and by the 1830s, the first compact iron ovens were commercially successful. The modern range, combining an internal oven and a cooktop, became common in the 1920s.
Backyards
Backyards, as places for relaxation, are a relatively recent development. Before indoor plumbing and refrigeration, backyards were functional spaces with outhouses, root cellars, gardens, and livestock. The concept of a backyard as a place for leisure emerged in the post-war economic boom of the 1950s and 60s, driven by advertisements and media portraying the home as a place of respite.
Forks
Forks have been used in the West for hundreds of years, primarily as farming tools. For a long time, people ate with knives and their hands. Forks were ridiculed when they first appeared, seen as a symbol of vanity. Catherine de' Medici introduced forks to the French royal court in the late 1500s. They remained a tool of the elite for a long time, becoming common in France in the 1750s and in Britain and beyond in the 1800s.
Beds
Beds, as we know them, haven't been around that long. In medieval times, families often shared a large bed, or the average person slept on the floor with rushes and blankets. The idea of separate bedrooms developed during the Renaissance and became common in the 1700s. The first spring mattress was designed in the mid-Victorian era, and by the 1950s, innerspring mattresses and minimalist bed frames became fashionable.
Conclusion
So, which of these everyday inventions surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments below!