I first saw the lack of household luxuries pointed out in Jérôme Carcopino's "Daily Life in Ancient Rome." Reconstructions of wealthy Romans' rooms, even in the late imperial period, seem to be devoid of anything other than a couple couches and chairs, and maybe a desk or a bed.
I'm wondering when in history this trend noticeably changed, and people (or at least wealthier people) started to fill their houses up with cushiony couches and chairs, carpeting, cabinets, armoires, etc. etc.
The Industrial Revolution certainly increased the amount of furniture and knick-knacks that ordinary people could afford to have, but it's important to remember that museum room reconstructions (even ones from more modern periods, such as those seen in historic houses in the United States) often owe a lot to the aesthetic sense of today, the preferred way of thinking about an historic period, and/or to a desire to increase the floor space for visitors, and so may not be as authentic as they could. Artistic renderings reflect more of the first two considerations, obviously. While we know that the Romans had less furniture than today, you don't have to go very far back in time to find substantially less stuff in a home than we consider normal today.
