What is an accent chair?
An accent chair, also known as an occasional chair that serves as an accent in home decor, is a decorative, additional seating designed to create visual impact. It usually comes in a variety of shapes, materials and styles, and can be placed in spaces such as the living room, bedroom or study, mainly to create a funky focal point highlighting personality and interior style.
Different Styles of Accent Chairs
When it comes to accent chairs, their styles can be categorised based on broader interior design trends or aesthetics, including the Scandinavian style (Scandi style), the modern style, the vintage style and the mid-century style.
The modern style accent chairs often have a fashion look with simple shapes and clean lines, fitting contemporary settings. The Scandinavian style accent chairs are more like the same but they focus on more natural light wood frame and neutral to pastel upholstery, presenting its minimalism that’s ideal for airy, stylish spaces. Very different, the vintage style accent chairs often feature ornate details, plush fabrics, and a nostalgic charm. They might include tufted upholstery, carved wood, or bold patterns while the mid-century style accent chairs blend organic shapes and bold colours or wood tones, great for retro-inspired interiors or those aiming for a blend of modern and vintage aesthetics.
Different Materials of Accent Chairs
Accent chairs come in a variety of materials, including velvet, leather, metal, linen, wood. Evaluate your current furnishings and select an accent chair that can perfectly complements your home decor. For example, the velvet chairs usually create a cosy, warm atmosphere while the metal ones feel colder (even much than the wood ones) yet bring a modern and sleek touch via the chrome castors for your contemporary living spaces.
An added inspiration is that the impact of an accent chair creates can usually be enhanced by combining it with some creative, stylish patterns, such as polka dots, stripes, geometric, floral, damask and paisley.
Different Types of Accent Chairs
Armchair
As the name itself implies, an armchair is a chair with arms. It is probably the most popular and recognisable accent chair with the eye-catching design and personalised patterned upholstery. It can be a sofa chair in your living room or a reading chair on the balcony.
Tub Chair
It’s becoming very popular for bedrooms, featuring rounded shape, low and curved backrest. It’s always a perfect, comfy place to sink into, while maintaining a modern and minimal look.
Slipper Chair
A slipper chair is a large upholstered chair that sits low to the ground and lacks arms. It was originally designed for women’s dressing room to help them slip on their shoes, who worn tight corsets with wide petticoats. Today, it’s more versatile to be used in many rooms as it has built with many materials, such as wood or metal framing, fabric or faux leather upholstery.
Club Chair
A club chair is more likely to have a deep seat usually covered in leather, sometimes with a wide to oversized look, offering great comfort. It’s also possible to find a club chair in other materials, such as fabric cloth, rattan or wicker.
Wing Back Chair
A wing back chair has a higher backrest than a club chair does, with a “wing” design on the back. It’s very classic, but today it has changed into a more modern version, making it easier for home decor.
Chaise Lounge
It’s also as Chaise Longue, an upholstered sofa in a chair shape that is long enough to support your legs. It includes any long recliners that you can recline or lie down.
Various Scenarios for Accent Chairs
Accent chairs can be put anywhere in your home, such as living room, bedroom, dining room, hallway, kitchen, balcony, study or home office.
If your living room or bedroom is large, try two accent chairs side by side to maximise the impact and pull the whole scheme together. Place a wing back chair on the side of a fireplace or bookcase to create a cosy vibe for reading, or pair a club chair with a footstool or ottoman for great relaxation on the balcony, or put a tub chair next to a coffee table when catching up with friends.
You will never be disappointed if you add throws or blankets to wrap yourself up in when you curl up in the comfy armchair to watch a film.
Have you made your decision?
I dare assume that you are still on the fence about which one you should go with because you may already know that the colour doesn’t necessarily have to match the colour palette of your interior style if you opt for a quirky contrast or a pop of colour. Yeah, I agree with that.
For example, if you prefer the high colour contrast, a dark navy armchair against a sand colour wall, or a blush coral wing back chair against a muted blue wall can be a good choice. Nevertheless, some of you would still be less aggressive when making a decision on the colour scheme. In this case, you can choose the chair with a low contrast colour but in an exaggerated design, and the chair will also be a statement piece in your space.
Last but not least, consider the size of the chair to make sure that it fits the space where you are planning to place it according to your room layout. Don’t forget to measure twice before your final decision.
Often single seats, accent chairs provide additional seating in a room, but their main function is to highlight personality and style and become a focal point. Select the right one by narrowing down styles, shapes, colours, sizes, materials and patterns. Be your own interior fashionista!
About WOLTU
Since its foundation in 2007, WOLTU has been adhering to the concept of environmental protection, innovation, aesthetics and practicality. So far, we have served more than 10 million families in Europe with tens of thousands of household products. Our products range from indoor and outdoor furniture to household supplies and garden products, so you can design your own life in the most convenient way.