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An accent chair is a have to-have in just about any living room. Not only are they an additional seat, which will make your residing room sense a complete ton much more sociable and cozy, but they are also a amazing option to include an added layer of depth and interest to your dwelling room plan.
Just as with any other addition of new furniture, it’s critical to just take the time to figure out what will do the job in your place. You will require to 1st make your mind up the place you want to posture the accent chair, and assess the space you have obtainable. ‘Take treatment to ensure they don’t dominate or muddle a area,’ suggests sought-just after interior designer Naomi Astley Clarke. ‘Make certain that they are correctly proportioned for your space, and correspond with the encompassing furnishings.’
Future, will come the entertaining component pouring in excess of the aesthetic choices for your new piece of residing room furnishings, these as colour, design and style and form. With so a lot of options, it can be overwhelming – fortunately we’ve enlisted the help of a panel of gurus to share the most trendy techniques to deciding on an accent chair.
10 living area accent chair ideas
1. Go for a contrasting colour
(Impression credit: Owen Gale. Design and style: Barlow & Barlow)
An accent chair can be the great position to introduce a contrasting shade inside your dwelling space. Lucy Sear-Barlow (opens in new tab), co-founder and creative director of inside layout studio Barlow & Barlow, is a big admirer of a contrasting accent chair and often weaves a single into her patterns.
‘I like to decide on accent chairs in bold and playful colours that contrast with the relaxation of the furniture’, she claims. ‘The trick is to make confident that, despite currently being a contrasting shade, the shade still feels in maintaining with the overall plan of the home. I propose retaining one particular neutral shade very popular to ground the house, and then throw in a thing a small much better for your accent chair to give the room that excess oomph.’
When it will come to deciding on the best contrasting shade, Lucy suggests experimenting ‘There’s no proper or erroneous way to figure it out it absolutely depends on your flavor and design,’ she states. ‘So begin slowly and gradually, and attempt out various items – you will quickly discover that matchy-matchy is not the way forward, and essentially the surprising combinations are usually the most pleasing!’
2. Just take a cohesive method
(Image credit: TR Studio)
If distinction and juxtaposition are not your issue, maybe you’d prefer to opt for an accent chair that sits in harmony with the relaxation of your plan. Founder of TR Studio Tom Rutt (opens in new tab) favors cohesion around contrast, and likes to continue to keep points tonal when pairing sofas and accent chairs.
‘When putting together a home structure, the intention is to build cohesiveness across your scheme that appears to be like effortlessly put jointly,’ he states. ‘For this motive, it is my feeling that the fantastic accent chair should really boost a scheme and not be much too jarring.’
‘An straightforward way to accomplish this, irrespective of whether it be with a plain or patterned material, is to pick a shade from the exact tonal palette as your sofa,’ clarifies Tom. ‘This will still make a attractive visual impression, but in a curated and deemed way.’
3. Contemplate texture and shape
(Impression credit: Nune)
As properly as coloration, both of those texture and shape are massively essential features to take into consideration when it comes to picking out an accent chair. This attractive job by Nune inside structure studio is not only a masterclass in decorating with neutrals, but it’s also a outstanding instance of how to enable a room’s authentic architecture manual your choice of household furniture.
‘This dwelling was constructed in 1958, so we took cues from the mid-century interval, though retaining some fluidity in our wondering,’ suggests Sheena Murphy, founder of Nune. ‘Mid-century structure typically has remnants of the deco time period at perform in its architecture and furnishings, so we embraced smooth curves in equally the framework, and the decorative aspects in just the property. This accent chair epitomizes our technique, and it is cocooning condition delivers a welcoming invitation into the room.’
In the absence of daring and bright colour, neutral strategies rely seriously on the use of intriguing textures and tactile resources – and an accent chair is a excellent way to up the dose of these in a living room, as Sheena explains ‘The blend of oak and product boucle material delivers heat and supplies extra texture, adding just the correct sum of desire into an if not quite tranquil and restrained place.’
4. Supply a classic piece
(Impression credit score: Adrian Gaut. Style and design: Crystal Sinclair)
Browsing next hand is as substantially about getting kinder to the ecosystem, as it is about generating households that feel authentic and characterful. Not only is it the sustainable alternative, but it is also a great way to incorporate an surprising twist into your decorating strategies that feels unique to your type. In this residence intended by Crystal Sinclair, almost 80% of the home furniture is classic, such as the incredible accent chairs in the living home.
‘Decorating with antiques helps to outline the character of a room, and also functions to replicate your own individual flavor and way of life,’ says Katie Lion, senior interior designer at Kitesgrove. ‘Balancing antique and contemporary household furniture within just the place room generates a layered aesthetic that appears more organically curated more than time.’
There is, of training course, a knack to sourcing the real gems – but the tricky work is section of the thrill and gratification. ‘When on the lookout for a vintage accent chair, antique fairs and flea marketplaces are a good put to start out for a lot more very affordable and unique pieces,’ claims Katie.
5. Select some thing sculptural
(Picture credit rating: Craig MaGee. Design and style: Rachel Usher Inside Style and design Studio)
An accent chair is a terrific opportunity to go for a thing a bit out of the standard and make a assertion within your living place. When sofas, on the most section, current acquainted typical designs and standard types, a standalone accent chair can often carve out a a great deal much more unusual and astonishing silhouette.
Rachel Usher (opens in new tab), founder and inventive director of Rachel Usher Inside Design Studio, speaks to the attraction of deciding upon the extra shocking designs ‘An accent chair can truly aid make a room pop with individuality, and the beauty of accent chairs is that they are likely not to abide by the predictable styles of a greater upholstery piece,’ she suggests. ‘They can be sculptural items in their personal right, and can be dealt with pretty much as interactive art inside a room.’
If you are unsure of where to start out, or are nervous to start experimenting with strange designs, Rachel implies on the lookout at beloved style and design classics. ‘I generally appreciate to search at iconic structure classics first when deciding on an accent chair,’ she suggests. ‘These timeless expenditure pieces can established the narrative for the total plan, and give a place instant structure qualifications.’
6. Pare again with a wood style and design
(Picture credit history: Anna Stathaki. Design and style: Stability Inside Style)
When accent chairs are terrific for encouraging to increase further colour, texture and depth to a plan – you can also use them to dial again the intensity of a place and introduce a extra striped down experience. Equilibrium Interior Structure has a distinctively classy and pared back aesthetic that operates by means of each individual of their jobs.
Founder Gemma Tucker (opens in new tab) often makes use of accent chairs as a signifies of counteracting other heavier aspects in a home. ‘To achieve a more pared back design and style, consider introducing a wooden accent chair along with upholstered seating,’ she says. ‘The difference in form and content provides a lightness, class and distinction to a scheme. Feel spindle back Windsor or cane pieces – all the better if they are classic or a handmade piece.’
If you’re not having substantially luck sourcing the excellent second piece or are not ready to go bespoke, there are a great deal of other solutions. ‘Luckily, there is a great variety of wood accent chairs in substantial street retailers, building it an available possibility for all budgets,’ suggests Gemma.
7. Feel about positioning
(Image credit history: Nicole Franzen. Style: 1818 Collective)
Do not forget about to element in the positioning of your accent chairs, as this should feed into the layout decisions you make. For example, if the chair will be put near your living space Tv set, you might wish to take into consideration opting for a structure with small arms so as not to interrupt the see from somewhere else in the place. Or, if you are placing an accent chair in the window, keep away from upholstery in a dim color as this could take in a good deal of mild – alternatively select a brighter coloration to bounce light into the space.
Interior designer Naomi Astley Clarke (opens in new tab) is a grasp at thinking of each and every element, and the identical goes for accent chairs inside of her types. ‘For rooms the place accent chairs sit absent from a wall and extra centrally in a area, a contrasting fabric on the back again of the chair is a great way to be certain the home furniture structure seems viewed as,’ she states. ‘It also permits you to increase an added aspect of exciting into the room.’
When it will come to deciding on an accent chair, Naomi delivers some reliable information ‘I would steer clear of mixing distinctive styles of furniture – as a substitute adhere to a very similar type as your sofa, but experiment with pattern and colour.’
8. Pair it with a side table and sufficient lighting
(Picture credit history: Stephan Julliard. Layout: Humbert & Poyet)
As nicely as all of the aesthetic considerations, keep in mind to consider about the performance of an accent chair. When they make for a beautifully attractive contact in any dwelling home, they ought to also supply a usable spot to delight in too – and this indicates styling them with a few of critical additions.
The 1st is a side table, simply because someplace to spot a consume or book is crucial for the convenience of any seating, as perfectly as a opportunity to introduce some side table decor. Secondly, be sure to also accompany the set up with sufficient lighting a wall light-weight is fantastic for accent chairs inside alcoves, if not a floor lamp makes for the best lover.