What Is an Accent Chair and Why Your Living Room Needs One

Home design is an ever-evolving field. There was a time when the perfectly decorated home consisted of exactly matched pieces. Color was brought in with draperies, table covers, and lots of knick-knacks. 

Later, in the 1990s, it was popular to paint walls in bright colors. You would often see three walls in one color, with the fourth wall in an accent color. Furniture pieces in this period tended to be solid, intense colors. 

In recent years, the trend has been for wall colors to return to a more neutral palette. By making the wall a neutral color, you can let your decor pieces speak more clearly, while also making it much easier to take your style with you if you ever need to move. Anyone who ever had to paint over a burgundy accent wall so they could get their rental deposit back can vouch that moving wasn’t always convenient. 

Accent Chairs give a Pop of Personality

An accent chair can be any chair that contrasts or coordinates with but doesn’t match other elements in the room. Think of an accent chair as a piece of art that you can sit on. You can introduce an interesting shape, or set a mood with a vibrant or soothing pattern. 

Any Chair Style Could be an Accent Chair

An accent chair could be anything from a huge fluffy armchair, to a sleek modern masterpiece that barely resembles the traditional idea of a chair. As long as it doesn’t match the rest of the furniture in the room, it is an accent chair.

 In some rooms, you might not have room for a full-sized armchair. Put a ladder backed cushioned chair in a bright color to offset the neutral color palette on your existing living room suite. If you are needing to round out the furniture in a big room, bring in an overstuffed chair in a solid color, and add a bright cover or pillows.

An Accent Chair Can Completely Change the Look of a Room

Most people don’t have the budget or the ability to replace their living room suite with anything approaching regularity. A sofa and loveseat can be very expensive, and are difficult to move, requiring either a moving crew or a team of family and friends along with a truck or trailer. With an accent chair, you can refresh the look of a room with a piece of furniture that fits in the back of a small SUV!

Another benefit of an accent chair is to occasional seating into a room, that serves an aesthetic purpose when that seating isn’t needed. Find an interesting shape or an appealing pattern. Look for something that you will enjoy looking at, and even if it is rarely used, it will have a purpose in the room. 

Sometimes, the accent chair is the most popular piece of furniture in the room. By being eye appealing, guests will sit there first, because it may seem “special”. This can help your occasional seating not feel like the leftover chair that no one wants to sit in.

Look around your living room. If it looks a little tired or boring, think about adding an accent chair before you decide to throw out your whole set of living room furniture. 

The right accent chair can add value to anything from a small living room that feels boring and needs a little extra occasional seating, to a modern great room that looks sparse and needs something vibrant to round out the space and draw the eye back down to living level. There is something that an accent chair can do for every living room.