English Arm Chairs

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English living room furniture often has an ancestral and traditional style. The pieces don't necessarily have to be antiques, but they will have a vintage look and feel to them. Their styles and materials are reminiscent of a bygone era when fine details took priority over mass-produced products. At least one comfy sofa with a generous serving of cushions is required, and unlike minimalism, the English country style embraces wear and tear and believes that shabby can still be chic.

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Chloe is a highly-regarded expert in all things vintage and antique. She’s excited to share her vast knowledge with readers and clients wishing to infuse their homes with a mixture of old-time warmth and modern comfort. In addition to her design work, Chloe regularly volunteers at her local community center, teaching DIY projects to adults and kids.

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Updated 03/08/2023

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English Arm Chairs

Buying Guide

Are English style arm armchairs suitable accent chairs?

English style armchairs make stunning accent chairs for your living room or bedroom thanks to their classic shape and eye-catching upholstery patterns. These cozy armchairs are inviting and homely, making them ideal for curling up next to the fire with a book or chatting with friends over a hot cup of tea.

To make your English style armchair the focal point of the room, opt for a unique and bold upholstery pattern that sets it apart from the rest of your furniture but complements the colors found in the rest of the decor.

For example, if you have a cream sectional sofa in your living space, you can create a gorgeous accent with your armchair by selecting a seafoam green upholstery with cream floral designs.

How large is an English-style armchair?

The standard dimensions of an English-style armchair are 35” wide and 35” deep, although you may want to give it extra room on all sides to avoid the chair looking cramped in your space. Look for turned legs on casters for added convenience.

English-style armchairs are an ideal midsize seat for your living room, study, or library. They have a couple of distinctions that set them apart from other types of seating, like wingbacks, opera chairs, or tub chairs. Also known as the Bridgewater armchair, these comfy seats have an expansive slouched silhouette and rolled arms.

Accent chairs are usually chairs that are not part of a matched set of furniture. They can serve many different purposes. They might provide added seating, give extra color to a room, or fill a space that just really needs that little something extra.

They can be in a broad variety of styles and designs, ranging from a very ordinary stool chair that provides utilitarian extra seating in a kitchen to an extremely comfortable wingbackor even a recliner. Usually, however, accent chairs are low-key additions to an already carefully arranged room.

How Can You Use Accent Chairs?

Accent chairs can be used to provide extra seating or seating for a specific purpose.

Hall Chair

If you ask guests to remove their shoes at the door, it is kind to provide a seat where they can easily undo shoelaces and perhaps pull on a pair of scuffs to protect your floors.

Since this will often be one of the first things your guests see when they enter your house, you will want a seat that is both attractive and functional. A padded bench is often a good choice, especially if it doubles as a storage chest for those hard-to-keep-track-of items that are used outdoors, but frequently needed at the door.

Extra Living Room Chair

There can be all sorts of reasons for adding a chair to your normal living room furniture. Let’s suppose you have a nice sectional couch and a coordinated coffee table. An added chair might provide a splash of color if the sectional is a soft beige or brown.

It could be needed because you need one more chair to seat every member of the family. If the sectional is floral, the occasional chair might be a muted color that will help tame down the busy vibe from the print. Or it could just be a chair that you discovered and fell in love with.

Accent Chair in the Kitchen or Dining Area

A kitchen isn’t as likely to need an accent chair, but there can be exceptions. A tall bar stool that can help the cook rest while watching the food cook could be one example of a good use of a kitchen accent chair. You might also add a chair that contrasts with the current décor.

For example, if you are using a country theme in your kitchen, and most of your furnishings are blue and white checked gingham, then you might have a bright orange folding step-stool that doubles as a seat. That orange step stool can create a focal point for coordinating other splashes of contrasting color.

Accent Chair in the Bathroom

Surprised? Don’t be. If your bathroom is large enough to have a vanity, then it needs a chair situated so that you can sit down to put on make-up, shave or whatever you need to do while looking in a mirror.

Bathroom accent chairs need to be water-resistant, sturdy, and moderately comfortable. They also need to work with the height of the bathroom vanity.

Accent Chair in the Bedroom

There are so many ways to use an accent chair in the bedroom! The first use that comes to mind is for putting on shoes and socks, especially if your bed is the wrong height for sitting.

Your accent chair can provide a spot of color in a quiet room. It can be the focal point for creating a cozy nest to read and relax by yourself.

Comfortable Spot on Your Patio

That’s right, folks. You can have an accent chair on the patio. Just be sure to select one that is made from weather-resistant materials.

Adirondack chairs make great accents, especially if you add a floral seat and back cushion. They can be painted any color you wish so your patio accent chair can be low key or it can have a bright color that really makes it pop.

How Do You Know Which Accent Chair to Purchase?

You can use those old newspaper reporter words: Who, What, When, Where and Why to drive your accent chair purchase.

Who

Who will sit in the chair? Is it for a specific person, will it be for guests? Is it for a child or an adult? When it comes to chairs, size definitely matters. The person most likely to sit in the chair should not have feet that dangle, or knees scrunched up under their chin.

Measure up from the floor to the top of the seat. Measure from the front of the chair to the back. Measure the person from the bottom of the foot to the back of the knee, from back of the knee to the base of the spine. Or just have the person sit in the chair.

What

What material is best for the chair’s function? Will it need to be easy to clean? Should its paint be lead-free? Will it be outdoors or will it be inside? Do you want people to see it right away or should it blend in?

Where

Front hall, living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, patio, professional office, school or business lobby, the place you want to put it will affect your choice of chair.

When

Now that might seem like an odd preposition if you are thinking about chairs, but it applies. Does the chair go with the architectural age of the rest of your furniture? i.e., modern, Victorian, Edwardian, traditional native American, early settler…that’s a when.

The other when is when will you use it? Will you want to relax in the chair in the evening? Will you bring it out for guests? Will it sit beside your pool in summer? When you use a chair counts.

How

As a rule, one might think that the primary use of a chair is to sit in it. But how will the person who sits in your chair occupy that space? Will he or she sit decorously in one spot?

Or will they wiggle about and turn upside down? Will they be applying several hundred pounds to the seat? Will they sit there while playing a musical instrument? Will they be trying to put a child to sleep? How a chair will be used should affect your choice.

What is the Main Thing the Accent Chair Should Do?

The name says it all. An accent chair will enhance the appearance of your room. It might do it through an eye-popping color that creates a focal point, or it might do it by toning something down so that it doesn’t stand out quite so much.

An accent chair might just be providing a place to sit or it might fill up a space that just looks bare. There are so many different ways and places to put an accent chair, that each one is an individual choice. Best of all, they are so much fun to shop for, to select and to enjoy.