The essential piece of furniture you didn’t know you needed
Design: Time & Place Interiors / Photo: Gloria Kilbourne
Would you believe a piece of accent furniture has the power to transform your space? It’s true. When your interior designer includes an accent side chair in your furnishings plan, there’s good reason!
The single side chair can be a critical element in a room. First off, it’s multifunctional. In an entryway, it offers a spot to put on your shoes. The accent chair can be moved around for extra seating when you have guests. It can support a stack of books, and even serve as surface for a lamp, if you’re in a pinch. And it could stand in front of a bookshelf to hold overflow, or work as a casual nightstand.
And as an interior decorating tool, the side chair can be critical. Its movable quality offers a nuance to a static arrangement of a sofa and armchairs in a living room. When it has an interesting shape, the chair is like a sculpture in the form of furniture: it adds instant personality. I especially love it placed under a work of art or next to case goods piece like a credenza, for visual balance.
Don’t just take my word for it: enjoy a selection of great designs with the single side chair from effortlessly classy homes.
- Ksenya, founder of Time & Place Interiors
A modern cane chair gives this Lower East Side bedroom a punch of personality. That, and the funky hanging dress. (Ok, the beamed ceiling too.) Design: Daphne Javitch / Photo: Sarah Elliott
An American vintage painted side chair adds some whimsey next to an antique Mongolian sideboard. Design: Time & Place Interiors / Photo: Angela Newton Roy
Modern + traditional mix expertly in an Upstate New York house hall, with a contemporary chair by Kendall LeCompte next to a patina-rich antique cabinet. Design: Alyse Archer-Coité / Photo: Francesco Lagnese
The Art Deco chair makes the entry in this classy Soho entryway sing. Design: Nicholas Obeid / Photo: Tim Lenz
In a tight bedroom squeeze, a stylish chair like this Brutalist model in a Parisian apartment, can save the day. Design: Emmanuelle Simon / Photo: Damien de Medeiros
The sculptural quality of an original Pierre Chapo chair makes it perfect for just about any space, and here it’s ideally placed in a quiet corner of a Manhattan townhouse. Design: Giancarlo Valle / Photo: Stephen Kent Johnson
Nice and easy does it with a single antique cane side chair in this streamlined Brooklyn bedroom. Design: Meredith Winfrey / Photo: Perry Hall
If you own more art than you have walls, try propping up a piece on a side chair, like this photograph by Clarence John Laughlin on an antique neoclassical side chair in a Manhattan apartment. Design: Vicente Wolf / Photo: Pernille Loof
Make that a double. A bold juxtaposition of styles, with a pair of antique side chairs and a mod 1970s ceiling light by Robert Sonneman, in a New York City entryway. Design: Caroline McKeough / Photo: Alexandra Rowley
Is a single statement chair and a gorgeous original work of art all you need for great design? Quite possibly so, judging from this vignette, with a Jean Prouve chair in front of a Benjamin Abramowitz painting from the 1960s. Design: Sheila Bouttier / Photo: Stephen Kent Johnson
Good design should feel effortless
Time & Place Interiors offers residential design services for New Yorkers seeking a curated, unique home. Founder Ksenya Malina leans into her knowledge of art and design history to craft spaces that feel original, layered, and thoughtful. Use the link below to explore design opportunities for your own sophisticated home:
