Investing in a charming accent chair is one of our favourite ways to refresh a living room or bedroom. Wooden armchairs are excellent additions, especially if you have many soft sofas and upholstered pieces. They're easy to move around when hosting senior guests who prefer a more upright seat. Additionally, these chairs help balance the room's aesthetics, preventing it from feeling too squashy or overly plush.
Carver chairs, also known as accent chairs, are versatile seating options. Originally designed as comfortable seats for the heads of the table, wooden carver chairs have proven to have many other uses around the home. They serve beautifully as standalone pieces, perfect for the living room and hunkering down with a good book in.
In this blog post, we've curated a selection of our favourite wooden living room chairs to help you create a stylish interior.
For a countryside feel, choose a Farmhouse style carver chair
A Farmhouse carver chair has an aesthetic deeply rooted in the English countryside. You might have seen this classic British design lending a place for guests to rest in a countryside pub. It’s a popular choice for this uniquely British institution for its homely, welcoming feel. These qualities, are why we recommend these timeless pieces for your home.
The classic Farmhouse fiddle back chair design is one of the most recognisable. It gained popularity during the Queen Anne period of furniture and decor styles, which began in mid-18th century England. The chair's distinctive central design resembles the shape of a violin. While the origin of the term "fiddle" is unclear, it's thought to stem from the Latin word "fidula," an early term for violin.
Beech wood is a popular choice in furniture production for several reasons. Its beautiful light colour and knot-free appearance make it ideal for creating clean, smooth furniture pieces. Known for its strength and durability, beech wood ensures that furniture items will stand the test of time. The wood's fine, straight grain allows for easy working and shaping, providing versatility in design options. Beech wood has been the material of choice for these Farmhouse chairs for decades. We're proud to continue this tradition by using it in our own furniture collections.
Above: Our Farmhouse Fiddle Back Carver Chairs and Farmhouse Spindle Dining Chairs around a rustic table in a provincial home in Lauzerte, France
A Windsor Carver Chair makes a timeless statement
The Windsor chair, originating in the early 18th century in the town of Windsor, England, is known for its distinctive design featuring a solid wooden seat and backrest of steam-bent spindles. The carver variation, with its added armrests, became popular for its comfort and versatility, evolving from a simple country style to a beloved classic in both rural and urban settings.
This design, when equipped with an attractive cushion or throw, makes a beautiful statement when placed by the fireplace or in the corner of the bedroom. It's ideal for those who enjoy reclining in a solid, sturdy chair while immersing themselves in a good book.
Interestingly, Eline Restaurant in London styled our Windsor Carver Chairs as a pair in a cosy corner, placing an elegant round side table between them. This setup allows diners to set down their wine glasses while enjoying good conversation. You can easily recreate this charming corner in your home—it's a fabulous idea for an informal dining space.
Above: Our Windsor Carver Chairs in our natural wood colour in Eline Restaurant, London
A painted accent chair for a writing desk makes a pretty vignette
In autumn 2024, Homes & Gardens announced that bold statement colours would define interior design trends in the coming years—as if they ever truly went out of style. Picture mid-century modern greens, dramatic oranges, and deep, sophisticated purples.
If you're hesitant about committing to bold painted cabinetry or walls, one of the simplest ways to introduce vibrant colours and add individuality to your interior is through painted furniture. Rather than focusing on large pieces like dressers, accent chairs offer an easy entry point—they're versatile and can be easily moved around.
Bold statement colours not only introduce character to your interiors but also add a luxurious aesthetic to your home. The contemporary form and minimal detail of our Edinburgh Carver Chair make it an excellent candidate for painting. Its streamlined shape, even when painted in a bold colour, keeps the room feeling light and airy, ensuring the chair complements rather than overwhelms the space.
Above: Our Edinburgh Carver Chair painted in Brinjal by Farrow and Ball, offers a relaxing place to sit at the writing desk.
Introduce a mid-century modern vibe with a Rattan Armchair
The Chandigarh rattan armchairs, designed by Pierre Jeanneret in the 1950s, are iconic pieces of mid-century modern furniture. These chairs were part of a larger urban planning project in Chandigarh, India, led by Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Jeanneret, Le Corbusier's cousin and collaborator, created these chairs specifically for the administrative buildings in the newly planned city.
The chairs' design beautifully blends functionality with aesthetics, featuring a distinctive V-shaped leg structure and woven cane seats and backs. They represent a perfect fusion of modernist principles with local craftsmanship, embodying the spirit of post-independence India's aspirations for progress and modernity.
Our version of Pierre Jeanneret's design features a woven cane backrest and a faux leather padded seat. The jet-black paint creates a striking contrast with the light-coloured cane rattan, making this chair a versatile piece. It's perfect when styled as a pair in a sitting room or used individually as a comfortable writing desk chair.
Above: Chandigarh Rattan Armchair
Wooden Tub Chairs
Tub chairs are characterised by their rounded, bucket-like shape that envelops the sitter, providing a cosy and intimate seating experience. With their low backs and wrap-around arms, wooden tub chairs offer both comfort and style, making them versatile pieces that can complement various interior design styles from traditional to contemporary.
These chairs typically feature a solid wooden frame, often with visible grain patterns that add warmth and character to the piece. The curved design of tub chairs not only provides aesthetic appeal but also offers excellent support, making them ideal for relaxation in living rooms.
A pair of our Captain's Tub Chairs placed side by side in the sitting area can help break up the overly plush feel a living room might have when there are too many upholstered elements. Like the Edinburgh Carver Chair, the Tub Chair boasts a sleek design, characterised by a series of spindles forming the legs and backrest. This adds a lightweight feel to your interior.
To enhance both comfort and style, we suggest adding a cushion to the Tub Chair. This not only provides extra cosiness but also helps tie the chair in with other upholstered elements in the room, creating a cohesive look.
Above: Our Captain’s Spindle Tub Chair in our dark oak colour