Statement Chairs: A Love Affair!

I think my love affair with chairs began as a teenager, when I went to an exhibit of American Furniture at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. I found many of the chairs to be so beautiful, they could be considered not just functional seating, but ART!

I still feel that way, especially when you have a Statement Chair in your home.
(Or, in my case, several!)

What is a statement chair?
Just what it sounds like: a chair that makes a statement, adds an accent to a room, or maybe is even the centerpiece of a room. It is often the one piece that pulls all of the other elements together.

One of my favorite home decor sights, One King's Lane, has a new feature.
 It's called the Home Decor Resource Guide, and I have found it to be very useful and quite interesting, especially if you love furniture and home decor as I do! You can learn so much about your style, how to achieve a certain look, even the history of your particular furniture piece.

Recently, I used this Resource Guide to learn more about some chairs I have in my home.

I inherited 2 of these chairs from my dad who loved antiques.
I found out that they are from England, late 17th century.

You can tell by the Jacobean legs (spiral-turned) and carved crown on top.
(If you know your English history, you know the crown symbolized a return to the monarchy after Cromwell's Puritan reign in the 1600s.)

This little chair is early 20th century from Mexico. I love the peeling red paint. The seat cover is my own touch of "cottage chic" that makes it work with my style.

But I really love my wing chairs. I have been enamored of wing chairs since I was a child. I love the shape: the high back and "wings" that come out on each side. They are such a comfortable place to sit and read, have a chat, or just think deep thoughts!

 

They bring to mind a past era where people settled in for the evening with a good book by the fire or spent their leisure time in the "library".

Actually, I learned from the Resource Guide that the original purpose of the wings was to protect a person from drafts and trap the heat from the fireplace.
 They were developed in England in the 17th century, a cold and drafty place if there ever was one!

I have 2 of them, both yard sale finds, 20th century reproductions.
I made slipcovers for them from drop cloths.

Each one is a little different; one has blue piping, pleats and buttons,

while the other is a bit simpler, with a blue stripe down the middle.

Although wing chairs were originally made for castles in England over 400 years ago, they can work in my cottage-style living room when I use a fabric like a drop cloth. And that's the great thing about chairs: you can take any style and make it your own, and it will make a statement in your home!

One's King Lane's Home Decor Resource Guide
has all the information and details you need, whatever your style!