I was recently deciding on what accent chair I should get for our front room sitting area (such a Southern house thing for sure!) and I went through a little checklist of questions in my brain to help me find the perfect piece for our space, and so I thought I`d share the tips with you as well!
Consider your color scheme!
This may be the first thing you think of when deciding on adding an accent chair-the color! I know for me I specifically wanted a pink chair to compliment the pops of pink that were already throughout the room and I also knew the pink would set it apart from the grey couch next to it. Think about your room and decide if you`d rather have a color that blends in to the existing color scheme (if so, choose a neutral shade or a color that appears a lot in the room) or have one that stands out as a focal piece (if so, choose a color that appears less often in the room if at all). If you really want a stand out color in a room, just make sure that the color (or a similar shade) appears at least 1-2 other places in the space, even if it`s somewhere small like on a pillow or in a piece of artwork, so the chair doesn`t feel like a total anomaly. And I like to match hardware color throughout the house as much as I can for continuity, so I`ll choose gold legs over silver/chrome, etc.,
Is your aesthetic eclectic, consistent, or a mix?
Do you have a strictly defined personal style that runs throughout the entire house or is your home a cute hodge-podge of lots of different styles and eras (or somewhere in between)? I personally have a pretty particular palate when it comes to home decor (California mid-century modern pastels with a twist!) and I can quickly sort through items to see what would fit and what wouldn`t, so I like to stay within those design choices to make items feel cohesive in the overall space. If you are more eclectic, then you don`t need to worry as much about if the chair is from the right era of design (or even which part of the world the design is inspired by), so you would choose the item more based on color scheme and proportions that fit your space. If you are somewhere in between, I would suggest having the larger pieces in the room, like chairs, tables, and couches, follow a particular theme and then do decor variations with the accent items in the room. Sometimes even small touches can help add cohesion, like using furry fabrics in different areas of the room similar to the soft fluffy pillow I chose for the chair.