10 Head-Turning Accent Chairs for Your Living Room

• Get the look: Mica Barrel Chair, $519.99

This velvet stunner is like the after of a movie makeover montage. It’s the classic barrel chair silhouette with an edge from the thick brass frame. The cobalt upholstery is as energizing as an ice-cold shower (but not at all jarring). Nix the sofa and gather a quartet of them around a cocktail table instead—a chair this good can go it alone.

• Ulla Accent Armchair, $498

Traditional African mud cloth motifs are given a vibrant twist in the colorful upholstery adorning this graphic armchair. While we love the black-and-white version, the chair also comes in a warm tones and a cool tones palette.

Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair is an icon, but it’s more than a pretty piece of design history. The curved back and wings are genuinely comfortable—it’s like sitting in a hug. Need another reason to love it? The single pedestal takes up less floor space than a traditional four-legged seat, and it swivels, making this a nice fit for a small living room.

This leather petal chair and ottoman set, with its botanical shapes and verdant hue, almost camouflages against the greenery seen through the picture window. Talk about a nature escape in your own home.

These vintage rope chairs play perfectly with the coffee table’s wood base, the teak side tables, and the blue velvet statement sofa. The casement windows, letting in the outside greenery and sunlight, form a perfect backdrop.

The over-the-top texture of sheepskin turns even a wooden folding chair into the most-fought-over seat in the house. Get the look in two ways: a piece upholstered in shearling, a look that’s been popular in Scandinavia for a while and starting to show up here; or by laying sheepskins over an existing chair (IKEA offers them at a great price and size).

Rattan is the darling of interior designers everywhere because the flexible material allows furniture makers to produce rad shapes. As a result, a curvy rattan chair is often just the foil a boxy sofa needs. And like many natural materials, rattan can slip into almost any style of décor, bringing a huge dose of cool with it.

Vivid upholstery is an attention-stealer, for sure, but the real genius of this custom armchair is the contrasting welting (the piping that outlines the chair and seat cushion). It draws the eye to the curves of the wing chair, making a traditional piece downright sexy.

Deep, rich color is sometimes all you need to create a design moment. A curvy reproduction lounge chair in navy, along with a boxy gold ottoman, add verve to a serene sitting room.

Is it a gallery-worthy work of art? Is it a seat? Yes and yes. This Frank Gehry cardboard chair is almost too precious to sit on, but it plays well with the towering sculpture, bark cloth, and wood elements in the room.