Furniture
24 furniture terms used in interior design, each with a clear definition and how to use it.
Accent chair
An accent chair is a single statement chair used to add character, color, or pattern to a room, distinct from the larger pieces of furniture (sofa, sectional) it accompanies. The term is broad, encompassing any chair that serves a decorative-statement role rather than primary seating, and includes club chairs, wingbacks, slipper chairs, bergères, and many other specific chair styles.
Banquette
A banquette is built-in bench seating, typically running along a wall and often paired with a table, used in dining nooks, breakfast areas, kitchens and restaurants. Banquettes maximize seating in tight spaces, add architectural definition to a dining area, and have become one of the most-coveted features in modern kitchen and casual dining design.
Bergère
A bergère is a French armchair with an exposed wooden frame around the upholstered seat, back, and arms, featuring a closed back (unlike open-backed chairs), substantial upholstery, and elegant carved wood detailing. Bergère chairs originated in Louis XV France and remain a signature element of traditional, French country, and Hollywood Regency residential interiors.
Buffet
A buffet is a piece of dining room furniture similar to a sideboard, typically a low cabinet (30-40 inches tall) with drawers and cabinet doors, used for serving meals and storing serveware. In American usage, "buffet" and "sideboard" are often used interchangeably; in some traditions, buffet implies a wider, more substantial piece, while sideboard implies a more elegant smaller piece.
Canopy bed
A canopy bed is a bed with an overhead fabric covering (the canopy) supported by a frame above the mattress, historically used for warmth and privacy in unheated bedrooms, today primarily for romantic and decorative effect. Canopy beds combine traditional four-poster structure with substantial fabric drapery to create dramatic, intimate, and visually substantial sleeping spaces.
Chaise longue
A chaise longue (French for "long chair") is an upholstered piece of furniture designed for reclining or lounging, typically with a single elongated seat, one armrest at one end, and a back at one end. Originating in ancient Mediterranean cultures and refined in French aristocratic design, the chaise longue remains a luxury statement piece in residential interiors.
Chesterfield
A Chesterfield is a classic sofa style identified by deep button-tufted upholstery, equal-height rolled arms and back, low seat, and traditional leather (though now also produced in velvet and other fabrics). It originated in 18th-century England and remains one of the most recognizable furniture silhouettes in Western design.
Club chair
A club chair is a deep, low-armed, fully-upholstered chair designed for relaxed seating, featuring a substantial cushioned seat, wide rolled arms, and a comfortable reclined posture. Originating in 19th-century English and French gentlemen's clubs, club chairs remain one of the most popular and versatile accent chairs in residential design.
Console table
A console table is a long, narrow, often legged table designed to sit against a wall rather than freestanding, used in entries, hallways, behind sofas, and against any wall where a slim styling and storage surface is needed.
Credenza
A credenza is a long, low cabinet, typically with closed storage doors or drawers, used for storage and as a display surface in dining rooms, living rooms, and home offices. The form descends from Renaissance Italian sideboards and became one of the defining furniture silhouettes of mid-century modern design.
Daybed
A daybed is a piece of furniture functioning as both seating and sleeping surface, typically with three sides (back and two arms or ends) and a flat mattress or cushioned base, used as a sofa-and-occasional-bed in living rooms, sunrooms, offices and guest spaces.
Drum table
A drum table is a small round table, typically with a drum-shaped base or pedestal, used as an accent table beside chairs and sofas. Compact, often architectural, and one of the most versatile pieces of accent furniture available.
Eames chair
The Eames chair refers most commonly to the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1956 for Herman Miller, a molded plywood and leather lounge chair that became one of the most recognizable and most-imitated pieces of mid-century modern furniture in history. The Eames name also covers many other Eames-designed chairs.
Étagère
An étagère is a piece of open shelving, typically an upright cabinet with multiple shelves and minimal sides, used for displaying decorative objects, books, plants, and collections. The word "étagère" means "stage" or "tier" in French. Étagères range from delicate gilded Hollywood Regency pieces to substantial industrial-style modern versions.
Four-poster bed
A four-poster bed is a bed with vertical posts at each corner, historically supporting a canopy or fabric drapes over the bed, originally for warmth and privacy in cold drafty bedrooms. Today, four-poster beds (with or without canopy) are popular for their substantial visual presence, traditional architectural character, and ability to anchor large primary bedrooms.
Headboard
A headboard is the upright panel at the head of a bed, historically functional (protecting sleepers from cold walls) and aesthetically central to bedroom design. Headboards define a bed's style and personality more than any other element, with common types including upholstered, wood paneled, wrought iron, and built-in.
Hutch
A hutch is a tall piece of furniture consisting of a lower cabinet (similar to a buffet or sideboard) topped by an upper open display cabinet, used for both storage and prominent display of dishes, glassware, or decorative objects. Historically called a "court cupboard" in early English usage, hutches remain foundational pieces in traditional, country, and farmhouse dining rooms.
Ottoman
An ottoman is a low, upholstered seating or footrest with no back or arms, used as a footstool, extra seating, low side table, or coffee-table substitute. One of the most flexible pieces of furniture in any home.
Sectional sofa
A sectional sofa is a sofa made up of multiple connecting pieces (sections) that combine to form an L, U, or other configuration, designed to accommodate more people, define a seating area, and fit room shapes that conventional sofas can't.
Settee
A settee is a small upholstered sofa for two people, historically the formal in-between piece sized between a single armchair and a full sofa. Often more architectural and less casual than a small sofa or loveseat.
Sideboard
A sideboard is a low cabinet (typically 30-36 inches tall) used in dining rooms for serving and storage, featuring drawers and cabinets for serveware, table linens, and accessories. Sideboards have substantial flat tops that can hold serving platters during meals or display vases and decorative objects when not in use. They're foundational to traditional, English country, and refined contemporary dining rooms.
Slipper chair
A slipper chair is an armless, low-seated upholstered chair, designed originally for use in dressing rooms (where a woman could sit to put on her slippers) and now used widely as accent seating in living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms.
Tulip chair
The Tulip Chair, designed by Eero Saarinen for Knoll in 1956, is one of the most recognizable mid-century furniture forms, featuring a sculptural single-pedestal base supporting a curved fiberglass seat, designed to eliminate the "slum of legs" Saarinen saw beneath traditional chairs.
Wingback chair
A wingback chair (also wing chair or saddle-cheek chair) is an upholstered armchair with tall side panels ("wings") flanking the head, originally designed to protect the sitter from drafts and direct heat from fireplaces. One of the oldest and most enduring chair silhouettes in Western design.