Vintage armchairs and chairs

A chair is the only piece of furniture you touch with your whole body. That is why mistakes register immediately: two centimetres too high and the table becomes awkward; the wrong upholstery and the chair looks tired within a year. Below are the numbers and distinctions that actually matter.

How many chairs fit, and at what spacing

Each person needs 60 cm of width at the table to eat without touching a neighbour’s elbow. A 180 cm table seats three along the long side, not four — the fourth fits on paper and does not fit at dinner. The second number, more often ignored: the gap between the seat and the tabletop should be 27-30 cm. Since most tables stand at 74-76 cm, the right chair has its seat at 45-47 cm. A beautiful chair at 50 cm leaves your knees pressed against the top.

Savonarola, Chippendale, Chesterfield: what each name means

These are not decorative labels but three different eras. The Savonarola chair comes from the Italian Renaissance — a folding X-frame in bent wood, with no upholstered back; it is a character piece, right as an accent rather than as a set of eight for daily meals. Chippendale is English, eighteenth century: a pierced fretwork back and cabriole legs, designed precisely for the dining room. Chesterfield is not a chair at all but an armchair: diamond buttoning, arms level with the back, leather that patinates over years. When you are after a complete set, Chippendale is the one found in even numbers; the other two almost always turn up as single pieces.

Upholstery: what lasts and what gives way

On dining chairs, where people eat, texture matters more than colour. Tapestry weaves and dense fabrics take abrasion for years and forgive a stain; velvet looks extraordinary but remembers every fingerprint until it is brushed. Natural leather is the most practical choice: it wipes clean, patinates well and does not hold odours. Pale colours on dining chairs are a promise few people can keep. And one thing that matters specifically for vintage pieces: upholstery can be replaced at any time, cheaply relative to the price. A solid wood frame cannot. You are buying the frame, not the material over it.

A single armchair changes a room

A well-chosen armchair does more for a living room than a new sofa. Set diagonally to the sofa, 80-100 cm away, it opens a second centre in the room and breaks the rigid wall-sofa-television line. In size, an armchair 70-80 cm wide suits almost any living room; beyond 90 cm it becomes the lead piece and demands space around it. If your sofa is already neutral, the armchair is where you can risk a colour or a patterned upholstery without committing the whole room.

Living Room

Dining Room