Interior design ideas · Three rooms
A chair for reading. Chairs for the table. A chair for the desk.
The lounge chair Charles and Ray Eames introduced in 1956 and the executive chair that followed in 1960 use a short list of materials between them: molded plywood, leather and aluminum. More than sixty years later, both still look at ease in a house.
This guide follows Eames style chairs through three rooms: a living room, a dining room and a study. If you are choosing one chair, or thinking about carrying the same wood and leather through a whole home, each room shows what the chair needs around it. Light. Floor space. A table or desk at the right height.
The pieces linked below are BreuerHome reproductions and Eames-inspired designs. Sizes, finishes and set quantities come from the current product pages, so you can check them against your own rooms before you order.
Living room: give the lounge chair its own corner
Start with the reading chair
An Eames style lounge chair and ottoman takes more floor than most armchairs. The chair is 32.4 inches / 82 cm wide and 35 inches / 89 cm deep, and the ottoman adds 21.7 inches / 55 cm in front. Allow about five feet / 1.5 m from the back of the shell to the far edge of the ottoman, then leave room to walk past.
In this living room it sits apart from the sofa and turns toward the low table. That small distance is enough to make it the reading chair without closing it off from the conversation. Pale walls and a pale rug leave the curved shell and the swivel base in plain view.
The leather here is the white option. The shell in these views is lighter than the walnut veneer shown on the product page; BreuerHome lists four veneer finishes on request, so compare the product photographs before choosing.
Black leather changes the job the chair does. In the second room, a black lounge chair with a walnut shell stands by the window, across from a pale sofa, a red patterned rug and a lit wall of collectible figures. The display wall has most of the color. The chair gives the far corner some weight, so the room does not tip toward one side.
Daylight, a lamp and somewhere to put the book
Up close, the corner needs very little. Blinds soften the daylight from the window behind. A slim floor lamp takes over in the evening. The ottoman is already the footrest.
What this view leaves out is a surface for a cup or a book. A C-shaped side table beside the chair would finish it. The seat is 16.9 inches / 43 cm high, lower than most sofas, so check the height of any table against the arm before you buy.
Dining room: walnut shells at the table
The Eames-inspired dining chairs bring the lounge chair's materials to the table: molded plywood shells in walnut veneer, black faux leather seats and backs, and slim black steel legs. The back wraps around the sitter. From behind, it shows a full panel of wood grain.
That matters in an open room, because the backs of dining chairs are what people see first. In the view at the top of this page, the chairs are pulled up to a pale stone table, with the lounge chair a few steps behind. Here, two of them face each other across a narrower table beneath a single pendant. In both, stone, white walls and open shelving stay quiet, and the walnut is the warmest thing in the room.
The legs are thin and the frame is open below the seat, so the floor stays visible under a row of chairs. In a home where the dining table shares a floor with the living room, that keeps the two areas from crowding each other.
Each chair is 21.4 inches / 54.4 cm wide and 19.6 inches / 49.8 cm deep, with the seat 17.9 inches / 45.5 cm from the floor.
Measure the height of your table. A common allowance is 10 to 12 inches / 25 to 30 cm between the seat and the tabletop, which puts these chairs at a table about 28 to 30 inches / 71 to 76 cm high. If the table has a deep apron, check the clearance beneath it as well.
The chairs are sold as a set of two. Count the places at your table and order in pairs.
Study: a chair that stays at the desk
The Eames style executive office chair is the one made for a study or home office. It follows a 1960 design made for the lobbies of the Time & Life Building in New York, which is why it is often called the Time-Life chair. Tufted cushions and padded arms sit in a polished aluminum frame, on a five-star base with casters. BreuerHome upholsters its version in faux leather, in black, white or mint green.
It is a generously cushioned chair with its metal on show. Give it a desk with some depth and a clear floor to roll on. Before ordering, measure the underside of the desk and the width between its legs: the arms need to pass beneath the top if the chair is to be pushed in.
Mint green in a dark library
Where the shelving, cabinets and desk are close to black, a pale chair does some of the work of a lamp. Mint green upholstery and the bright frame lift the middle of the room, and white ceramics and book spines repeat the lighter tone higher on the wall.
Black beside warm wood
The black version is the quieter choice. With a wood desk on tapered legs, a low sideboard and one large print, it makes a mid-century modern home office without much else. Sheer curtains and a plant soften the metal.
A second seat across the desk
A study often needs a place for someone else. In this meeting corner, two walnut swivel office chairs face a cognac tufted office chair across a wide desk.
The swivel chairs are armless and compact. Their seat and back shells use the same dark-walnut veneer as the lounge chair, so the two sit comfortably in a shared room, and the seat adjusts from 18 to 22 inches / 46 to 56 cm. They suit a smaller desk, or the visitor's side of a large one.
Four chairs, three rooms
| Chair | Where it works | Upholstery and frame | Sold as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lounge chair and ottoman | Living room, reading corner | Top-grain leather in black or white; molded plywood shell with walnut veneer; swivel base | One chair and one ottoman |
| Dining chairs | Dining table, kitchen table | Black faux leather; plywood shells with walnut veneer; black steel legs | Set of two |
| Executive office chair | Study, home office desk | Faux leather in black, white or mint green; polished aluminum frame; casters | One chair |
| Swivel office chair | Small desk, second seat in a study | Black faux leather; dark-walnut veneer shells; adjustable seat height | One chair |
Details are those of BreuerHome’s listed pieces. Confirm finishes, sizes and adjustments on each product page.
The Eames Style Chairs Room Planner is a 14-page PDF ($1.99) with the dimensions and clearances for these four chairs, a ½ inch = 1 foot scale kit of cut-out furniture, a room grid to print and six color palettes. It includes a 15% code for the chairs in our Eames style collection.
The buying list
Shop the Eames style chairs
Choose the pieces that fit your rooms. Color and set quantity are shown for each.
Living room · Leather and walnut veneer
Eames Style Lounge Chair and Ottoman
Top-grain leather over a molded plywood shell with walnut veneer, on a swivel base. Seat height 16.9 in / 43 cm. Each link selects that color.
USD / chair and ottoman
Dining room · Walnut veneer and black faux leather
Eames Inspired Dining Chairs, Set of 2
Molded plywood shells with walnut veneer on matte black steel legs. Seat height 17.9 in / 45.5 cm.
$1,098.89 USD / set of 2
View the dining chairs
Study · Faux leather and polished aluminum
Eames Style Executive Office Chair
Tufted cushions and padded arms in a polished aluminum frame, on a five-star base with casters. Each link selects that color.
USD / 1 chair
Study · Walnut veneer and black faux leather
Mid-Century Modern Swivel Office Chair
Armless, with a button-tufted seat and back on dark-walnut veneer shells. Seat height 18–22 in / 46–56 cm.
$489.89 USD / 1 chair
View the swivel office chairThese are BreuerHome’s contemporary reproductions and Eames-inspired designs. They are not made by, licensed by or affiliated with Herman Miller, Vitra or the Eames Office. Prices in USD were checked October 8, 2026; current prices and availability appear on the product pages. Desks, tables, sofas, rugs, lamps, shelving and other styling objects in these rooms are outside this buying list.
A corner for reading. A table for dinner. A desk worth coming back to.
