The Timeless Furniture Pieces Every Decor Lover Should Own

Cer­tain pieces of fur­ni­ture nev­er go out of style. The Inside is break­ing down the most time­less fur­ni­ture clas­sics for us.

When shop­ping for fur­ni­ture and décor for their homes, peo­ple often ask inte­ri­or design­ers which pieces will stand the test of time – tran­scend­ing age, fam­i­ly size and fleet­ing trends. Which time­less fur­ni­ture pieces will we look at a decade from now that still make us smile? It’s no sur­prise that we place such an empha­sis on time­less­ness in fur­ni­ture design, as fur­ni­ture is no small invest­ment and should be able to grow with us in any space. But how do you know which pieces pass the ‘time­less’ test?

First and fore­most, you may find it help­ful to think of fur­ni­ture like you do a wardrobe–invest in a few key cap­sule pieces that you’ll take with you through all the stages of your life, even as trends come and go. To nar­row down your search and give you a few design ideas, we’ve tak­en a look at pieces through­out his­to­ry that have stood the test of time, and round­ed up our favorite styles below. The best part? Not only will these fol­low you from move to move (or fit right in if you’re lucky enough to buy a home), but these pieces don’t have to break the bank.

A pair of ottomans

An uphol­stered ottoman is one of those rare pieces of fur­ni­ture that solves for both form and func­tion. A duo of ottomans can infuse a joy­ful pop of col­or, pat­tern or per­son­al­i­ty (Scala­man­dré fab­rics are our per­son­al fave) into your space, with­out nec­es­sar­i­ly serv­ing as the cen­ter­piece of the room. Not only do they make your home decor feel high­ly con­sid­ered, but they serve as a last-minute seat­ing option around the cof­fee table if you’re enter­tain­ing in a pinch. For a one-two punch of func­tion­al­i­ty, opt for stor­age ottomans, which also have extra space for stor­ing extra throw blan­kets or pillows.

A club chair

The club chair’s high­lights are com­fort and ver­sa­til­i­ty. With a deep seat and big arms, they make the per­fect chair to curl up in with a good book, and look just as chic as an accent in a bed­room or liv­ing room as they do as a pair in your home office. Also known as a tuxe­do chair (back to the wardrobe anal­o­gy!), club chairs are the fur­ni­ture equiv­a­lent to the clas­sic suit: its clean lines are time­less and dap­per no mat­ter where or when.

A statement sofa

As the de fac­to cen­ter­piece of any liv­ing room (and often the most expen­sive), the sofa is one of the most high­ly con­sid­ered pieces of time­less fur­ni­ture. There are a num­ber of sofa frames that have remained rel­e­vant through the decades – from the regal Chester­field sofa (our pref­er­ence for a fam­i­ly room that doesn’t get dai­ly use) to the Mod­ern sofa (whose shape is a blank can­vas: eas­i­ly cus­tomiz­able to any design style depend­ing on your choice of uphol­stery). No mat­ter the style, to ensure you’re choos­ing a sofa that will last, pay atten­tion to where and how your piece is man­u­fac­tured. Sol­id crafts­man­ship will make all the difference. 

An upholstered bed or headboard

If a cozy bed­room is your vibe, or you love reading/watching TV in bed, then an uphol­stered bed or head­board will be your best bet. Not only will you be able to cus­tomize the bed’s uphol­stery accord­ing to your style (unlike a wood­en or met­al frame), but the uphol­stery will nev­er stop exud­ing that clas­sic, grown-up feel that pulls your entire bed­room togeth­er. And, if you’re look­ing for a change down the line, the bed or head­board will be the per­fect addi­tion to a guest room – bring­ing an ele­vat­ed and con­sid­ered sense of style to a room that often feels like an afterthought.

A circular dining table

A din­ing table with a cir­cu­lar table­top, also known as a tulip-style table or a Saari­nen-style table, is the per­fect time­less fur­ni­ture piece to grow with you across decades. Not only are these tables com­pact and easy to move, but they cre­ate the per­fect makeshift din­ing room if you’re in a small apart­ment and can be trans­formed into an entry­way of kids’ craft table if you move into a big­ger space. First ris­ing to pop­u­lar­i­ty dur­ing mid-cen­tu­ry mod­ern inte­ri­or design era of the 20^th cen­tu­ry, these tables haven’t ever fad­ed out of style. If you’re also in the mar­ket for com­ple­men­tary chairs, we love that almost any chair style works with these tables – from uphol­stered din­ing chairs for added glam­our and ele­gance, to the min­i­mal­ist Eames din­ing chair (the mid-cen­tu­ry design icon known for their icon­ic lounge chair).

A console table

Like many of these oth­er endur­ing pieces, the con­sole table’s ver­sa­til­i­ty makes this an instant clas­sic. A sim­ple con­sole table can be adapt­ed to a mul­ti­tude of uses, as your needs and your space changes over time. What starts as a tele­vi­sion stand can evolve into an entry­way catch-all or a work-from-home desk. We can almost guar­an­tee there won’t be a time in which you can’t find a styl­ish place for this piece.