Upholstered Host Dining Chair in Ivory Chenille

A 49 inch back is what separates this Host Dining Chair from the side chairs it sits alongside: tall enough to frame whoever is at the head of the table, and substantial enough to read as a piece of furniture in its own right. The upholstery is ivory chenille, and the arms are low and sloped, more a suggestion of a wing than a full one. The legs are painted white, which keeps the whole chair light.

At 49 inches the back stands well above a standard dining table, so the chair holds its own at the end of a long run of lower seats. The arms are set low enough to clear an apron and to leave whoever is sitting free to turn and talk in either direction. It is a chair built for the third hour of dinner rather than a quick weekday meal, and a pair, one at each end, is the usual arrangement.

Use it at the table ends with lighter side chairs between, where the ivory and the height mark the hosts' places without matching everything else in the room. It also earns its keep away from the table, in a bedroom corner with a lamp and a small table beside it, or at the end of a long hall. Ivory chenille sits happily with walnut, painted wood and plain linen.