Furniture 101: Settee

There are so many different types of furniture out there it’s hard to keep them all straight. I have found myself recently drawn to vintage furniture and I thought it would be fun to educate us all on a special type of love seat called the settee. I love the way they look so sweet and have that whimsical romantic charm about them. I feel like Marie Antoinette could walk in at any minute and tell me a story. So what is a settee?

Settee: A long seat or bench with a back and arms seating two or more people.

Wow. Well that’s vague. It has always been my understanding that a settee had curvy arms and rich brocade fabrics and was generally used in boudoirs, an all around sexy piece of furniture history. Well I’m both right and wrong. Settee’s are a very historical piece of furniture as it was first used to soften the rumps of royalty in ancient Arabia and mostly were owned by the upper classes. Then around the industrial revolution the settee began trickling down into the middle and lower classes. This one reminds me of my new sofa with its six legs.

Image from One Kings Lane

Today a settee is a common thing to see in a home. The lines and shapes have evolved over time to look more and more like a smaller version of a couch or sofa. They also don’t always have six legs or intricate frames anymore. I like this settee from West Elm, it hints at a vintage feel with it’s deep tufting but still maintains modern clean lines with the slim black legs and simple arm rests.

What furniture have you always had a general, smallish misconception about? Who likes these posts about furniture 101? Anyone? Is anyone even listening? Give me a shout out if you are!