The Best Lounge Chairs for Kicking Back

Unquestionably the king of lounge chairs, Charles and Ray Eames' iconic 1956 creation remains the envy of every design aficionado more than 65 years after its debut. The chair may qualify for a senior discount, but it's still as fresh and cool as ever. From its bent plywood shell and supple leather upholstery to its gently curved arms to its perma-tilt of 15 degrees that invites deep relaxation, this remains lounge chair perfection.

If the Eames Lounge is the king of lounge chairs, then the Womb Chair is the queen. Designed by the Eames' friend and contemporary Eero Saarinen in 1948, the Knoll Chair was the result of brand co-founder Florence Knoll's request for a chair that was like a "basket full of pillows." After enlisting a boat builder to craft the chair's sculpted fiberglass shell, the result was a design that invited users to move around naturally rather than being forced to sit in one position.

Look at this chair dead-on and you'll think it's smiling, but sit in it and you'll be the one grinning from ear to ear. The Shell Chair is one of the most notable designs of mid-century maestro Hans Wegner, who has been dubbed the "King of Chairs" due to the fact that he designed over 500 of them in his career. From its reclined stance to its three-leg design to its dramatically curved bent plywood seat, this is a chair around which you base the rest of your decor.

Take the bent plywood shell of the Eames Lounge Chair, add in the cozy cradling comfort of the Womb Chair and sprinkle in a dash of the Shell Chair's flamboyant curves, and what do you get? A lounge chair for today's generation that looks like an icon in the making. By leaning on inspiration from these mid-century modern masters, Burrow crafted the Vesper as a new type of modern lounge chair. The chair, which can be purchased on its own or with an optional lumbar pillow and/or ottoman, ships in one box and can be put together without any tools. In other words, it really is made for the way we live today.

If you buy the idea that post-modernism really is the look of the 2020s (I'm skeptical), then this is the lounge chair to get for your '70s- and '80s-inspired pad. An Urban Outfitter exclusive and one of the underrated retailer's best-known pieces of furniture, the velvet-clad Floria (which also comes in boucle and patterned varieties) is funky in all the right ways with its unique folded silhouette and three-leg structure.

An original design for Castlery by Australian designer Charles Wilson, the Gable High Armchair is perfect for Japandi spaces thanks to its mix of a Scandinavian-style exposed ash frame and curved lines inspired by Japanese architecture. And I know what you're thinking, but that price isn't a misprint — you really can get this true piece of designer furniture, ottoman included, for around 1,200 bucks.

When MillerKnoll subsidiary Hay teamed up with their parent company for their first collaboration in 2022, there was really only one logical choice for what Herman Miller products would get the Hay makeover. Charles and Ray Eames were the biggest design influence on Hay founders Mette and Rolf Hay, so naturally, it was a series of revamped Eames designs that made up the first Herman Miller x Hay collection. And no piece in the capsule is more whimsical than this funky take on the Eames' classic LCW, which adds Hay's signature shade of green.

If your idea of a lounge chair is one that you can sit in to sunbathe on your back deck, then Pottery Barn's Abbott has you covered. Taking clear inspiration from Knoll's iconic Risom Lounge Chair but with a more angular profile, this chair is designed to be used both indoors and outdoors. It's crafted from FSC-certified acacia wood and wrapped in woven polypropylene.

Just about every furniture maker makes some version of this chair, some with a more daring "Z" pattern and some that are more laid back, like this bestseller from West Elm. Available in an unfathomable amount of colors — 97, to be exact — this classic mid-century design is infinitely customizable to work in your space. And its FSC-certified solid ash wood frame is built to last.

If you want to look like you're captaining the Starship Enterprise from your living room, then this is the chair for you. Kidding aside, AllModern's Lodi sports a killer retro-sci-fi look thanks to its mix of a sharp-angled faux leather seat with a stainless steel swivel base. The look definitely won't work for all spaces, but if you want your lounge chair to boldly go where no chair has gone before, this is the one to get.

Rivet is Amazon's in-house modern furniture brand, and their high-style designs will have guests doubting that you actually purchased them on Amazon. This accent chair doesn't go too crazy into modernism, allowing it to blend into any interior design style from traditional to farmhouse, but its tapered legs and sharp silhouette provide enough visual interest to keep things cool.

Olivia Wilde's 2022 thriller Don't Worry Darling may not have been a smash with critics, but the film certainly had loads of mid-century style in its 1950s Palm Springs-esque setting. And front and center in the home of Florence Pugh's and Harry Styles' characters was this chair from Blu Dot, which is not actually a mid-century piece but a 2015 original design that won Best Lounge Chair of the Year from Interior Design Magazine that year.

CB2 has no shortage of boucle in their catalog, so if you're a fan of the nubby, trendy textile, then I'd recommend perusing their wares. This particular boucle chair was designed in collaboration with rocker Lenny Kravitz, but even if you don't plan on putting it on any album covers, the chair's boxy silhouette and floating arms still make it a star.

One of Ikea's most iconic designs, with four decades of history behind it, is this simple lounge chair. A textbook example of Scandinavian design, Poäng's exposed bent wood frame and relaxed position are perfect for kicking back — especially if you toss in the optional matching ottoman.