4 “Shapeshifter” Furniture Pieces Designers Love to Reuse From Room to Room

Sometimes the new furniture piece you desperately need is already sitting in your home.

While not every furniture type can be re-styled easily for use in another space—a large dining table or sleeper sofa would be difficult to accommodate elsewhere, for instance—there are a couple versatile pieces that you can move and use just about anywhere, with or without modification, according to interior designers we asked.

So before you shop for and buy new furniture, take a look around to see if you can make do with what you already have.

The Clear Winner: Side Chairs

Perhaps not surprisingly, our experts unanimously pointed to chairs as the most versatile, with two of them naming the side chair.

Typically more compact and traditionally (but not definitively) armless, side chairs can easily join an existing ensemble of furniture in several rooms, points out Lara Apelian, principal and founder of Lara Apelian Studio. And while they’re functional, they can also be sculptural, she adds.

“Side chairs can become shapeshifters depending on how they’re styled, such as with new upholstery,” says Maria Lomanto, founding principal of DesignGLXY Group. Or, if it has a wooden frame, you might want to try staining it in a new tone.

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The Runner Up: Accent Chairs

The accent chair, unlike a side chair, is meant to visually grab attention in a room and thus comes in a larger variety of shapes and styles. (Think swivel, wingback, and barrel chairs.)

Jessica Nicastro, the founder and principal of Jessica Nicastro Design, says that vintage accent chairs in particular have a distinct style that can add personality to a room and seamlessly go from a reading chair in the bedroom to an extra seat in the living room to a statement piece in the entry foyer.

While accent chairs can be reused as is, they can also be reupholstered and finished to better match a room’s existing decor and furnishings.

Honorable Mentions: Side Tables and Ottomans

Side tables are also pretty adaptable, according to Lomanto. Whether new or antique, they can be restyled with accessories, objects, or table lamps. And, if they have a strong style on their own, they can probably be used as accents across many different decors.

Finally, most anyone with an eye for decorating knows that ottomans are versatile enough to serve as a footstool and extra seat one minute to a side table the next.

What’s more, many—though not all—are universal in form and color, rather than stylized to steal the spotlight, making them a visual chameleon that can move room to room as is. (Hidden storage is an added bonus.)