The furniture pieces that tend to get the least attention are often the ones that make the biggest difference to a space. An occasional chair placed in the right corner transforms a room from a collection of sofas and tables into a layered, considered interior. An outdoor coffee table ties a lounge setting together and gives the space a sense of purpose and completeness. These aren't incidental purchases — they're the finishing details that elevate an already good room into something genuinely exceptional.
At Olan Living, the accent and occasional furniture range, both indoor and outdoor, is designed with exactly this in mind.
Occasional Chairs: The Most Versatile Piece in Any Room
An occasional chair serves a different function from your main sofa. Where the sofa is the anchor, the occasional chair is the accent, it introduces a second material, a contrasting shape, or a statement silhouette that prevents a living space from feeling too uniform. Done well, an occasional chair is one of the most impactful individual pieces in any room.
What to Look for in an Occasional Chair
The key considerations for choosing an occasional chair are scale, material, and silhouette.
Scale — An occasional chair should feel proportionate to the other furniture in the room. A chair that's too bulky competes with the sofa for visual weight; one that's too small looks lost. Generally, an occasional chair should be slightly smaller in scale than your main sofa, positioned to create balance rather than symmetry.
Material — This is where you have the most creative freedom. If your main sofa is in a neutral fabric, an occasional chair in a contrasting texture — a boucle, a performance velvet, or a fluffy loop-pile fabric — adds depth and tactile interest. If your space is already textured, a sleeker chair in a clean-lined silhouette can provide a visual rest point.
Silhouette — Contemporary interiors often suit chairs with clean, architectural lines and modest proportions. More relaxed, eclectic spaces can accommodate rounder, softer shapes that invite you to sink in.
Olan Living's Occasional Chair Range
Olan Living's indoor occasional chair collection includes a range of styles suited to different interior directions. The Athena Fluffy Occasional Chair is a standout, its generous proportions and textured loop-pile fabric make it an immediate focal point, equally at home in a contemporary living room or a bedroom reading nook. Available in a range of colourways that complement the broader Olan Living indoor collection.
Olan Living also offers a trade programme for interior designers and commercial projects, making it straightforward to source occasional chairs for professional projects alongside the residential range. Olan Living's collection has been featured in publications including Belle Magazine, Homes to Love, and Home Beautiful.
Outdoor Coffee Tables: The Anchor of Any Outdoor Lounge Setting
An outdoor lounge setting without a coffee table is functionally incomplete, there's nowhere for drinks, nowhere to rest a book, and the group of chairs or sofas lacks a visual centre that ties them together. The right outdoor coffee table transforms a collection of seating into a proper outdoor room.
Material Matters for Australian Outdoors
Just as with all outdoor furniture, the material you choose for your outdoor coffee table needs to handle the demands of Australian outdoor conditions, UV exposure, humidity, coastal salt air, and the occasional downpour.
Ceramic and travertine-look tops are an excellent choice for outdoor coffee tables. They are scratch-resistant, stain-resistant, heat-resistant, and fully weatherproof, maintaining their appearance through season after season of outdoor use. A travertine-look ceramic top brings natural stone warmth and texture to the setting without any of the maintenance concerns of genuine stone.
Powder-coated aluminium bases are the most durable and practical frame material for outdoor tables — rust-proof, corrosion-resistant, and lightweight enough to reposition easily when needed.
Olan Living's outdoor coffee and side table range combines these materials in designs that complement the brand's outdoor lounge and dining collections — ensuring that your outdoor setting reads as a cohesive, considered whole rather than a collection of mismatched pieces.
Sizing Your Outdoor Coffee Table
For outdoor lounge settings, a coffee table should be roughly the same height as the seat cushions on your sofa, or slightly lower. The length should be approximately two-thirds the length of the sofa it sits in front of. This proportion creates a balanced, functional layout with enough clear floor space around the table for comfortable movement.
Outdoor Furniture in Sydney: Building a Complete Outdoor Living Space
For Sydney homeowners, outdoor furniture is not a seasonal purchase, it's a year-round investment. Sydney's climate allows for genuine outdoor living across all four seasons, which means the quality and cohesion of your outdoor setting matters more than in most other markets.
Olan Living's outdoor furniture Sydney collection covers every element you need for a complete outdoor living space — from sofas, lounge chairs, and chaise longues through to dining tables, dining chairs, occasional chairs, coffee tables, side tables, daybeds, and outdoor accessories including rugs, cushions, and umbrellas.
For those who want professional guidance in selecting and combining pieces, Olan Living offers complimentary interior consultations — a 60-minute on-site session with an interior designer covering furniture selection, layout, and colour palette. It's a valuable service for anyone who wants to get the outdoor space right from the beginning rather than buying and replacing over time.
To explore the full indoor and outdoor furniture range — including occasional chairs, outdoor coffee tables, and the complete outdoor furniture Sydney collection — visit Olan Living online or contact the team at info@olanliving.com.au.
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