Quick Hits
- Brand/Maker: Ballard Designs
- Piece Name: Elle Tufted Desk/Office Chair
- Style: Traditional / Transitional
- Materials: Dove grey upholstery (very light grey with a hint of blue); tufted back; brown legs; brass-tone casters
- Seat Height: Adjustable; raises to 21.5"
- Original Retail: $966
- Why We Love It: A tufted desk chair in dove grey on brass casters - the rare office chair that actually improves the room it's in.

More About This Item
Most desk chairs are furniture you tolerate. The Ballard Designs Elle is furniture you choose. The tufted back - a proper decorative tufting, not the perfunctory stitching that passes for it in office furniture - signals immediately that this chair was designed to be looked at as well as sat in. The dove grey upholstery, that particular very light grey with a hint of blue, is the kind of color choice that makes a home office feel like a considered room rather than a workstation with a chair in front of it.

The brown legs and brass-tone casters complete the composition: warm wood tones against the cool grey, a note of brass to connect the piece to any other metallic accents in the room. The adjustable height mechanism raises the seat to 21.5 inches - a practical range that accommodates most desk heights while maintaining the clean silhouette that makes this chair worth having.

At an original retail of $966, this is a piece that was priced as furniture, not as office equipment. On Chairish, it arrives at a price that makes the decision obvious. Tuck it under a writing desk in a home office, a bedroom, or a small study, and it will make the whole room feel more pulled together.

Design Style
Traditional/Transitional - the design register that the Ballard Designs brand has occupied consistently: furniture that references classical forms without being period-bound, that works in traditional homes and contemporary ones with equal ease. The tufted desk chair specifically has roots in the Victorian and Edwardian period, when upholstered rolling chairs began to appear in home studies and offices. The Elle modernizes this form with cleaner proportions and a colorway suited to current interiors.

A dove grey tufted chair works in a range of environments: against white walls in a crisp contemporary home office, beside a wooden writing desk in a traditional study, or in a bedroom as a dressing table chair that brings more personality than a standard vanity stool.

Brand Legacy
Ballard Designs, founded in Atlanta in 1983, has built a strong direct-to-consumer reputation for traditional and transitional home furnishings with a distinctly Southern aesthetic sensibility - pieces that feel considered and well-made without being inaccessible. Their upholstered pieces, particularly in their desk chair and accent chair categories, have developed a following among buyers who want a traditional aesthetic at a practical price. The Elle Tufted chair at its original $966 retail represented real value; at Chairish pricing, it represents exceptional value.


Condition:
Alterations: Original Condition Unaltered
Imperfections: Some Imperfections
Condition Notes: This chair is in very good condition consistent with age and use. Minor wrinkles to fabric and creases to seat from use as well as a couple of minor pulls in the fabric and scuffs on the legs.

Origin:
United States

Creator:
Brand: Ballard Designs

Materials & Techniques:
Upholstery, Wood

Details:
Country of Origin: United States
Number of Seats: 1
What type of item is it? Vintage / Antique / Used
Seat Interior Width: 18.0in
Seat Height: 17.5in
Arm Height: 18.0in
Seat Interior Depth: 18.0in

Original Condition Unaltered; Some Imperfections; This chair is in very good condition consistent with age and use. Minor wrinkles to fabric and creases to seat from use as well as a couple of minor pulls in the fabric and scuffs on the legs.