WHAT IS A CHAISE LOUNGE?
I had this question last week and it got me thinking. My immediate answer was “It’s like a really long club chair, think a club chair attached to an ottoman." But that answer really wasn't enough. I started to wonder, what separates the chaise lounge from the fainting couch from the daybed. In today’s society these terms can be used interchangeably like “couch” and “sofa.” But there are some distinct differences between them.
All three things, daybed, chaise lounge and fainting couch are roughly the same size, smaller than a twin size bed, but longer than a soft club chair. But they each have their own distinct signature quality:
DAYBED: will almost always be flat with a pillow or back at one or both ends and sometimes at all three sides. There are no “arms” on a daybed.
Daybed with one pillow, photo by Hive Modern
Daybed with two backs, photo by Crate and Barrel
Daybed with three backs, photo by CB2
FAINTING COUCH: or fainting sofa, has a back and one arm, originally designed to give victorian women a place to catch their breath when corseted and after an immediate climb up a staircase. These were often placed at the top landing of a staircase for this very reason.
Yikes! Can you imagine that conversation… “Honey, I think I am going to stop wearing my corset because I keep passing out at the top of the stairs.”
“Nah, I tell you what, we will just build you a little sofa at the top of top of the stairs, that way you can pass out for a few minutes after you walk up and then you can keep wearing the corset, cool?”
Fainting Couch, photo by Perigold
CHAISE LOUNGE: (pronounced shayz lownj) Is very similar looking to a fainting couch, yet it always semetcriacal with either no arms, or two arms. If you are super fancy you will use the absolute correct spelling and pronoucination of this word, as Chaise Longue (french for long chair and pronounced shayz laang). When English speakers imported a new kind of sofa from France in the late 1700s, they transformed the name 'chaise longue' ("long chair") into 'chaise lounge'—which makes sense, since 'lounge' is an English word spelled with the same letters.
Chaise Lounge with two arms, photo by Karliel
Chaise lounge, armless, photo by Crate and Barrel
Note, all of the examples shown are “contemporary” in style but come in all kinds of styles from victorian, to modern to arts and crafts.