Recently I shared a struggle with imagining mismatched dining table and chairs together. From the inspiration folders, here’s a collection of how others have done it. What’s a successful mismatch and what’s a mish-mash?
Look carefully, these chairs have something in common but also something very different:
Using two of each chair around the table helps maintain a more harmonious look.
This photo is from Elle Decor. I remember this photo from my print issue (now among a 4-foot tall stack of magazines in the basement because I can never throw out a magazine) — it might be Sarah Jessica Parker’s house?
Obviously these chair shapes differ more than the first photo. But when all painted the same color, there is some harmony.
Here’s another example (not sure where from) of same color paint:
These next two photos were featured at Desire to Inspire blog. I’ll stop my editorializing and let you look for what might work or not work:
Photo from Perch:
From Country Living. This is from the home of the head buyer at Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago. This is among my favorite examples of artfully mixing table and seating:
Not sure where I found this. Love the idea of a couch for dining seating, maybe for breakfast nook kind of seating. Or, if your house is like my house, the dining table is used for everything: eating, working, scrapbooking and other hobbies, etc. Sure would be comfortable to sit on a couch.
Not sure where this is from either. Apologies! Chairs all same but so different than table.
From Elle Decor:
More from Elle Decor:
From Lonny:
From Franciskas Vakre Verden blog. Not as much of a clear mismatch as other examples, but I wouldn’t expect to see these chairs with this table in most homes I visit in real life. So it’s news to me:
From Decorati:
Found at Decor Pad:
From StyleMePretty.com:
From photographer Alina Gozina:
From Desire to Inspire blog:
From Trendey:
From Lonny:
From Bolig:
From House Beautiful:
So what do you think? What is it that makes a mismatch work? What is your favorite?
This is exactly what I plan to do with my home in the future :) So I have saved quite a few of your photos- THanks Deb!
I love all the interior elements in these photos, but not sure I’m loving the mismatched chairs so much. I think it works “best” when all the mismatched chairs are the same height. Seeing different heights around the table looks jarring to me. It breaks up you eye too much. I much prefer the idea of mixing up the styling between the chairs and table, ie. rustic and modern, wood and painted, glass and woven, etc.
I do agree! This has been a learning experience, pulling all these photos together to study what works and what doesn’t for me. I also find that the rooms with chairs close to the table height, or all the same height, are less distracting and more pleasing to look at.
I’m putting together another upcoming post with sofas and upholstered benches combined with chairs at dining tables.