Mixing and matching…

Wednesday 15 February 2012

I have always rejected the rigidity of formal dining rooms (too many memories of Sunday roasts at my grandmother’s house cooped up in a hot dining room being told I couldn’t leave the table until I cleared my plate… gosh, I wish that was a problem for me now)! As a result of these Sundays, the dining room is my least favourite room in the house. Luckily, these rooms have evolved a lot since I was a child and I am seeing a lot more open-plan, relaxed dining rooms which really appeal to me. Using mismatched chairs instantly creates a charming relaxed atmosphere. I particularly like the idea of mixing and matching small chairs with long benches or adding large brightly upholstered chairs to the heads of the table.

What do you think of mismatched chairs in the dining room?

///mod mismatched chairsSuper cute. Sarah strikes again.///matsal

Click on the image to go to its source.

14 comments

  1. I particularly like the dining area with the table by the rustic framed mirror. I would love to have my meals there. xo
    Ada

    ReplyDelete
  2. i'm probably too anal retentive for the idea, but i like the pictures where something connects the chairs, e.g. they have the same paint on them (the third picture down is an example of it). i think it looks more fluid that way. maybe i could break out of my anal retentive self and have non-matching chairs way one day! progress.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Before we got our apartment, I was pinning images very similar to these, mismatched chairs and all! I love the idea. I think it adds a lot of charm and character. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do it b/c we have no room for a full-size table with chairs, but I like to think it's something I'd do when we get a bigger place.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have some great pictures here, Meghan. I love the idea of a more casual space. We have formal furniture from 10 years ago and use the dining room infrequently. I am attempting to make it more interesting by changing it somewhat.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd like to have two, one formal and one casual ;-) I keep mine rather casual. It's more like dining-room-meets-office kind of space, bright and spacious.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this idea and am considering it for my own dining area now. I am looking to go all white with mine to keep some kind of uniformity.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh I love it! I've always dreamed of owning a restaurant where nothing matched...but everything matched. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love it from an aesthetic point of view, but I think it would drive me batsh!t crazy in real life. As much as I like to think of myself as an avante-garde decorating badass, I'm pretty milk-toast-and-vanilla. I WISH I could be that cool, though :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thumbs up from me! I'm about to tear down the wall between my kitchen and formal dining room to make it less so... I have the same childhood memories of Sunday roasts and beeing seen and not heard!
    xxoo

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sluurrrrrrp I will take a seat down at any of these tables with any chair available. The mismatched chair idea is fabulous. We're working on getting our patio set up for the summer and are looking for a table to go with our Marais chairs so I especially like that picture of the mixed colored Marais'

    ReplyDelete
  11. I loooove mismatched dining chairs. My husband does not. I might have to select my mismatched beauties carefully so he's fooled into thinking they actually are supposed to go together. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes!! to mismatched chairs especially in these pictures!! Sometimes it's nice to eat without seeing the mess you just made in the kitchen, but a separate dining room can be so inconvenient.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I totally agree Meghan, and I love the idea of mismatched chairs. I originally chose 8 matching upholstered linen chairs for our dining room and I couldn't believe how boring it all looked. So I've had white slipcovers made for the chairs and introduced 6 oak french cafe style chairs. Now the room has so much more character and interest. I say go for it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love mismatched chairs too. They have a cool, relaxed feeling, and that's what a home should be - somewhere that you can be comfortable, but of course, stylish too. xxx

    ReplyDelete

Go on! Leave a comment - you know you want to!