Decorating & Design
Shake Up Your Dining Room With Mismatched Chairs
Updated on November 28, 2023
We love dining rooms with mismatched chairs because it brings eclectic style and attitude to a space. The trick to mixing and matching, whether you’re after an offbeat vibe or something more traditional, is to group the chairs by color, height or shape. Scope out these hot seats for inspiration below!
Risky, fun and unexpected, designer Barbara Purdy juxtaposes classic upholstered captain’s chairs with black farmhouse-style seats in this gorgeous ’60s bungalow.
Tucked into a traditional wood trestle table, a mix of chairs is charming in this laidback dining area that’s loaded with country appeal.
A breezy combination of wicker and painted dining chairs makes for a relaxed cottage porch, located in Ontario’s Kawartha region.
This dining room by St. Louis Park, Minnesota-based Martha O’Hara Interiors combines velvet and rattan chairs for a formal yet fun vibe. A vintage tiled Turkish rug and a fabulous alabaster stone chandelier bring in more textural interest.
A pair of blue velvet chairs sidle up to the more neutral numbers in this dining room that’s been layered to the max by New Jersey-based interior designer Beth Diana Smith. The result? Head-turning personality!
In this exquisite eye-candy-of-a room, designer Montana Burnett breaks up the monotony of caned and woven chairs with a chunky, sculptural bench.
Cottages are inherently casual — a perfect place to show off a variety of chairs, like homeowner Heidi Smith did in her Cape Cod-inspired retreat. Heidi added a green wicker chair for a dose of color to the built-in nook.
Whimsical spider-like legs and fun colors: what’s not to love with these playful chairs? They bring such cheer to the custom 14-foot-long table interior designer Ali Budd devised for a large Toronto family.
Four different chairs in the same pale wood tone are eclectic — but not over the top — in this dining room by Australian stylist Jessi Eve Deakin. “The tip to achieving a cohesive look is to ensure there is some connecting elements between the chairs,” says Jessi. “Whether that be scale, color or leg style.”
In this breezy, bohemian L.A. home, rattan peacock chairs on either end of the table add texture and character, especially topped with that fabulous chandelier. Much more interesting than a matched set of seats!
In this dining room designed by Maureen Stevens in Austin, Texas, striped chairs from Anthropologie are just the right counterpoint to the solid seats — and every bit as bold as the cheetah-print wallpaper. Wild just works!
Cascading plants, a perforated tin Moroccan pendant and an eclectic combo of chairs is a winning formula in this sunroom in Prince Edward County, Ontario, by designer Vi Jull. The wicker chair really lends heft to the space.