How to Mix and Match Dining Chairs

At a time when unique interior styles are becoming increasingly popular, it’s surprising that many are still hesitant to consider mixing different English dining chairs. However, with design trends becoming more focused on storytelling, individuality and sustainability, expect to see many more homes being creative with their chair combinations over the coming year.

Mixing and matching dining chairs is a wonderful way to highlight your personal style and story in your interior. If you want to add some unique chairs to your table, here is our advice for making sure they all play nicely together.

Find A Common Element

As much as mixing and matching dining chairs can be fun, the way to make it work as a style is to highlight a common theme that runs through all of them.

Mix and match style works best when it feels like all the chairs came from the same place, even though they look slightly different. That doesn’t mean they all need to be variations of the same chair, but it does mean there should be an obvious common thread.

There are various things you can focus on as the common element, depending on what style you want to achieve:

• Colour: This could be a unifying colour, or you can mix within a colour scheme. More on that below!
• Style: Different chairs but all from a similar design (such as Scandinavian chairs), with similar curves and lines.
• Material: Different styles but all from the same wood, metal or plastic.

Play With Colours

How you use colour – whether you lean into similarities or celebrate differences – will define your mix and match style.

Just as with styling any interior room, you have a lot of options when it comes to colour with your dining chairs. Many designers will use it as a unifier, bringing different chairs and styles together by using the same colour on each. You can also use a colour palette to add a bit more variation while remaining coherent (for example, using earthy colours like copper, amber and grey).

Alternatively, you can celebrate the eclectic by embracing contrasting colours. Adding a few chairs with vivid colours alongside more subtle neutrals like natural woods can add new dimensions to your style and inject the dining table with a hint of playfulness.

Consider Different Heights

Similar to colour, how you use different heights can also create different feelings and styles for your dining table. Height is often used as another unifying factor between all the chairs, but varying it can add an interesting contrast to your dining table’s silhouette.

Having a large variation of heights from different farmhouse dining chairs can add a real eclectic feel to a countryside interior. You can also use a bench on one side of the dining table – an easy way to add visual contrast while maintaining the consistent theme (colour, style or material).

Pairs Can Add Balance

As you can probably tell, the key to making mix and match look stylish is to keep that sense of harmony running through, and there’s nothing more harmonious than pairs.

A great trick if you’re looking to balance different chairs is to add a few identical pairs and place them against each other. Around a traditional rectangular dining table, that could be opposite each other or in the far corners.

Framing a selection of different dining chairs between two identical ones helps to bring a sense of uniformity, calming some of the natural eccentricity and letting your style shine through.

Armchairs Make a Statement

Statement pieces are a fantastic addition to any interior space, and the same goes for your dining table.

A super easy way to add a bit of variation to your dining chairs is to include an armchair at the point (or ends) of the table. Similar to adding balance through pairs, a larger armchair can provide a clear focal point that attracts the eyes and brings your mix-and-match style together in one place.

Because a statement armchair will bring together all the other chairs, it must define and amplify your unifying theme, whether that’s colour, style or material, more so than any other chair.

By finding the unifying theme, playing with colours and heights, then bringing it all together with pairs and a statement piece, you can turn the most eclectic collection of chairs into a truly unique and exciting interior style.