How to Mix & Match Your Dining Chairs & Table

The dining room is a space that brings families and friends together, serving as the backdrop for those memorable moments where you share good food in good company. Dining areas should be cosy and inviting, with just the right balance of style and practicality. 

One great way to elevate your dining room is through the careful styling of mismatched chairs around your table. Get the look with our top tips for mixing and matching your dining chairs and table. 

Do Dining Tables & Chairs Have to Match

Dining tables and chairs are often sold in matching sets, but this isn’t to say it's a hard and fast design rule you have to stick by. In fact, mixing it up with different chair and table styles, materials, colours and finishes can help provide a more unique, personal look and make a stylish statement. 

Unexpected chair styles add instant personality and provide opportunities to get more creative with the rest of the space – i.e. if you introduce a new material or colour through your dining chairs, you can tie in other design elements that complement or contrast against them. 

However, you’ll want to be very intentional about your choices to prevent things from looking too jumbled or thrown together. Here’s how you can get started. 

Start With Your Dining Table 

The dining table itself is usually the centrepiece of the space, so it often helps to use this as your guide when considering which combination of chairs to go for. It’s usually a good idea to keep your dining table and chairs within the same tonal family, whether that’s warm, cool or neutral, as this will help ensure they don’t clash, even if you’re thinking of incorporating a few different styles. 

You can mix and match materials, but it’s often better to have some commonality between your table and chairs (i.e. both have metal legs or both are made from wood), as this is an easy way to make things feel harmonious. 

Consider Colour Carefully 

There are loads of smart ways to use colour when it comes to your chair and table setup. Colour is a great way to unify your design if you’re using different style chairs. Opting for the same colour but different styles gives you that visual interest and uniqueness, but keeps everything feeling cohesive. 

You could also utilise different contrasting colours for a bold look – for instance, having half the chairs a bright colour and the other half in a neutral tone. 

Think About Height

Another good unifying element is height – choose chairs of the same or very similar height to avoid a chaotic or messy feel, especially if you’re using very different styles. 

If you do want to play with height more consciously, use symmetry to your advantage by placing two taller chairs at each end of rectangular tables. 

Incorporate a Dining Bench

Another intentional way to play with height is with a sleek dining bench. Benches offer a great point of visual interest and difference when paired with regular dining chairs, instantly making your space feel more professionally styled. 

Match your bench’s legs and material with your dining table for a balanced, complementary look. 

Use Pairs

Opt for mismatched chairs in pairs so you can achieve a harmonious feel while incorporating disparate looks. Using pairs can encourage you to be bolder with your contrasts, as you can get away with combining different, unexpected styles without anything seeming out of place. 

Depending on the size and shape of your table, you could position matching pairs next to or opposite each other. 

Different Chairs in the Same Style

Another chic option, and something that often works well for vintage or eclectic looks, is to embrace all different, unique chairs in the same or similar overall style. This could mean using an array of industrial-style pieces, traditional farmhouse furniture, Scandi dining chairs or any other style you gravitate towards. 

While this allows you to showcase lots of different chairs and elements you love, it also provides an easy way to stay on theme and maintain a balanced, intentional feel. 

Embrace Natural Materials 

Similarly, if you’re going for all different chairs, natural materials are your friends. Combining different natural materials like various woods, rattan, bamboo or wicker instantly gives an organic look, helping to breathe new life into your space without the disparate chairs seeming random.

Consider the Rest of the Room 

Think about how your table and chair design will look within the wider context of the room. One way to approach this would be to ensure each chair looks good individually in the room – that way, you always have a cohesive throughline, making the whole space feel tied together. 

Ready to build your perfect, expertly styled mismatched dining chair and table combination? Check out our diverse selection of unique dining chairs to find the missing puzzle piece.