Help Me Find Dining Chairs That Tie My Rooms Together

May 20, 2015 1:25 PM

I inherited a table that is at odds with my style and the style of my furniture, but I'm keeping. I want to get some dining chairs that tie the room together. Help me find some?

Please suggest to me some dining chairs that will help this table work in my house.

I see this table working in this space when mixed with the right kind of dining chair. Personally, I see these chairs as modern, plastic or metal, and brightly colored (all the same color) to match the furniture in the living room (specifically green or blue). I see lightweight chairs that play off the heaviness of the table itself.
However, I also need them to be fairly inexpensive (well under $100 each) and to be comfortable to sit in.
They also have to be available to purchase online. I live in mid-Missouri and we don't have a lot of options nearby.
Also we have a small child who will be spilling grape juice and smooshing bananas into available surfaces for many years to come. Chairs must be easily cleanable!
I am open to painting this table. Maybe you'll shriek in horror, but I don't like cherry wood and it doesn't work at all with that maple china cabinet. So if you have suggestions that involve painting the table, please note that I am willing to go that way. Tablecloths are out for now because we have a small child who will pull on them.

Here is an album of pictures of the table from various angles and directions. The table is in a pretty central, visible part of the house. The front door is down the stairs, so you see the table as you walk up to the main floor of the house. I like mid-century style that works with our 1962 house. Please note that I hate the vinyl tile in the kitchen and will someday replace it. I also need to paint the kitchen. The windows next to the dining table look out on our heavily wooded backyard.
The living room flows from the kitchen/dining room so it's important that the colors work together. The couch is blue- it's the background on the image with the baby. I have some lime green accents that play off that blue really well. I love blues and greens. Maybe I should paint the table bright green and get some white or black chairs, rather than colorful chairs with the wood table? Hmm.

Any thoughts?

Thank you in advance!

posted by aabbbiee to Shopping (15 answers total)

Response by poster: Apologies for making you look at pictures of my baby. I really did include those to show the colors of the furniture better! Really!!
posted by aabbbiee at 1:27 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Modern chairs are great around a beautiful old table as suggested previously.

Alternativley, do a search on Google, Pinterest, and Houzz for "mismatched dining chairs." Here's a link with several examples. Old chairs are easy to find on Craigslist and in thrift shops. Paint them in the colors of your dishes, walls, living room chair.
posted by Elsie at 1:52 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd get replica Eames eiffel base chairs - probably 4 standard chairs and two with arms (or all with arms). I think the wood dowel base would look nice, but they also have a metal frame base option. I have the armless ones (replica, not real), and they've held up really well for the past 7 or 8 years that I've had them and I find them to be comfortable. You can add a cushion/pillow for an easily-washable pop of color and added comfort. There are a ton of sources for these, here's one for example.
posted by melissasaurus at 1:53 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Idea: buy 6 mismatched metal chairs at garage sales, Craigslist, etc. and spray paint them all the teal/blue/green color you want. Pros: cheap, get to pick the color exactly, funky. Cons: takes work to find them and paint them; may not be your style.

Related idea: Buy 6 matching metal chairs in the style you want, and paint them the color you like.

Some great ones from Overstock

Metal (I think it would look great unpainted, too!)

I think clear plastic could look great, too.

Cloth, but lovely.

Or white.
posted by amaire at 1:54 PM on May 20, 2015

Bonus baby!!

I was totally thinking metal chairs, too. Painted in a couple really great colors, I think they'd tie the space and styles together quite nicely.
posted by cooker girl at 1:58 PM on May 20, 2015

Here's an article on Apartment Therapy: Pairing Antique Dining Tables with Contemporary Chairs, and also Farmhouse Tables with Modern Chairs.

If you're willing to get rid of the foldability of the table, I think permanently securing the leaves and removing the wings that hold them up would drastically push the appearance in the direction you're going for.
posted by FirstMateKate at 2:12 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

I like the size and general shape of the table. I think, though, that the legs kind of work against the mid-century feel you're after. If you swapped out those legs for ones that are plain and straight (and stained to match), pretty much any of the suggested chairs would work much better (imo), and I think the cherry would bother you less.
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:13 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

Eames style side chairs?
posted by zennie at 2:21 PM on May 20, 2015

You could also paint the legs turquoise, like in this picture sort of. A little less drastic than painting the tabletop.
posted by acidic at 2:30 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]

I would paint or stain the table very dark, even black, and surround with thrifted/mismatched metal chairs either painted a color or painted all the same metallic finish with colorful cushions. OR if you want them to match, funky MCM-inspired colorful plastic or laminate chairs with metal legs - Dot and Bo Is my mainstay, the cut out chairs or space age chairs would be fun. You have a great accent color happening already with the collection in the hutch (props btw) so pick up on that for the easiest way to make the different elements relate to each other.

You might be like THAT'S A LOT OF BLACK TABLE and it is, but I think it will be a great anchor and help define the space for it to have serious visual weight and not just be another random wood tone. Plus it will look like the table is A Thing - in fact it will make it The Thing in the space if you're Ok with that. Lighten the room back up with accessories - a big graphic kilim rug in bright colors, a big bold pendant lamp low over the table, and keep the table styled with a runner + some shiny stuff. I would also consider moving that hutch toward the corner rather than in the middle of the wall and putting up either a mirror or one much larger piece of art - again graphic and bold, with a color that helps the rug out. Plus with that space opened up, you could keep an extra accent chair + floor lamp there, or a small console table or shelf that helps bridge the style divide between the hutch and table and gives you a place to put a lamp or two + a plant.
posted by peachfuzz at 2:37 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ooh they have those Eames style chairs with walnut legs as well. Almost wish I was in the market for dining chairs right now.
posted by zennie at 2:40 PM on May 20, 2015

Maine Cottage chairs in fun color(s) could be just what you're looking for.

I also like the idea of Eames fiberglass bucket chairs (link is to official site; knockoffs and vintage are readily available)
posted by Mchelly at 2:40 PM on May 20, 2015

I wouldn't paint the table. Looking at the dining area, there are a lot of hard edges -- the bare table, the shape of the china cabinet, the lino underneath. Rather than introducing metal (also cold), would you consider slipcovered Parsons-style side chairs? In a stain-repellent, Sunbrella-type, machine-washable fabric any spills would bead up, and the covers could be coordinated to tie-in with the adjacent rooms' color schemes.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:45 PM on May 20, 2015

So, it looked to me that this table is designed to be up against a wall, as the surface extends over the legs on one side, but not on the other. I like the suggestion to paint the legs, which might make the table look less 'traditional' and more 'mid-century', and the addition of bucket-type chairs in turquoise or white, and maybe a white or brightly coloured tablecloth, which would both protect the table and downplay the polished (cherry?) wood finish.
posted by alltomorrowsparties at 5:53 PM on May 20, 2015

It's pretty similar to a Heywood-Wakefield table from their Old Colony line (similar, but the line evolved with many different dining tables) , which means it is mid-century- just not mid-century modern. I used to own stacks and stacks of Life magazines from the mid-fifties and early sixties, and there were tons of ads for more "traditional" interiors like this. I think some basic, wood chairs- possibly upholstered- that skew more modern would be ideal. However at your price point and buying online that is probably not possible. I would probably go with something like these bentwood chairs. that are/were a very modern take on a very traditional chair. Use textiles to pull in color from the other room. Don't paint the table.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:00 PM on May 20, 2015