Dining table and chairs should be sisters, not twins. This post will show you how to avoid the matchy-matchy look, and instead embrace a more curated approach in your dining room.

1. First Things First: Avoid the Package Deal

Stores invented the package deal so shoppers didn’t have to worry about matching dining table and chairs. It was all about removing the stress and indecision. But that approach to design is a bit 1999. 

The modern approach to design is to do what is called style grazing; take a little from one style aesthetic, a pinch of something else from another vibe, and a dash of a third theme and mix is all together for a well-rounded home. It works.

The same goes for your dining room. Purchasing your dining table and chairs in a matching suite tends to give it an uninteresting look and feel.

The Dining Table is Your Starting Point

I always start with the dining table first and then select the chairs that’ll match it best. I lock in the table style, size and material, and then have a good think about the best chair based on functionality, comfort and of course – colour and material.

Chances are you already have a dining table and just need new chairs.

2. Your Table and Chairs Should be Different Materials

So we know you should avoid package deal dining suites, but you should also avoid a table and chairs in the exact same material. For example, an oak dining table with oak dining chairs, or a metal dining table with metal dining chairs.

Avoiding Textural Overwhelm

If you match the materials, your dining room ends up feeling quite texturally overwhelming. You can feel the setting is suffocating the entire space. Instead, you want your room to have visual highs and lows. I know that sounds wanky, but it’s true. As your eye moves across the space, you want it to be stimulated by one moment, and then calmed by another.

So with your dining table and chairs, let one be the star and the other be the supporting player. When they’re in the same material, neither looks as special as it should. 

Curveball Rule Breaker

The exception to the ‘different materials’ rule is if you had a timber table, for example, with timber chairs that featured some upholstery on them.  The coloured fabric breaks up all the timber. This is allowed. If there was no fabric on those chairs, it would be a dealbreaker.

3. They Should Also be Different Colours

Colour in a room is so important to get right, and when matching dining table with chairs it becomes pretty crucial. You might have mixed up the material, but the other thing you need to ensure you do is mix up the colour.

In an ideal world, that is. There are examples of dining rooms where the table and chairs are the same colour and it can work (in a minimal Scandi-vibe home, for example). But  assuming that you want your home to feel more layered, changing up the colour is recommended.

And the colour can be changed ever so slightly. A black table with charcoal dining chairs is a good example, or an oak table with beige chairs. I’m not suggesting you have to have a bold colour by any means, you just don’t want them to feel matchy-matchy. Remember: sisters, not twins!

Curveball Rule Breaker

OK, so your table and chairs can be a similar colour but only if there is a very different material in the mix.

4. Your Flooring Also Comes into Play

Just to throw a curveball into the mix, your flooring colour is another consideration that comes into play when matching dining table with chairs. The biggest mistakes you can make here: the flooring, table and chairs are all very similar in colour.

If this is already happening to you, then a rug is a nice way to break up the potential monotony (if your dining room is large enough to take it. The adding in of softness beneath your table is also a great way to reduce the heavy feeling of all those hard textures in a dining setting.

Variance is Key

On hard flooring like timber, I usually never place a timber table of the same colour directly on top. I either choose a different material (glass table, metal table or marble table), or I choose a timber that’s way lighter or darker. 

Failing this (if you already have a dining table a similar colour to your floors) introduce chairs in a different colour and soft texture. Remember… variance is key. Variance of colour, material, shape etc.

5. Check the Table Size vs Chair Height

The beauty of buying those outdated package deal dining suites is knowing that the chair height is going to be right. You can literally see them in store, sit at the table and know that it’ll all work together.

But, we know package deals are outdated. So, the one word of warning I can give you around matching dining chairs to your dining table when they’re not from the same store is to measure the size

Make sure you check the height of the chairs you’re considering buying. You want your chairs to be minimum 10cm higher than your table top.

Also Consider the Width of the Chairs

This can undo everything, so you gotta make sure your chair width is appropriate for the size of your table too. If you divide the total length of your table by the width of the chair you’re considering buying, it’ll tell you how many chairs will fit on one side.

But… you also want to allow 10-20cm between the chairs, so factor that into the equation as well. Also keep in mind that some table tops might be 150cm in width, for example, but the distance between the table legs underneath could be less if the legs are inset on the table.

 Some math is involved in getting the chairs to match the table, which is never fun but totally necessary.

Source from; https://www.tlcinteriors.com.au/howto-decorate/expert-tips-how-to-match-a-dining-table-with-the-right-chairs/