My kitchen table is black--harvest style table--chairs don't match the table--light pine.
Dining room--walnut chairs are oak...
Susan

No, I love old chairs so mine are different. We have 4 that match the oak table..they were grandmas and I have collected others that are oak.
Karen L

In my dining room, all the chairs match but one of the "chairs" is a bench (instead of 2 chairs on one side of the table). In my kitchen, I have a table made from an old sewing machine base and an old piece of butcher block. There, my chairs are distressed off-white. In my summer cottage, I have a pine table with side chairs that are black w/ rush seats, and chairs at either end that are wicker armchairs. In answer to your other question, the important thing would be to have the seat heights the same. You don't want some people sitting up high and others sitting low!

This is my breakfast room of our new house (no window treatments yet). I always have a mix of finishes so I like a more eclectic look.

I'm sure I'll be mixing the dining room up, too.

Love those metal chairs, parma! (Wait, are they metal?)

sueb20, LOL...yes, metal with leather ties at the corners. When I ordered the black kitchen set sight unseen, I wasn't really happy with the quality so I paired two of the black chairs with the metal ones from Harden that I had from our old house.

Thanks, I've always loved those chairs, too.

ideamom - Did you see that on the Rate My Space show? I'm such a matchy match person, which is a habit I need to break. When they said they were going to mix up the chairs on there I couldn't understand why because I really liked the chairs they had. Once it was done, it was gorgeous.

Laurie

Mine do, yes. But I love the mix-and-match look with dining room chairs.

Organic, you have great taste in dining furniture LOL.

{{!gwi}}

Oooh, sue--I LOVE the bench! *drool*

We bought the set from a couple who were downsizing from a huge home on the North Shore of Boston to a small cape in our neighborhood, which didn't have a formal dining room. It's solid cherry, and we paid about half of what they cost new. I was very happy. :)

msrose: Yes, I did see that on Rate My Space show and I thought the same thing as you! It looked great to not have everything so matchy...something I'm slowly learning! Also in my situation it would make practical since to have 4 upholstered parsons chairs & only 2 black wood chairs. Our dining room is connected to our small living room so we keep our table round with only 4 chairs, however when we have company (1-2 times a yr) we put the leaf in and need 6 chairs. Our kitchen has a breakfast nook that seats 2 so if we use black wood chairs in there then we can just pull those into the dining room when we expand the table & need 6 chairs. Otherwise if I were to buy 6 upholstered parsons chairs I would have to store away 2 of the chairs so that I could only use them 1-2 times a yr. The other way makes more sense for us. I'll show you what I end up with once I have the chairs all purchased.

Our dining room has 9 chairs -- 3 different styles
Our breakfast room has 6 chairs -- 2 different styles.
Mixing is fun and interesting.

Joann

Mine currently match, but I am going to paint them 3 different colors. Right after I finish painting the kitchen cabinets and redoing the stairs. Oh, and doing a major overhaul on the garden. My checklist is getting longer instead of shorter. How can this happen?!

OT-Organic sh, what are your floors? Oak? They're lovely and warm looking.

Susan

Susan: Thank you so much! Yes, they are the original (1936) oak floors. We had them refinished before we moved into the house (after we had the pink wall-to-wall shag carpet removed). They're far from perfect, like me--but imperfect is okay, right? :)

I have a small dining area off the living room. The table is a black pedestal style and I have four parsons chairs upholstered in the same fabric but four different colors: blue, red, green and yellow.

All our's match. They are mahogany, in a very simple reproduction, vaguely Chippendale style. We have 8 of them awaiting my upholstery skills. But they're stripped of the god-awful dirty white paint that once covered them!

While I like the LOOK of mismatched chairs the practical reality is that mismatched seat heights can make for awkward seating at the table. One must be careful to select who sits where (in which chair!) or provide adequate cushioning to raise smaller diners or remove it to accomodate tall ones...

The look is "cool", the practical reality is often not nearly so charming.