How To Pair a Unique Table and Chairs Set
This Focal Furniture Should be Chosen with Care
Oct 17, 2008
The table and chairs aren't just the most functional pieces of furniture in the home, but they're also a place where an opportunity exists – it's the opportunity to make a statement, and it's often overlooked. Follow one of these strategies to find a table and chair set that will make for great conversation and make your dining room pop.
Make it Your Own
If you've already got a dining set you'd like to keep or you are really committed to a dining set that you'd like to have, make sure you lend it some of your character. With all the time you'll spend eating, reading the paper and talking around this table, it should be truly yours.
Try a unique finish on top of the table, like lacquering a map of a favorite country or family photos to the surface. Or you can swap out the legs on the table to give it a new feeling. Try sanding down and repainting the chairs in a different color than the table so they really stand out. Whatever your style, integrate it into the dining set.
Mix and Match
This is a trend that's gaining quite a bit of steam. People don't want to buy a whole dining set when there's so many options in tables and chairs out there.
If you're going for modern, try buying sleek molded chairs with metal legs and pairing them with a clear glass table that will really let them stand on their own.
For an antique look, scour garage sales for old tables and chairs and pair one table with four different chairs. To unify the look, paint the chairs all to match in a bright color, like red, and then try the table in a white, black or cream color. The combination will be outrageously fun, and will definitely serve as a conversation piece for guests.
Think Outside the Dining Table
While dining tables often have particular forms, try looking at different kinds of tables that might give a unique feel to your room.
Why not try a long, skinny table that was meant to be a desk and then line both sides with elaborate high-backed chairs? For a Moroccan theme, try a big coffee table with squishy cushions on the floor. Even some doors can be turned into tables with the right legs, and wouldn't that be an interesting centerpiece to your eating area?
Surround With Great Accessories
No matter how great your table and chair set finds are, they aren't going to stand out if they're jammed in a corner or next to decor that doesn't fit. So play them up and make them the centerpiece of the room.
Try finding some light fixtures that will complement the set and hang them above so they bathe the eating area in light. Why not integrate a throw rug underneath it to bring some extra color into the area, or even chair cushions in a contrasting hue?
Low centerpieces that allow conversational flow and even wall art hung around the table will do wonders for the area. Soon, you'll have to kick your dinner guests out.
