Shabby Elegant Dining Set

A met a woman some time ago now who contacted me to buy the Lady’s Sitting Chair that was one of our first posts on the blog.  She loved the chair and wanted to build a mismatched dining set around it, with eight chairs (seven more) and a table made from a (big) old door.  We’re still on the lookout for the old door to suit, but we’ve finally finished searching for and refinishing the chairs.

Now, in my humble opinion, it’s difficult to pull off just throwing a bunch of different chairs around a table without it ending up looking like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

I think some people can pull it off in certain environments, but, like I said, it’s difficult.  It’s much easier for a very ordered person like me to achieve a mismatched look in an orderly kind of way.  There are two ways you could go about this. 

The first method is by using a set of matching chairs and using varying finishes to achieve a mis-matched look.

Pottery Barn

 

 

Apartment Therapy

 

All Things Thrifty

 

The other method (and the one we chose to employ for our mismatched dining set project) is to collect differing shapes and styles of chairs and to unite them using the same finishes.

Unknown Source

 

Apartment Therapy

 

Coastal Living

 

Sara Jessica Parker’s Dining Room

 

So now, if you’re not completely photo-exampled out, onto our Twice Lovely shabby elegant mismatched dining chairs  (get ready for picture overload!!) 

They were all painted ivory and distressed, just as the first chair was.  We chose three coordinating fabrics for the upholstery: one was the damask used on the first chair, one was a paisley floral, and the other a stripe, all in very soft greens and creams.  Here was the first chair she purchased, which served as the inspiration for the set.

 

And here’s how her friends turned out:

 

   

I can’t WAIT to see them all gathered cozily around a table!  I’ll be sure to show you all when the project is completely completed.  ;)