Dining Room World, Evolution in Style

My dining room table, as do so many, came with a set of six matched chairs. There was one end chair with arms, presumably for the head of the house and five less ornate ones for the remainder of the spots available at the table. I liked table and chairs, but other than those times we were entertaining, at least two of them were always sitting out the meal. Dining chairs  in my house, were usually pressed into duty for other rooms when not at use with the table. I kept one at my sewing machine and my husband used one at his workbench in his garage/basement workshop. So, we had a table and four chairs until company was coming. Then we had to uproot the house to find the two others and return them to the table.

Over time, one chair or another would suffer damage or get stained. I’d tuck them away and really intend to get them fixed. I usually didn’t. Instead, over time I accumulated a few odd chairs to replace them. Now, after the kids have flown the nest and a decade or three have passed, my dining room table looks much as it did when I got it. My dining chairs, however, are a hodgepodge of styles. Of the original six, my husbands “head-of-the-table” chair and two others remain usable. The rest are a motley crew of differing styles and, surprisingly, give the room and the table charm and personality.

I never set out to change the look of my dining room by changing the chairs. It just happened. Like so many looks that work, it evolved without effort. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t start out with a hodgepodge of mixed up chairs and enjoy it from the start. The room should reflect your style and, eventually, it will.