Yes to this concept, as long as they aren't ugly office desk chairs on wheels...

I don't love this.

All the pictures look like they were taken in a BYOC (bring your own chairs) office meeting.
Even if you like the mix & match thing, in my opinion, the chairs must have something in common, like the same style & different colors, or the same wood & similar styles, etc.

I think this is a style that is harder to pull off than it looks. If done right it can be cool. Most look like a hot mess.

I think this is one of those fads I'm going to look back on in 15 or 20 years and say to myself, "I'm *so* glad I didn't jump on that band wagon."

I'm sorry, but that first pic with the tippy four wheeled office chair pulled up to a glass table? Someone's going to be going in for stitches one day.

I agree with TrishinPeoria. I like this idea in theory, and in some photos, I think it's looked really cool, but I don't think it translates well in real life.

Yeah, a definite "no" to number 1.

Not crazy about this.

I like the last look best. I want to do something like this, but the two end chairs will be the same, then the two side chairs, and then a bench. They all have to be similar style or have something in common (like someone else said) for this look to really work, and not look like there was a grab bag at a thrift store.

I only think this works if there's a common element with design or color. A lady in my neighborhood has painted wood chairs with a similar look all the same color around her table and it looks lovely. This just looks mismatched.

I'm not into it. I can do "mismatched" to a degree - the heads of the table can be distinct from the side chairs, but I'd much rather see things at least in pairs.

We have our 4 side chairs, and our head chairs are a bit different, but they are the same size and scale. We have two folding chairs as well (that we store with the leaf for extra seating if we're entertaining) that are painted in the same color as our regular chairs. You have to have some continuity.

No, the mismatching has to be intentional and somehow tied together. I don't like the above examples.

The first example is hideous.

That first picture is making twitch. Are my eyes deceiving me, or is that a Herman Miller chair used as a table centerpiece?

making me twitch*

I agree that the chairs need to be non-office and non-wheeled. But I do love this concept. My boyfriend and I have been collecting the perfect chairs for over a year... So far we have three.

Our original inspiration came from Katie's Pizzeria - a restaurant in St. Louis, Mo that really pulls off this look.

http://katiespizzeria.com/KATIES_PIZZERIA_PICS.html

agree with the majority, something has to be similar-wood, fabric, color, something.

especially if you have a lot of other eccletic stuff in the room that most of us have

I went to a dinner party recently and the couple had pulled all the tables and chairs from around their house and covered the tables with vintage tablecloths. None of the plates or glasses matched. It looked beautiful and magical but probably difficult to pull off on a daily basis in most peoples' homes.

This is the type of article where I imagine the author laughing hysterically while writing it--over the fact that someone might acutally give this a try.

I like variety, but seriously, why would I want my dining room to look like an office break-room or an orphanage?

an orphange? that was funny..

The first picture is exactly what I had in college mid 80's when I lived in a warehouse space, I was broke and bought up chairs like those from thrift shops because I thought it was cool back then. I also had a dentist chair and a glass coffee table I made with industrial castors I found at a scrape yard..all these things I see now and shutter.

Very few people can pull it off.

Two or three different matching pairs of chairs can often work, as long as they are carefully considered. Onesies? No. Looks like you're living in a flea market.

They really should have included a pic from "Friends." The mis-matched and yet somehow cohesive chairs at the dinner table in Monica's apartment was always one of my favorite design details in that show (that and the random exposed brick!).

@obleak1

"Looks like you're living in a flea market."

Have you *seen* the past couple of home tours, or are you new here? ;)

Agree with non-wheeled and something being similar. I've painted all my mismatched dining room chairs blue.

I guess you would say I have a sick obsession with vintage office furniture. I have filing cabinets all over the place. There's something I find so functional and industrial about it. I have been collecting the rolling office chairs for years now and when we moved into a larger house, one that had space for a dining table, the chairs became place holders for future purchases. Seeing them all together however brings a smile to my face. I almost feel like the chairs are having a meeting about the smaller center piece chair...

I never thought of mismatched chairs as a trend. I just think of it as something that makes me happy and looks a little funny. After all, Isn't that the point of design?

Hmmmm! These chairs are not working for me. Space looks great though.

I have a single dining chair on the the wall side for when I use my sewing machine plus an equidistant pair of poker chairs around my small rectangular dining table. It looks OK since all of the chairs are a similar color of wood. A 42" diameter round pedestal table in a color that's closer to the chairs' will arrive next week. I hope that it'll make the dining area and access to the back door less cramped.

A friend of mine did a great job of this--she had mismatched wooden chairs, and stained the seats and backs the same color, and painted the legs the same shade of dark blue. The end result looked great--a great middle-ground between cohesive and eclectic

We had to do this more out of necessity than from a design stand point. We live in a small condo and the dining room is quite small so currently we have a large dark wood table with a pair of ghost chairs so that the place doesn't look so crowded. However if we are going to have more people over we have a pair of matching C&B blue-gray chairs that go in the living room plus a pair of Eurway wire dining chairs from the breakfast nook. So we have enough seating for six in the dining room but they all serve double duty and don't crowd the dining room 24/7.

Not my cup of tea!