Mid-Century Modern Dining Chair Ideas

Walk into a dining room when nobody is eating and one thing fills your view more than anything else: the backs of the chairs. The table is half hidden behind them. That is why I judge mid century modern dining chair ideas from the doorway rather than from the seat, and why the line of a backrest matters more to the room than the fabric you sit on. An open back lets the table show through it; a solid one stands in front of it. Start with the mid century modern dining chairs and look at every one of them from behind.

Turn the mid century modern dining chair pictures around

Most product shots are three-quarter front views, seat and arms toward the lens. In a real room the back is what faces the door, the window and the kitchen. Open backs, a single curved rail or a row of spindles, let the table read through the chair, so six of them never wall it off. Solid upholstered backs line up into a fence, which suits a big room and smothers a small one. The elm chair beside the ninety-inch buffet has a slim open back, and it is why that long table still has air around it. The rest of the mid century modern dining room furniture works on the same principle of legs and gaps.

Choosing for the people who actually sit there

Wood, linen or leather

Wood, upholstery and leather are the three materials people search for most, and at a family table they behave very differently. A solid wood seat is honest and cool and needs a cushion for any dinner that runs past an hour. Linen, like the gray and espresso chair in the other two looks, is soft and quiet but keeps every drop of red wine unless it has been treated. Leather wipes clean and improves with marks, so I would put it on the chairs where the children sit. Filter the modern dining chairs by seat material before you look at anything else.

Arms at the ends, none along the sides

Armchairs are searched almost as often as side chairs, and they do have a place: the two ends of a rectangular table. Along the sides they take more width than you expect and rarely tuck under an apron, so the table looks pushed out into the room all evening. Two armchairs and four side chairs is the classic mix, and it lets you spend more on the pair that gets seen. Check the apron height on the mid century modern dining tables before buying anything with arms.

Buying in sets of four or six

Sets of four and six are where most of the demand sits, and I understand why: one decision, done. The mistake is a set chosen from its photograph that arrives almost, but not quite, the tone of the table. Walnut chairs at an oak top can be beautiful when the difference is deliberate, two clearly separate woods, and muddy when they are a near miss. Either match closely or contrast clearly. The Dark Luxury Lookbook is full of rooms where the contrast is plainly intended.

Back height and the window behind it

High-back versions are a steady search as well. They look commanding, and they block things: a low window, the view of the garden, the long line of the sideboard behind. Mid century rooms are built on long, low horizontals, so I keep chair backs below the top of the buffet, which lets it read as one unbroken line from the doorway. You can see that line held across the rooms in mid century modern dining room ideas.

Count the legs in a mid century modern dining chair gallery

Six chairs make twenty-four legs, before you add the table's own. Tapered, splayed legs are the signature of the period, and at floor level they are also a forest. Slender ones keep it light; heavy ones make the space under the table dark and busy. Choose slim legs for a small room, and size the rug so every back leg stays on it with the chair pulled out, roughly two feet past the table edge. Slim, tapered legs run through most mid century modern furniture, so the chairs will not be alone in the room.

So save your mid century modern dining chair inspiration from the hallway, not the head of the table. Go back through the mid century modern dining chair photos you have pinned and cover the seats with your thumb. If the backs alone still make a room you want to walk into, you have found your chairs. Then sit in one for an hour before you buy six.