The other day I was discussing the redecoration of the hall, stairs and landing with a client. We then moved into the kitchen, as she wanted to bounce a few ideas around for a mini-refurb. Her kitchen chairs, she said, were a wedding present many years ago and she was bored with them. Would it be possible, she wondered, to paint them?
Indeed I said. Many people do just that. This was an idea that interested her and she started musing on colours. I kept quiet – painting furniture isn’t hugely my thing but I was happy to point her in the right direction of paints and techniques if that was what she wanted.
Then she said something that pulled me up short. “I could paint them all in different colours,” she said. “Mismatched is in isn’t it?”
And then… this voiceover is becoming rather Sex and The City … I realised, that mismatched painted furniture is now a little bit done now. You see it in every industrially distressed restaurant and it has lost its originality. This was a look that worked when you genuinely felt that the owner had a collection of mismatched chairs and had painted them for fun. Different chairs same colours, same chairs different colours.
But it struck me, as a fierce opponent of all things matching, that perhaps it’s not the idea that’s dated but the materials. I would really like one of these brass chairs, with one of the leather ones I featured last week and one of my Eames Eiffel Chairs. I think that mix of brass, leather and wood and plastic would look good. As long as it was two and two and two. I think four with one and one. Or even three, two and one. As long as it wasn’t symmetrical.
What do you think? Mismatched chairs in different materials? Does that work for you?
And this: because I just think it’s a beautiful picture that shows you how beautifully black and white and brass (well all right soft gold) go together. I may scatter these rugs all over my new loft floor. Mind you, it’s 230cm long so in all honesty I’m probably only going to need one.
The rug, like the chairs, is from Graham and Green.
Very interesting read: nigh on 18 years ago we bought a dozen same style Danish different coloured chairs from Graham and Green! They suit the split personality of our house – huge family numbers or just the two. In a recent refurb of the sitting-room/snug area we’ve done a similar thing with upholstery (not matching chairs tho!) where furniture can be moved back forth depending on numbers and use while remaining OK on the eye wherever. Thanks to Mad about (almost) grey walls!