We recently built a table for my dining room. I love it and will be sharing about that soon, but first let’s talk about these yellow chairs! We chose to build a dining room table that seats eight, because we often have a very full house with friends and co-workers. I wasn’t ready to commit to eight matching chairs so I decided to collect mismatched chairs and paint them all the same color.
Collecting the chairs was fun. I spent a week or so hunting them down from local flea markets and thrifts. I chose anything that was sturdy, had a good shape and only had seats that could be reupholstered (if any at all).
To paint the chairs, I started with a base coat of Kilz Odorless Interior Oil Based Sealer Primer
. I have used this primer for quite a few recent projects including our kitchen cabinets and my cocktail cart. For the top coat I used Rust-Oleum Safety Yellow
. The color is a bright primary yellow and I absolutely love it!
Painting eight chairs is no small task. I actually had two friends helping me (thank you Mallory + Emma!) and it still took about five days for us to complete them (so. many. coats.) Three of the seats needed to be reupholstered. We simply unscrewed them and attached new fabric to each seat by stapling it underneath with a staple gun.
I am so happy with the chairs we have! I love that they don’t match and I enjoy the pop of color they add to our dining room. What do you think about mismatched furniture? xoxo. Elsie
114 Comments
I love yellow, and I never thought it would look so good on wooden chairs! Great idea, thank you!
Elisa – Wandering Minds fashion
http://ourwanderingminds.com
Those are so cute!
these are awesome. love the punch of yellow.
I love the mismatched chairs! It just adds a special character to the room. But the yellow is perfect! I think it compliments the rest of the room so well!
I am loving this nesting series! Those yellow chairs are so cute!
Sabrina
http://bbutterflybrain.blogspot.de/
if theres was ever an Elsie chair : bright yellow with black&white polka dots would be it! xo
i love the idea of mismatched chairs, i have 3 different types of chairs at my dinning table.but i never thought of painting them!
yellow is such a gorgeous happy colour 🙂
love the bright color. and the table! can’t wait to see a post on that. and rug! could you tell us where the rug is from?
They’re fantastic. What a great way to get enough seating, but to have it look interesting. Not to mention saving some money. Chairs can be very expensive! I love the yellow and the polka-dotted seat covers.
I love the idea of Mis match chairs! And the yellow looks amazing with the fabric u choose. I’ve been trying to figure out a new dining room table that me and the fiancé would both love and I think I just found it! Good job ladies!
Wow, this is kind of perfect!
So fun! Where did you find the rug? I love the simple grey with the yellow. 🙂
They look so bright and cheery! Great work ladies!!
http://theoccasionalindulgence.blogspot.com/
It looks very lovely! Mismatched furniture adds so much character to a room. I was wondering where your rug is from? If is also lovely! It goes very well with the yellow.
love this. Everything about it. The color, the different chairs. Amazing.
mix matched furniture is my very favorite.
xo, clare
http://thewanderingelefant.blogspot.com/
what a fun pop!
http://www.styleandshades.blogspot.com
I think you did a fantastic job pulling it off! I think I would be a little scared to paint furniture though 🙂
I like mixing and matching. I want padded arm chairs for the ends of my harvest table.
Vintagehoneybee.blogspot.com
So cute! It looks so happy & lovely! 🙂
X
http://kendra-genevieve-rose.blogspot.com
What a perfectly quirky way of matching an ensemble of chairs. Love the idea! I’m currently obsessing over pops of really bright red in our home, but have so far always collected things that are already in the right color. Now, thanks to you – a new budgetfriendly solution!
What a great idea. For my wedding we did a similar project with the centerpieces; collecting vases of all different shapes and painting them all bronze. I’m so happy that you inspired me to bring that same eclectic beauty into my home decor!
your table is EXACTLY what I plan on building. I can’t wait to hear about your process, it will be a big help!
Love it! I had actually done the same thing years ago {until I fell in love with a wonderful set of wooden pop art chairs…but I digress lol}– color is a great way to create unity!!
http://aclosetintellectual.blogspot.com/
I LOVE them!!! I have mismatched chairs that would look so good with a coat of paint. It probably helps that I adore bright colors and yours is a gorgeous one!
http://catherinedenton.com
They’re beautiful! I love that they’re all mismatched but the yellow brings them together. So bright and happy!
Very cute! I had one bright yellow and one bright orange chair in my kitchen in my last apartment – we weren’t allowed to paint the walls, so I settled for painting my furniture 🙂
That’s a cool idea! I like how the bright color really unifies them, even though they’re each different.
Hey guys! My rug is from Urban Outfitters. http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=25973892&parentid=A_RUGPILCUR
I am in love with this! I not only love the table, and the bright and fun color of the chairs but I am obsessed with the mismatched chairs. They are all so fun and funky! What a fun idea!
This came out beautifully, Elsie!
Such a lovely idea! Can’t wait to see sneak peaks of your house. 🙂
rachelphotographs.com
I love it! I’m dying to paint and upholster my dinning room table chairs but we just moved the table in to the garage to make room for the christmas tree… guess my project will start in 2013!
I LOVE mismatched. I thrifted four different vintage chairs a year ago for our kitchen table and painted them a cobalt blue and I still like them! So much fun to do a little something unexpected. Love how yours turned out!
You pulled off the mismatched furniture look very well and the color is so bright and cheery!
I’m curious…why did you use oil based primer? Is it something you HAD to use for the type of furniture or is it just that you’re used to using it?
Q: I’m curious…why did you use oil based primer?
A: Our painter (who recently did our stairs) recommended it to me because it helps any paint to adhere better to the wood or metal for a more sturdy finished coat with little or no sanding! 🙂
Great color! And I am so in love with those polka dots!
Your dining table looks beautiful. I think its cool to have mismatched furniture instead of your typical matchy matchy.
I noticed your awesome yellow chairs during the Thanksgiving post and thought “wow!! how cool are those!!” In short, i love them. Yellow is such a happy color:)
Tessa Lynn
http://www.alavendersea.com/
omg! so cute!!
So cute. I love how they match, but don’t at the same time.
The Cardigan Diaries
You´ll certainly not fall asleep in that kitchen, love the vivid color! 🙂
What a great idea! So stinkin cute! The polka dots are perfect 🙂
xo
Styled By The Moon
Ok, I must admit, I started to like yellow just because I see so many pretty yellow things on your blog. So, it’s out there. Glad it’s out of my system:) I really like your new dining room!
This is perfect – exactly what I was thinking about.
Sending the link to my husband to get him on board 🙂
Love them! 🙂
http://inavintageworld.blogspot.com.es/2012/12/barroque-hair-style.html
I love the mixed chairs and I think if anyone can pull it off it is you! Also I cant believe you made that table, I want to see a DIY on that.
Carlee
http://almostendearing.blogspot.com/
I seriously love the idea of buying mismatched chairs and painting them the same color. I love the way it turned out. I have an old dresser that I want to paint yellow, but I was a little nervous. Now that I’ve seen this, I’m ready to get started!
how fun!! i would really love a table like that when we move to our new place. that yellow color is so cheery!
That yellow was a oerfect idea. It looks so nice there like a sun. Have a great day.
http://www.fashiondenis.com/
How cute! Such a happy looking dinning set 🙂
This is a completely brilliant idea! You girls are amazing
Such a fun idea! This really inspires me b/c we had a table made for us as a wedding gift. It’s beautiful but we haven’t found the right chairs to pair with it.
Thanks for the great ideas, as always!
Blessings!
http://www.beautyandbows.com
I just finished painting my mismatched dining room chairs yellow! It’s a little deeper than yours. I absolutely love how mine turned out! Yours are absolutely lovely. Yellow is a great accent color.
This table AND these chairs are all DELICIOUS. I love the varying chairs, but the solid color to bring it all together. Just perfect. Well done!
I love it and now that they are all the same color they do match.
i notice you have a shell chair thrown in there! how did you go about painting that? i have one i’d like to restore and i am trying to figure out the best paint option!
xo
aubrey 🙂
I love the yellow!! So different! =)
http://chloemoonergo.blogspot.com
Love mismatched…anything, really! Especially mismatched sheets & pillow cases.
Good job on the chairs!
Q: i notice you have a shell chair thrown in there! how did you go about painting that?
A: Hi! I used the method listed in the post. I used a small roller brush to apply the paint. The shell chair was by far the easiest to paint of the set! 🙂
So pretty! I love mismatched chairs, I plan to have some in my living room when I own a house! I like the idea of having them in one colour, so that you can mix styles easily. But I also like having them in different colours (well, not too much, more like a mix of white, one single bright colour and metallic chairs)
I also like mismatched plates! I plan to have a range of vintage flower and white plates later on! And also mismatched glasses!
I am going to do this now! I love the look of mismatched furniture and I can’t wait to pick what color to pain them all.
this is really nice!
Valentina
http://valentinaduracinsky.blogspot.com/
I must say I love this look, and have two chairs that are painted same yellow! Good going – the dining room looks amazing and I did not have a chance to tell you how much we love your Bar also!
awesome idea. I’ve always been a fan of things that “go” but don’t match – dishes, silverware, photo frames – all united by function or another element but all different. I’m going to hold onto the chair idea, love it!
so incredibly beautiful!
these kind of things makes me feel like there are good things about growing up. Im having highschool leavers crisis. I love how all the mismatched chairs are tied together by a bright colour.
Do you factor in the relative height of the seats when searching for chairs? Or do you just sit the tallest person on the shortest chair?
What a cherry color!
xo Jennifer
http://seekingstyleblog.wordpress.com
this is such an amazing pop of color!!!! i love it! what a fabulous idea.
always wonderful ladies
xoRachel
also REALLY enjoying the blog design love course it is just fantastic!!!!!
http://www.theyearofslowfashion.com
Love the pop of color as well as the miss matched style.
I love the mismatched chairs idea, great fun 🙂
I love this idea! Having different chairs has always been a goal of mine but painting them all the same colour is te perfect way to tie them together!
Love the brightness! Such a cheery room!
That’s an amazing idea! Mismatched chairs – I love it! x
I love mismatched furniture, as long as it still looks cohesive. This is a great idea! I love the color too.
Strive to Thrive,
Nic
http://www.Thriving-Wives.com
I love them! Such a brilliant idea!
La La Love how each chair is different but the same color. Eclectic. Reminds me of using mismatched china all around your table. Beautiful in a non overdone kind of way.
Great idea!
Saludos,
Clau!
http://eyecandyphoto.blogspot.mx/
I love mismatched furniture. My cousins have a table that seats 12 with all mismatche wrought iron chairs around it upholstered with the same fabric and it looks great! I love the bright yellow you have used but if I were to do it I would probably go with cream or turquoise and sand bits of paint off for a rustic look 🙂
I love how this looks!
I like yellow colored furniture! These chairs turned out to be lovelies 🙂
I love this color it’s so happy and alive
perfect to perk up any furniture!
http://1hugaday.blogspot.co.il/
Love these! It’s such a perfectly simple idea, choosing mismatched chairs makes for more fun and variety and then the yellow ties them all into some common theme. I thought of having the same chairs but different colours, but it’s so difficult to find one form that I love, I think I’ll do something similar to yours instead. Probably in white though, just because I love white and my kitchen is busy with colours that are too much hassle to change!
What a beautiful idea!
So cute!
http://suspironews.blogspot.com/
How did the paint do on the plastic chair? (The one on the left in the first picture is plastic, right?)I have a set of those and they’re white so they get dirty really fast especially because I have little kids. So I think painting them is an awesome idea!
Love this funky fresh color!
Love the idea of color added to a room like this! It looks amazing! Good work!
Lovely! You and Emma have similar taste in furniture colors! The yellow coffee table looked great too!
Ever since I saw the Property Brothers do this (with pink chairs), I’ve wanted to do that for my future house! It looks soooo cute in yellow too!
this is the best dining room!!! the absolute best! 🙂 that yellow… it’s magical.
I have mismatched chairs around my table too, but I’ve been saying I’m going to re-paint them since I bought them in 2008 or so. Wow! That looks a lot more embarrassing written out. Way to go for getting your awesome dining room together so quickly!
I absolutely love the mismatch chairs! I’d love to do this in my own home someday.
http://2ndhandknowledge.wordpress.com
I love this!! Did you sand the chairs before you painted?
I love the mixmatched idea with the same color! It is like Bridesmaids dresses. 😛
xoxo,
Laura
http://lauraisthriftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/
What a great idea! They look wonderful, as if they were meabt to be together!
Yellow and mismatched furniture = match made in heaven!
I LOVE this, so quirky, friendly and fun! I want it!!
x
Love how the diferents chair look like one with just painting!
Amazing!I love the colour!So bright!
I recently painted some furniture and yes it can take time but when you’ve done it’s so rewarding to look at your achievement!
LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOVE the yellow!! I’m super excited to see the table DIY too.
http://www.little-beast.blogspot.com
gorgeous colour
I looooove mismatched chairs. We have a huge dining room table and spent a long time searching for and collecting various old chairs. We love the look and now we laugh about our chair addiction cause we are always finding awesome, irresistible chairs for all over our house, haha!
This looks gorgeous, thought of painting the chest of draws but not the chairs! This could be dangerous, may end up painting everything!
My interior design company actually just moved offices and for a fun change we painted all the doors and baseboards almost the same exact bright yellow! Were still completing the finishing touches but it’s going to look FAB! Such a great way to add a pop of color!
I love the idea of mix-matched chairs at the dining table. I had never thought of painting them the same color, though – Love that!
Brittany
brittanykytecreated.blogspot.com
Beautiful dining room, Elsie! A few quick questions:
Did you sand the chairs or strip off any existing paint/stain?
How many coats of paint did you do?
And, lastly, did you finish them with a sealant or polyurethane?
Thanks, d. xoxo.
Love it! And it reminded me of 2 TV shows and their dining chairs: Friends – one of the character’s, Monica, had mismatching chairs, which I’ve always enjoyed – and Gossip Girl – recently, in an episode, I noticed yellow chairs in a dining room table set in a scene and thought the color was such a great choice! Great job!
I’ve looked at this post at least ten times now and I am in head over heels in love with the fact that they don’t match.
istaistaista.blogspot.com
These look fab. I love the energy that yellow brings to the space. I did something similar this summer and took 11 mismatched chairs, painted them white and ‘dipped’ the legs. (here: http://sugarsugarhouse.com/2012/08/09/dipped-kitchen-chairs/)
Thanks for sharing!
These are wonderful! I love the colour. Having all of the chairs in a different style makes this even more special.
http://messperfectblog.blogspot.com.au/
Awesome, AWESOME work on the table. Total freak’n radness/ The chairs are a great fit. It’s funny what notice though. I’m in the market for a rug at the moment and the one pictured is perfect. Could you pleeeeeaaaase tell me where this is from??? I Love it! Thanks.
Pete, my rug is from Urban Outfitters (still in stock!)
Thanks so much, Elsie
I saw the post about your table and just had to follow the link to these chairs, I love the idea of mismatched chairs but i had always been a bit hesitant because I like everything to match and that’s a great way to get a matched look without buying the standard dining set that everyone has, you guys make me wish i was craftier
This is exactly what i’ve been wanting to do with our dining chairs. thanks for the inspiration :o)
Did you have to sand the chairs before you painted them? I’m in the middle of redoing our kitchen table + chairs, also. I sanded the table but the chairs are a little more difficult to do so with. Now I’m wondering if it is necessary at all?
Your chairs turned out beautifully! They inspired me to go a different color than my table! White for the table & light blue for the chairs!