Dining Chair Colours: Beige, Green, Black or Brown, and What Suits an Oak or Stone Table

A neutral chair lets the table, the walls and the textiles change over the years without the chairs having to change with them. A strong colour fixes the scheme for as long as you keep the chairs.

The chart below groups the colours we make our chairs in by what each one does in a room.

Light chairs make a dining area look larger and calmer. The worry is marks. On a coated surface they wipe off; on a woven fabric they need to be blotted at once.

Our Valencia vegan leather in Ivory, on Isabell, Bella and Sella, and in Sand, on Isabell and Bella, wipes clean with lukewarm water and mild soap and is rated at 300,000 Martindale. Ivory bouclé suits a calmer household, or one with pets, as it is tested against claws. We do not make a pure white chair. Our guide to cleaning upholstered dining chairs has the routine for each fabric.

A black frame reads as a thin line rather than a block, so a slim black chair looks lighter than its colour suggests. Dust does show on a black seat, so a quick brush now and then keeps it sharp.

We make black three ways: black powder-coated steel frames on Sella, Bella and Isabell; seats in Jade Black vegan leather or velvet and Black bouclé; and Black Oak on Karin and Erik. Black on black is graphic and modern; a black frame with an Ivory or Sand seat is softer. For the table itself, see our guide to the black dining table.

Pure grey suits a cool grey-and-white scheme with little wood, or a grey stone table. Greige is the safer choice when the floor, the table or the chairs themselves are oak.

Our Dolly bouclé comes in Greige rather than a cool grey: on Karin in natural oak it bridges the wood and a grey room. If your room is mostly grey with no wood, Black bouclé or Jade Black on a black frame is the calmer partner.

Green chairs tend to work best when the green already exists in the room, in a wall, a kitchen front or plants, and in a muted shade rather than a bright one. A green that answers nothing tends to look added rather than chosen.

We do not make green chairs. In a green room our chairs work as the calm base: oak and warm neutrals sit well against green walls, and black frames give a deep green a sharp edge. The same thinking applies to blue, pink or terracotta. Our guide to mixing and matching dining chairs shows how to take a colour from the room.

Brown chairs at a brown table of a slightly different tone tend to fight each other, the same problem as two nearly matching woods. A brown seat on a black frame avoids it, because the frame separates the colour from the table.

Our Sella comes in Latte vegan leather with Chocolate armrests on a black steel frame, and Karin and Erik come in Dark Oak, a deep brown wood. Both suit a natural oak or a black table; at a dark wooden table, choose one clear contrast instead.

Stone tops are hard and cool to the eye. A chair in wood or a textured fabric brings back warmth, and a light chair keeps a dark top from looking heavy.

Our Diana table also comes with a Dekton top, a sintered stone, in Grafite, Grigio or Sabbia; the chart gives our suggestions for each, and our dining tables show the range. For an oak table, our guide to chairs for an oak table sets out every finish.