Att interior designers and people with good taste

Amarante

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 11:41 am

I think whether it reads "contemporary" is going to depend on the style of the chair as well as the rest of the furniture. A lot of very dark chairs with dark furniture might seem oppressive so really it depends.

All of these dining chairs are leather but some like the Morgan barrelback are more contemporary than the French Contemporary styles

https://rh.com/catalog/categor.....60045

Baker is known for its very tasteful furniture - some of these are leather or would be easily made in leather and whether they are contemporary depends to a great extent on the actual style.

I would think that also having dark wood would be less contemporary than either a lighter wood or even a metal trim might be but that really depends

https://www.bakerfurniture.com.....airs/

FWIW I am finishing up doing my living room with the help of a designer and after much agonizing indecision decided on two occasional chairs which are being done in a blue leather - but the leather isn't dark navy blue but a slightly lighter blue which almost has a "faded" vintage look if that makes sense. My sofa is a darker teal blue so I needed something that would complement it and I didn't want it to be the same material as the sofa.

amother

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 11:50 am

Wow! Thanks for your helpful response. The style I'm looking at is somewhat similar to the Morgan curved back from RH that you posted. It would be covered in blue leather though and with gold legs. Is that considered trendy? I want to stay away from trends because these things ain't cheap. I am not sure though how to differentiate between trendy and classic.

SuperWify

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 12:04 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

It’s trendy but still a classier look. Sounds beautiful! I’d go for it!! IMVHO Anything you do now would be outdated in 15-20 years anyway so might as well get what you love now as long as it’s not too trendy. For example, 20 years ago my parents bought the classic brown Mahogany Italian chair. Even though it’s a very classic style, most people moved away from that look so it’s not super in now.

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 12:20 pm

We just did all blue velvet chairs. I like them a lot, I don’t feel they’re too trendy. It’s not a veeeery dark blue, it’s more of a dark teal. We went with wood legs as opposed to metal, I feel that’s classier. If I could do it again, I might get a lighter colored table though , maybe a grey marble look. Also I might get chairs with some wood on the top, I think that would look classier too, and sleeker. Just curious, why all leather, and why only blue or green?

amother

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 12:28 pm

Good point superwifey!
Why only leather? Because the Jewish stores sell plastic for 600$ not real leather but they give you fabric on the back so its pretty and practical. I cannot bring myself to spend that amount on plastic. So after much searching I found a real leather chair thats less then 600$ I don't want fabric or velvet because what do I do when my kids spill the chicken soup? Leather on the front and fabric on the back would be ideal but havnt found that yet.
So leather it is. The chair I found comes in those colors. Well also black, white and grey..

Amarante

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 1:31 pm

I think it is impossible to give advice unless one sees the chair as well as the table and the surrounding furniture because furniture doesn't exist in a design vacuum but is part of all of the other choices.

My dining table is a vintage style - in fact it is a copy I had made based on a picture of a table from the 1920's. My dining room chairs are quite modern - in fact they come from a store called The Mod Shop LOL

If you want to get good design advice I would suggest posting on the Design Dilemma and Furniture forums on houzz.com because the people there are very knowledgable and there are many professionals who offer design help to people who ask.

In general - without knowing what your chairs are like - I think metal is a more contemporary choice than wood and there are many very expensive chairs and other furniture which use model. Even if your home tends to traditional using metal as an accent lightens up the feel of the space in terms of basic design advice.

Of course I might be biased since my dining room chairs have metal legs but my table is all wood LOL

It is scary to make an investment in good furniture because you have to live with it. I remember the first sofa I bought and I hated it from the moment it was delivered because I had succumbed to what was trendy. Unfortunately it was also extremely well made so I had to live with it for awhile. Smile

On the other hand, stuff that I bought years ago is still stuff that I love because it spoke to me when I saw it and I wasn't worried about following a trend. My first sofa was trendy. LOL

These are not my exact chair and dining table as I had the dining room chairs upholstered in a different fabric and the table in the photo is the inspiration that I had made for me but you can see that the table is traditional and the chair is much more contemporary.

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 1:39 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I would probably go with the blue. And would get a lighter colored table.
But a few places have performance fabrics and stain resistant fabrics... we also sprayed ours with scotch guard.

Amarante

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 4:24 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Here's the chair

https://www.westelm.com/produc.....5051/

Is it trendy ?

I think it is "contemporary classic" and not "trendy" in the sense that it is going to look dated in three years. But then it somewhat resembles my dining room chair so I might be prejudiced. LOL

It is not dated/old fashioned Bubbe style but it isn't recognizably from 2022 if that makes sense.

It has nice lines and a dark leather will look fine because the metal legs will "lighten" it up so it doesn't look so heavy and the chair itself isn't a large heavy piece visually.

What are the other colors that surround the chairs in terms of blue or green being better? What if anything will you accent with in terms of finishing the look. For example, my home is open so while everything isn't the same the colors and patterns complement each other. In my public living areas I have basically blue that is the predominant color. I like blue and so I deliberately selected it as a color I was happy to "build" around. I knew I didn't want gray or beige LOL

FWIW West Elm is owned by the same company that owns Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma and it is deliberately positioned in the marketplace to be slightly less expensive than PB and to appeal to a "younger" demographic that is "hipper" but it isn't making super trendy stuff but it is slightly less traditional and more affordable than Pottery Barn and more stylish than IKEA - if this makes sense.

amother

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 4:49 pm

Thanks amarnte ! I definitely feel more confident now. I have no other furniture this is my first time getting dr furniture (no dr untill recently) I ordered from a jewish furniture store a large Espresso shade table pretty modern 4 straight legs nothing extra.
I'm leaning towards blue bec apparently (according to west elm) that type of leather is more family friendly

amother

Smokey

Thu, Jan 20 2022, 6:24 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Can you show a picture of the table?