The Ultimate Guide: How To Mix And Match Sofas And Chairs

Mixing and matching for our home interiors comes up a lot! It’s often a sticking point throughout different areas of the home. We’re trying to get away from the matching and uninteresting formal look. Mix and match living room pieces to give us a natural “lived-in, personalized look” without it being “put together”.

One way to achieve that look in the living room is to experiment with your furniture. And to get that feel for your family room, here’s a guide on how to mix and match sofas and chairs. 

Mix and Match Sofas and Chairs

1. Know Your Design Style

Having a mood board is always the best starting point to know what the style of your living room should be. Even in mixing and matching furniture, there should be some sort of restraint. If you’re going for an eclectic or maximalist design, you’ll be able to break a few more rules. 

But if you want a Scandinavian style living room, there’s a certain style and look you’ll be after, even when mixing and matching your furniture. 

If there is no particular style, you’ll be relying more on your instinct and what feels right to you. But it’s still good to get an idea of what you’d like it to look like. So see what inspiration you can find first. 

Finding Inspiration

When it comes to mixing and matching sofas and chairs, finding other sources of inspiration is always helpful. 

• Pinterest: A favourite for home inspiration!
• Magazines publications 
• Friends’ homes: Visiting friends who have similar tastes or interests may give you some great ideas on how they’ve successfully mixed furniture pieces within their own spaces.

2. Choosing an Anchor Piece

This focal item should be something that captures your attention and sets the tone for the rest of the space. This might be a furniture piece you already have in your living room. 

It’s usually better to focus on the larger piece of furniture first, as that will naturally be seen first. Make sure it’s a comfortable sofa you love, and that it works for your space. No matter the colour or the pattern, everything else around it will be to complement it. 

Statement Sofa Selection

Your anchor piece could be one of those eye-catching sofas. When choosing this central element, consider factors such as size, shape, fabric type (e.g., leather or velvet), and overall style (contemporary vs traditional).

Keep in mind that this sofa will dictate how you choose additional seating options like mismatched chairs.

Your main seating piece could be a loveseat, a long couch, or a sectional sofa. You’ll know which piece is best suited to the size of your room and your personal preferences. 

Accent Chair Options

If you prefer to have your main seating area consist of matching furniture but still want to add some flair with mixed pieces, consider selecting a striking accent chair instead.

These can come in various styles – from modern swivel chairs to classic wingbacks – allowing you to create visual interest without overwhelming the space. 

To ensure cohesion between all elements involved when mixing different fabrics and patterns on both sofas and chairs alike, opt for complementary colours based on their compatibility according to colour theory.

• Fabric Sofas: Choose high-quality materials like linen or cotton blends, which are durable yet comfortable enough for everyday use.
• Mismatched Chairs: Opt for contrasting shapes/styles while ensuring they complement each other through shared colour schemes or similar design features.
• Interior Design: Make sure your chosen anchor piece aligns with the overall style/theme of your living room to create a harmonious environment.

When selecting an anchor piece, consider the size of your space and how it will fit with other furniture. Mixing complementary colours, shades, and designs is a great way of keeping some continuity in the space.

3. Contrasting Furniture Ideas

I think where most of us go wrong in combining different pieces for our living room is trying to pair furniture that’s similar but from different collections. Quite often, a strong contrast is needed among the furniture pieces to make it obvious that they’re not supposed to be matching. 

A contrast doesn’t mean over the top or in your face. Here are a few ideas on where you can use contrasting furniture to your advantage:

• A contrast in furniture design style:

The overall shape of the furniture. A rounded back accent chair next to a linear sofa. The style of sofa a two-seater sofa and a bench cushion sofa.

The contrast of shape can be in the arm style of the pieces too. You can pair a slope arm sofa with track arm or armless accent chairs. This can mean mixing vintage with a new furniture piece as well. 

• Contrasting the leg style:

A slipcovered sofa or a platform sofa next to a wooden-legged accent chair. 

• Colour contrast:

A dark colour next to a light colour. Or a bright colour next to a neutral colour tone. This works far better than trying to get a colour match on two different seating pieces. It saves you a lot of time and energy in trying. 

• Pattern contrast:

A solid neutral coloured sofa next to a patterned chair.

Another option is to contrast patterns in scale. Mix and match a large pattern with a small-scale pattern. If you like this idea, try using complementary colours.

Or pick a colour from the large-scale pattern and match the colour in the small-scale pattern. That way there’s unity between the two patterns through the colour choice. 

• Fabric and material contrast:

A linen sofa next to two leather, velvet, or rattan accent chairs. Playing with the textures of materials, for example, smooth and shiny vs. soft and nubby. 

• Design detailing:

Tufted back sofa next to a tight back or cushion seat sofa. 

And all these apply vice versa. You can also use a couple of these contrasting ideas by putting two mismatched sofas together. There are so many different ways to play around with it. 

Contrasting Tips

Use one or two contrasting ideas depending on the style you’re going for: 

For a more subtle mixing and matching, use contrasting materials and fabrics in neutral colours. Or keep it really simple by contrasting leg styles along with arm shape. And the style of sofa. Like a slipcovered sofa with tight-back chairs to keep things simple. 

For a bolder design, a contrasting colour or pattern is going to stand out a lot more. 

If you’re using bold colours or patterns together, always get fabric samples first. Lay the swatches next to each other and see how you feel before committing to your choice.

Patterned upholstery and unusual colour fabric options can often end up as a custom piece. Which means more expensive and harder to return. 

4. Matching Furniture 

Once you’ve chosen a couple of ways to contrast your sofa and chairs, you can think about how you can match some elements. One of the main ways to keep the design cohesive is choosing the same colour for the furniture.

If you have a more open neutral space, you can get away with totally contrasting your sofa and chairs. As long as it keeps to your chosen design style. 

5. Scale of Furniture 

It’s a good idea to keep the scale of the furniture the same.

Generally speaking, that means having the seat depths and seat height the same. This keeps everyone sitting at similar heights when in the same area. So it’s not awkward when sitting and talking.

You don’t want one person having to sit up straight and another person curling up on the sofa in the same seating area.

Measuring Your Space

Always make sure to measure your space before purchasing any new furniture items. This will ensure that your sofa and chairs fit perfectly within your living room without overcrowding or leaving too much empty space. To accurately measure your room:

1. Accurately measure the length and width of your room, taking into account any architectural features such as windowsills, doorways, or built-in shelves.
2. Note down any architectural features such as windowsills, doorways, or built-in shelves which might affect where you place furniture items.
3. Create a simple floor plan sketch including these measurements – this will make it easier when arranging potential layouts for sofas and chairs later on.

Sofa & Chair Pairings

Here is a styling guide on mixing and matching furniture:

Pairing 1: This pairing plays with contrasts in the shape of the furniture. A square leather sofa paired with a soft, curved velvet accent chair creates a modern luxe feel for your living room.

Pairing 2: Pairing two has a classic open-style sofa in a neutral cream colour, paired with a cute floral print accent chair with fringing at the bottom. A great furniture combo for a transitional style living room.

Pairing 3: For a casual modern look, a comfortable two-seat square sofa in fabric paired with an airy rattan chair.

Pairing 4: Keeping the curves of the furniture similar for the sofa and the chair but contrasting pattern and fabric choice. A patterned fabric bench sofa and solid velvet accent chair.

Pairing 5: Modern and clean style pieces furniture pieces for this look. Pairing a square-arm neutral fabric sofa with a metal-framed accent chair with leather cushions.

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Making sure the pieces of furniture fit is key before trying to mix and match anything!

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