How to Mix and Match Sofas and Chairs Like a Pro

At Countryside Amish Furniture, we appreciate the ease of finding a wooden living room furniture set, in which selecting individual pieces brings the assurance that they effortlessly coordinate with one another. Even if you choose to upholster the seating in differing fabrics or leathers, the similar frames will help connect the pieces to one another. However, shopping within the comfortable boundaries of a pre-assembled set isn’t for everyone. 

Perhaps you’re seeking to replace a singular piece or expand upon your current set when moving into a larger space. Or perhaps you enjoy the creativity of carefully curating various pieces to carve an individually cultivated visual identity. 

To help, we created tips on how you can mix and match sofas and living room chairs like a pro.
 

We’ll be the first to acknowledge that your living room sofas and chairs don’t need to match completely. In fact, mixing various aesthetics can add depth and personality to the space!

Identify and Honor Uniting Themes

The worst case scenario is that your mixed sofas and chairs feel “random,” so make sure you identify one or more commonalities the furniture will share. Examples include:

• The decor theme, whether it be Mission, French Country, Mid-Century, or Rustic
• The wood species and stain will echo throughout your assembled living room set
• Will they have a similar feature, whether it be flared legs, tufted backs, or studs
• A shared color or pattern that echoes throughout the furniture 
• Will matching throw pillows be used to unite the overall look

You are by no means limited to the examples above. However, whatever design decision you choose repeat throughout the mixed sofas and chairs, make sure you stick to this guiding principle when shopping.

Embrace (With Restraint) Contrasts

Examples of contrasts to inspire your own mixing of sofas and chairs include:

• Leather with fabric - At Countryside Amish Furniture, we love high-quality leather. It exudes a classic coolness that feels right at home in a retro or contemporary living room. Plus, it’s super easy to clean and is quite pet-friendly. However, if not appropriately styled, leather couches run the risk of looking heavy and aloof. For this reason, mixing leather with fabric can help soften (and lighten) the overall aesthetic.

• Noticeably different colors - While the potential combination of colors is near endless, there are right ways and wrong ways to go about the execution. Firstly, furnish your living room with a specific color scheme in mind, ideally consisting of no more than four purposefully chosen hues. Moreover, determine whether a specific color will pop as a singular accent, or whether the hues will be more balanced throughout the space.

Though there will be plenty of wonderful exceptions to this next suggestion, mix colors of equal intensity when shopping for sofas and chairs. Purchasing made-to-order living room seating from Countryside Amish Furniture makes this particularly easy, as they'll send upholstery samples directly to your home for comparison with your existing furniture and decor.

• Combining a bold pattern with a solid color - We welcome you to give your sofa or accompanying chairs a pop of personality with a bold pattern, though additional considerations must be taken into account. Not only do you need to make sure the fabric’s print doesn’t clash with those found on other furniture pieces but also make sure it complements the rugs, the pillows, the artwork, wallpaper . . . for this reason, we suggest you stick to a maximum of one bold pattern per furniture set.
  
  If you dare play with fire and want to upholster your mixed sofa and chairs in different prints, we suggest one be noticeably “large scale” while the other be “small scale.” Other tips? Space the boldly upholstered furniture apart from one another, and opt for a simple rug and throw pillows.
   

Shapes and builds - One of our favorite mixed living room seat combinations is that of a large upholstered couch next to a svelt Amish wooden rocker. The plush nature of the sofa's cushions provides a stark contrast to the chair's sleek, polished wood, resulting in a visually pleasing interplay. To achieve a cohesive look, consider matching the wood species and stain or opting to have the rocker upholstered with the same fabric or leather as featured on the couch.

Tips for Positioning Mixed Sofas and Chairs

• Don’t create “color clumps” or imbalance - What do we mean by this tip? Let’s assume you want to pair a set of soft pink chairs with a brown leather couch. The worst thing you could possibly do would be to put the two pink chairs on one side of the living room next to similarly pastel curtains, while the darker couch lingers next to a heavy wood bookcase. This would create multiple “style moments” that would feel disjointed from one another. Instead, intermingling the contrasting colors and tints would make the living room feel united, despite the mixing of furniture.
   
• Don’t crowd the mixed furniture - Yes, we suggested intermingling the mixed furniture elements, but they should by no means be placed nearly touching. Since they are distinct pieces, forcing them too close together runs the risk of creating a chaotic feel.

Don’t Have Dramatically Varying Heights

When thinking of seating dimensions, so often our minds jump to the amount of floor space consumed. Rarely do we think about the height of couches and loveseats, but that would be a mistake. If one person sits noticeably taller than another, it’s harder to maintain eye contact with one another. Therefore, try to mix sofas and chairs of similar seat heights. 

Bonus: Speaking about considering the heights of your sofas and chairs, we’d be amiss not to reference another crucial factor — the positioning of your television. While we go into great detail about this subject in Size and Height Guide For Your TV Stand, keep in mind that your living room seating would ideally be as tall as your media console so you’ll be eye-level with the television screen.

In our place, the best setting in which you can map out how to best mix and match sofas and chairs is within your living room, itself! Countryside Amish Furniture makes the process as easy as possible by:

• Enabling you to tailor furniture designs - Choose the wood, stain, upholstery, and more
   
• Offering hands-on customer service - Want to show us a picture of your existing living room furniture or send us a piece of extra upholstery? We can recommend which furniture and customization options best match
   
• Sending samples directly to your home - We take the guesswork out of shopping online by sending multiple samples of your choosing directly to your doorstep. Hold them up against different surfaces, view them in various types of light, and take your time finalizing your choice
   
• Granting hundreds of different designs - We offer a generous assortment of wooden frame couches, loveseats, and upholstered chairs representing diverse decor themes. 

Above all else, you can rest assured that your furniture will be built by the most skilled Amish hands using only high-end solid wood and materials. The resulting chairs and sofas will bring sophistication, comfort, and steadfastness to your living room.