I have always loved the look of wingback chairs at the dining table. They make a dining room feel extra charming and inviting. Wingbacks look great at the head of the table and with their classic design, they can be easily mixed with any style of chair or table. I think they bring a nice ambience to a room. Patterned or solid, I think they are lovely! Don’t you?
You might have noticed in my summer house tour that I added a couple of wingback chairs to my own dining room table recently!
They are a slender narrow wingback that fit great at the table and don’t overpower my small dining room. (The chairs are gray but the lighting when I was taking the pics today made them appear a little more blue than they actually are!).
I think they are a cozy addition to the room and a fun mix with the table and other chairs!
*Chairs are from World Market {affiliate link, but the chairs are not sponsored, I just always find stuff I like at World Market! Ha!)
Love all the pictures of Wing back chairs! I love your blog ! I love a collected look. Thank you for your inspirations!
Thank you Christina!! :-)
I love all these photos you posted! The wingback chair is the perfect finish to a great table. It brings such elegance to the space.
I love all those unique dining rooms & especially the chairs! Inspiration galore on this post :))!
Paige.Rose
http://www.TheQuaintSanctuary.blogspot.com
I love that look! My space is not large enough to do that – but if I could, I would! (And I just LOVE that Caitlin Wilson dining room! So beautiful!)
I love them! They look great!
Debbie
I, too, love the look but question whether moving a wingback in and out from the table would be difficult due to the bulk and heft of the chair. Perhaps small casters would solve that issue. Looking at the pictures, I also question the practicality of using a wingback at the head of a trestle table. It appears one would be perched on the edge of their seat because it could not be pulled up close. Great look though!
Yes, good things to consider. Some wingbacks are very heavy so that would make a difference. I think you would also definitely want to match the style and height of the wingback to the type of table to make sure they are comfortable together. Mine fits perfectly and pulls up as close as any other chair for sitting and it is very comfortable with my table, I sit there all the time now! If you needed all of your chairs to push all the way under you would not want any arms at all.
Love, love, love the look….but not the implication (am I imagining things?) that the host and hostess somehow deserve to be more comfortable and cosseted than the guests. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but honestly, that’s what keeps me from doing this.
Love them! They provide a perfect excuse to linger longer after a meal or over coffee!
Wingbacks in the dining room are beautiful. However, they are far from a new idea! Find some decorating magazines from 20 years ago and you will see that in quite a few upscale traditional this was very common. Often times One Wing being a bit larger than the other, indicating host and hostess seats. I have had wingbacks in my laidback traditional dining room. I have also had Beautiful wood cushioned arm chairs, totally unrelated to my original cherry table and chairs, moving my original arm chairs into bedrooms for a good chair to sit down and remove ones shoes. Now I have two Martha Washington arm chairs at either end of my table. They are covered in a muted wide striped pale aqua silk. They look lovely, although my husband feels they sit too low for the table. My point is, history repeats itself in everything, even how we decorate our homes, although I do have to say I hope never to see the giant sized Paul Bunyon bedroom furniture that was so popular in the early 70’s again. I am extremely grateful that we were so penniless with school loans, new baby etc that we could never afford it. I would shudder everytime I looked at it now, LOL
Love the wingbacks in your cozy dining room!!! Great choice for a reasonable price! Love World Market! I have a question that is totally off topic if you don’t mind…. Your kitchen is gorgeous, but where do you keep your garbage can??
Thanks Crystal! We have the standard garbage can under our sink! And then because I wanted our kitchen to be very efficient and didn’t want to have to wait for someone to move while working at the sink when we have multiple cooks in the kitchen, we added a standing stainless garbage can with the kick-toe lid and it just floats around the kitchen. :-)
Your dining room looks amazing!! So pretty & cozy too- xo
Tanya
Love the idea and look of the wingback chairs in the dining room, but wouldn’t have room in mine and it’s now my office anyway. But, given that it’s wide open to the everything, wanted a chair at my desk that was attractive and took away the working desk look when I wasn’t. I was inspired by your own office, Melissa, and I’ve found a delightful wicker outdoor chair form Pier 1 that’s going to work with a colorful seat cushion. Still have to use the office chair for working because of the “everything on thick carpet” situation and all still a work in progress, but thanks yet again, Melissa, for the first and second and … inspirations.
I couldn’t agree more! I absolutely love this look and hope to make it happen in our own home!
I also love the look of wingback chairs planking a dining room table. It reads casual sophistication to me which I love. I have a friend who got a pair of wingback chairs for her dining room table recently from World Market. They are a sapphire velvet with the back in different fabric and design. They are super stylish! Love yours too!
I saw those too and loved them, very cute! I chickened out though and went with solid fabric due to so many other patterns I already had going with the dining room curtains and maps nearby and all. :-)
I chicken out sometimes with pattern too! It’s a fine line! I’m getting more comfortable with it though. I love what you’ve done with your home!!
Melissa, LOVE the wing chairs in a dining room. I think they add a wonderful style and comfort to any dining room. Yours looks GREAT!! Thanks for showing us so many different ways to use wingback chair in the dining room.
Kathysue
I absolutely love the look of wing back chairs in the dining room especially the photo with the turquoise chandelier. Would you know who the manufacturer of the chandelier is? Thank you.
I like the idea of wing back chairs, and yours relate (in color) to your other chairs so look right. But in some of the pictures the wing backs are so different from the other chairs that they are a jarring note in an otherwise nice room. The worst, for me, are the third and fourth pics–the ugly pattern and exaggerated wings in the fourth, and in the third, the too-great contrast between comfy wing chairs for the host and hostess and hard plastic for the guests. I’d be ashamed to think so little of my guests’ comfort.
Your dining rooms looks wonderful, Melissa! I love your small-scale wingbacks. I think large ones can overpower any normal-sized dining room, but yours are a great scale for your room and your furnishings. Just one more example of what a good job you do collecting and changing things to create a homey but sophisticated look. :)
I too love the look of wingback chairs at a dining table. The look is charming, yet elegant. The examples you showed are all so pretty. I like the ones you chose for your dining room. They’re the perfect scale.
Melissa,
Your wingbacks are lovely. Have you thought of adding seat cushions on the other DR chairs for guest comfort? The cushions could be another layer of ‘texture’ in the room. Just think, you could add another fabric pattern/texture layer! I.e. more shopping ;)
I think if you want to add wingbacks (or anything else), then do it – and have FUN in the process – life it too short to conform to someone else’s idea of ‘proper design’.
Thank you Melissa for continuing to share your evolving style and home with us – keep having fun and sharing because we love you just as you are…and that won’t change!
I just love your dining room! The white plates on the wall are my favorite part! Also – thank you for the lovely collection of beautiful dining room photos – each one was more fun than the next! And I agree with the commenters saying that people should have fun with their wingback fabric selections. I like the idea of a traditional-shaped chair upholstered in a funky and/or modern pattern – I always think that is a fun twist!
Love the inspiration fotos, esp the H2 Design and the Neiman Marcus rooms. I wish I had thought of this before we got rid of our old classic wing chair. It was our first major furniture purchase after we got married. Reupholstering it cost four times as much as the chair (used) cost. But eventually I wanted more squishy, comfy chairs.
Are your wing chairs comfortable? Do you find that people prefer them, or do they prefer the other dining chairs? I love that gray color.
Hi Melissa!
I love these photos! My dining room is on my “to do” list for makeovers – I so hope that wingbacks will be in my budget when the time comes! I love the look!
Shelia
http://www.houseofhighlands.com
I have two large sconces with the glass baubles that I plan to use in my dining room. Would a chandelier similar to the one in the Caitlin Wilson and Arkansas pictures be too much?
I would LOVE these chairs but they are sold out at World Market. How often do they restock?
Thank you for your blog. I love it. I have been looking for blue floral pattern dining chairs. I muraled my walls with a chinoiserie print and have a blue and white plate collection on the wall. I have 6 gray dining chairs around a stone table. I just need two hostess chairs on the ends to complete the look, but cannot find them. I love the ones in your picture. Blue & white with a pop of pink. Where can I find them?