Mid-century design remains as popular today as when it started in the 1940s. If you want a new look for your dining room, the iconic blend of clean lines, functionality and curated color of mid-century design is a perfect choice.
This style spanned over two decades and has many different personalities. You’ll need to decide what version of mid-century design appeals to you before choosing paint colors, light fixtures or mid-century dining chairs.
Muted Mid-Century Modern
The overall feel of this mid-century modern decor is sophisticated and warm. The color scheme is darker and muted. Popular colors are burnt oranges, mustard yellows and avocado greens. Geometric shapes are used in accessories and artwork. There is a dominant presence of darker woods like teak, and furniture pieces have simple angular lines.
When decorating a dining room in this style, use geometric pendant lights over clean sleek wooden dining tables. Keep wall colors neutral to provide a backdrop for judicious use of color in wall art and decorative accessories. The best mid-century dining chairs for this style will use clean lines in dark wood and upholstery in muted colors.
Poly & Bark offers several mid-century dining chairs that would suit this style. The Nesto chair is a classic bucket design with tapered pin legs, upholstered in a gorgeous moss-green fabric. The Lando chair is sleeker with a wedge-shaped angular design and a simple leather-covered seat and backrest.
Whimsical Atomic Style
Atomic style is a subcategory of mid-century design that embraces a brighter color palette, man-made materials like molded plastic, and whimsical accessories. Wood tones tend to be a bit lighter but the simple lines remain. As with mid-century modern, it is best to keep wall colors light and neutral to make room for some splashes of color.
If you’d like to experiment with this style for your dining room decor, feel free to get expressive with a Saarinen-style tulip pedestal table and some playful mid-century dining chairs. The Isla chair from Poly & Bark has a simple scooped seat, slender metal legs and comes in vibrant colors like sunburst yellow and ocean teal. The Marais chair has a similar silhouette with a webbed seat-back and comes in pistachio green.
Organic Scandinavian Influence
While Scandinavian style has its own category in design, there is a version of mid-century style that borrows heavily from its organic and nature-inspired look. Organic elements dominate this style with heavy use of wood, natural fabrics and a neutral color scheme.
Dining room decor for this style of mid-century modern should be simple, natural and grounded. Dining tables can be simple with flawless flat tops and simple legs. A great modern alternative would be a live-edge design.
Poly & Bark has two great choices for mid-century dining chairs in this style. The Hamm embraces simplicity with a classic upright structure and a seat made of woven rope. The Ray has a classic ladder-back design with a wider modern silhouette and a seat made of rope in a sophisticated basket-weave.
Affordable Mid-Century Style
Whatever style your home decor calls for, finding the right dining chair set is essential to keep uniformity. These examples don’t break the bank either, perfect for any home style, whether it’s an apartment or house.
