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How to Mix-and-Match Your Furniture & Couches

How to mix and match furniture, PrettyPurpleDoor.com

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really the type of person to go to the furniture store and just buy the exact set that they have on the floor exactly as-is. If you want to get a little creative with your furniture selection, but still have a cohesive look, I’ve got some great ninja tips for how to mix and match furniture like a pro.

I know most of you believe that you aren’t creative enough to choose pieces that “go” together, but trust me! Finding exactly what pieces of furniture you want is not as difficult as it seems. Just follow my Mix & Match Furniture System to get great results every time.

When mixing and matching furniture, the seat height and depth should be equal. Match the furniture shape, style, color, fabric and/or back height for a cohesive look.

This system works whether you are purchasing brand new furniture or if you have a really special piece that you love and need to build out the rest of your room around that one item.

The Mix & Match Your Furniture System (with Infographic)

My mix and match your furniture system is really simple and will give you a checklist to use in order to determine whether two pieces will actually go together. Whether it’s two couches, two chairs, or a mix of couches and chairs, you will be able to use this system to combine pieces of furniture together in a cohesive way.

Use this infographic to determine if the furniture pieces you choose will actually work together.

How to Mix and Match Furniture Infographic
How to Mix and Match Furniture (Infographic)

Step 1: Furniture pieces must have (roughly) equal seat heights and seat depths

The best way to combine furniture of different sets is to get items that are very similar in scale. Make sure the seat height and seat depth for each piece is roughly the same.

If you are planning on putting the pieces near each other or across from each other, will it be comfortable for two people to have a conversation?

Do the furniture pieces have equal seat height?

Furniture with matching seat height
Chairs that do not have the same seat height will make conversations uncomfortable.

Will one person be sitting up high while the other person is sitting really low? Mismatched seat heights do not lend themselves to having a comfortable conversation.

Do the furniture pieces have equal seat depth?

Furniture with matching seat depth
A chair that is very deep evokes a casual, laid back mood, while a chair that’s not deep is a bit more formal and forces you to sit in a different way.

If one person be sitting with 50% of their thighs hanging off the edge of the chair while the person across from them has been gobbled up by a really deep chair, it will feel awkward. So, make sure you take the seat depth into account while mixing and matching chairs and couches.

Step 2: Find at least two other similarities in the furniture pieces

If both the seat height and the seat depth of the pieces of furniture you choose are roughly the same, you are more than halfway there. In order to make sure that they are a home run, make sure that the pieces share at least two of these three important qualities:

  • Shape or style
  • Color or fabric
  • Back height

Furniture with the same shape or style

Similar shape/style and similar back height
Not only do these two chairs have a similar style, they also have a similar back height. Obviously, they do not share a similar color but they still work together wonderfully.

SHAPE: Using clean lines in all pieces, or rounded backs, or even similar leg/foot shapes in furniture can tie them together.

STYLE: Choosing 2 mid-century modern pieces, or 2 traditional pieces will creative a more cohesive look.

Furniture with the same color or fabric

Similar shape/Style and similar color/fabric
These two chairs have a similar style… but not that similar. What they have most in common is their color. Although one is patterned (with stripes), they still have the color blue in common. So, your colors don’t need to match exactly, they just need to have a common thread. The same is true for fabric selections. If these pieces were two different colors but both had corduroy fabric, they would work together.

COLOR: Choosing pieces in the same color family is an easy way to unite them.

FABRIC: Choosing two corduroys pieces, even in different colors/patterns, will still work together.

Furniture with the same back height

Similar color/fabric and similar back height
These pieces are definitely different styles (traditional vs. modern) but they are a similar color and have the same back height which is enough to unite the two pieces together.

BACK HEIGHT: The height of the back of the furniture piece is also important in achieving balance. A really low backed modern couch next to a really tall backed traditional couch may look strange paired together if there aren’t several other common elements about them.

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Ninja Tips for Mixing and Matching Furniture like a Pro

If you are still struggling with exactly how to mix and match your furniture pieces, here are some more ninja tips for mixing furniture like a pro.

1- Start with the most important piece and work from there

The number one tip when working with furniture selection is to start with the piece that you absolutely fall in love with, or absolutely positively need. For me, it was my couch.

So I shopped around for the perfect couch. I knew I wanted grey, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted a chaise attached or not. I like clean lines, and while I like modern styles, comfort is definitely higher on my list. So, I typically lean toward a more “casual modern” look. I found a lot of really nice pieces along the way.  Here’s a few I had my eye on at Ashley Furniture (shop here):

neutral grey couches
Neutral grey couches are a great base to start with when you want to mix and match furniture pieces from different sets.

2- Shop online, but only at stores in your area

Most of the preliminary shopping I did was online… the search and filter features on most websites these days make it really quick and easy to do, and I’d highly recommend you start the search process with some online shopping.

If you do shop online, though, try to only visit websites of stores in your area. That way, once you find something you like, you can go to the store and try it out. I wouldn’t recommend buying any furniture that you can’t sit on first.

Quick Tip: The great news is that you can shop for a lot of furniture brands online using all of Amazon’s awesome filtering features. Here’s a link to all of the furniture available from Ashley on Amazon.

Measurements and descriptions online can be deceiving, and it’s amazing how you can sit on 20 sofas, and just hate all of them. This seat is too low, that cushion is too hard, the back is not high enough for me to rest my head,  I’m falling into the cracks between the cushions, etc. So, try before you buy.

3- Take measurements

Be sure to measure your room before you start shopping. Also take the measurements of all of the furniture pieces. But most importantly, trust your gut. If your room is small, buying 3 oversized pieces of furniture may not work. However, buying 1 oversized couch for a small room can possibly work if you follow the mix and match furniture system.

Quick Tip: Apartment Therapy has a good article about buying “big” furniture for a “small” room.

Virtual “Design a Room” applications can help you to layout the furniture. A simple drawing with the dimensions of the pieces from the store will also help you to determine if your furniture will work in the space.

4- Don’t combine dainty chairs with big puffy couches

Using “apartment-sized” pieces or “oversized” pieces sometimes will work if you follow the system above, but it’s rare. Mixing really small pieces of furniture with large, oversized pieces can create scale problems.

Rooms with wild variations in scale will just feel “off.”  This is why dainty chairs will seem out of place near a puffy couch.

5- Remove “staged” accessories

After visiting the furniture store and sitting on a beautiful steel grey sofa , I really, really liked it. But, I didn’t love the pillows and accessories in the “staged” living room scene surrounding it.

This is the entire staged set for the sofa I picked out.

Furniture stores are notorious for staging each furniture set with every matching piece under the sun!

Living Room Accessory Options
Living room optional accessories

The couch I liked had matching pillows, loveseat, club chair, a wooden chair with a pattern that matched a pillow, and a cushioned chair and ottoman that matched the other pillow. There was even a rug that matched one of the patterns on the pillow. Ugh… gag me. Too matchy-matchy.

Don’t let this affect you! Take the pillows off the sofa if you have to, or push the ugly coffee table, lamp, vase, etc. away from it so you can see it for what it’s worth. If I looked at this set as a “whole package”, I would have missed out on the couch that I ended up really loving.

Quick Tip: Shop for awesome living room accessories on Amazon.

Don’t forget to ask for help if you want to move stuff around the furniture store. Most of the sales associates will help you to gather the items you like so you can see them together. So, corral one of them to help you move the smaller piece next to the larger piece. Seriously… they will do it for you.

If you aren’t as outspokenly obnoxious as me, an alternative would be to take a photo of the one item and walk over to the other item and hold up the picture next to it so you can see them. It’s not as good as dragging furniture around the store, but it’s better than nothing!

6- Shop for comfort, then match the furniture pieces up

So, I chose a beautiful neutral grey sofa. Now the world is my oyster! But the mistake that I see a lot of people make is to focus so hard on getting the pieces to “match” that they forget that they are actually purchasing furniture to umm… sit on.

So, make sure that you are purchasing comfortable furniture. Select a few options that you like, then take them through the mix and match test to see if they will actually work with your other furniture selection(s). Here are the four that I liked:

Comfy Chair Options
I took my time, and narrowed it down to about 4 chairs that I really felt comfortable sitting in; a leather recliner, an orange-red armchair, a celery green armchair, and a striped swivel chair.

Now I needed to figure out of these pieces passed the mix and match test. And, in this case:

  • Seat height & seat depth: The seat heights and seat depths of all 4 chairs are roughly the same as the couch
  • Shape or style: The shape and style of the recliner and the celery green armchair are a bit too traditional for the style of my couch. But, the orange-red arm chair and the striped swivel chair have really similar lines.
  • Color or fabric: None of the chairs truly match the color of the steel grey sofa. However, the striped swivel chair does have some greys and taupes in the stripes that make it a match. As far as the fabric goes, only the celery green chair is the same.
  • Back height: All four chairs pass the back height test– Yay!

So, based on the test here, the brown recliner is not the best fit for my new sofa because it only has the seat height and depth and the back height in common with the couch. But the other three chairs are great options!

Mix and Match Couch and Chair Pair
I ended up choosing the green and taupe striped swivel chair. I like to swivel!

7- Mix and match your accessories

If you end up really liking a couch from one set, and a chair from another, like me, you may be able to swap out the accessories to make a Frankenstein set.

This is a GREAT way to get a cohesive look when combining furniture. By removing the blue and taupe flowered pillows and choosing the striped and flowered green & taupe pillows from the other set, it looks like it was meant to be together.

Mix and Match sofas and chairs
Without all the flowerly blue accessories, this couch looks completely different. Here it is next to the comfy swivel chair I chose.

Another option would be to add an area rug with the colors of both pieces, or accent vases or lamps that go with the color of the chair.

Rug options for mixing and matching furniture
Rug options for this living room set.

All of these rugs would be great options to pull elements of the chair into the room. The stripes would mimic the pattern, while the green tones would mimic the color.

Living room accessroies
Use accessories in the same color as the accent piece throughout the room. Varying the heights of objects also helps.

Use accessories such as benches, tables, lamps, and vases in the same color as the accent piece and scatter throughout the room. Varying the heights of objects (such as a low bench and a tall lamp) brings the color to different heights.

8- Look to the pros for inspiration

Well I know most of us are not made of money, so hiring an interior designer of your very own may be beyond your budget. However, there are some furniture stores that actually have interior designers on staff and offer free room planning services for you. Check with your local stores to see if they offer this service.

If they don’t, you can still take cues from your favorite designers. Watch some HGTV, or go to their website and search the style of room you are looking to create.  

Sarah Richardson is an interior designer who is absolutely known for combining different furniture pieces in every design she does. Her portfolio showcases a lot of great examples of this concept. Here are some of my favorites.

Sarah Richardson Mix & Matched Furniture in Sun room
In this sunroom, the couches don’t match the chairs. But the seat height & depth are the same along with the back height and the color. It’s a match! (Source)
Sarah Richardson Mix & Matched Furniture in Basement
In this room, Sarah successfully mixed a leather couch with a fabric one. That’s because the seat depth and height are the same, the styles are the same and the back heights are the same. It can be done! (Source)
Mixed furniture in an eclectic living room
In this living room, the chairs and the couch are completely different colors. The designer tied in the yellow-tan chairs by hanging yellow curtains across the room. The blues and yellows in the rug also tie the couch and chair together. Of course, the chairs and couch also pass my mix and match furniture test (Source).

Mix and Match Furniture: Before & After

Mix and Match Furniture before and after
Before and After – How I mixed and matched the sofa and chair from a staged set.

This is the result I came up with after working through the mix and match furniture technique. The greens and more modern patterns fit my personality and home style much better than the more traditional floral patterns and blues used in the living room set.

Wrapping Up

It’s easy to mix and match furniture to come up with a completely unique style for your home.  Remember to use my mix and match furniture system to determine if two pieces go together. Start with the most important piece first — like a neutral couch or a really unique flea market find that you want to focus your room design around.

When trying to match another piece of furniture to that piece, make sure that the seat height and seat depth are roughly the same. Then, check to see if the pieces have at least two of these three key elements in common; shape/style, color or fabric and/or back height.

We also discussed some really tips that can help you to pull your room together:

  1. Start with the most important piece and work from there
  2. Shop online, but only at stores in your area
  3. Take measurements
  4. Don’t combine dainty chairs with big puffy couches
  5. Remove “staged” accessories
  6. Shop for comfort, then match the furniture pieces up
  7. Mix and match your accessories
  8. Look to the pros for inspiration

I’d like to mention that I find no fault or problem in selecting an entire “set” of furniture. This is what they are there for. My hope and intention in writing this post was to provide some inspiration and knowledge, so you can become comfortable selecting furniture pieces that will create a creative, unique look of your own and open up more possibilities than what comes out of the box.

What questions do you have about mixing and matching couches and chairs for a unique look? Have you had success with doing this yourself?

-Amy

mix and match furniture like a boss
Mix and Match Couches and Chairs like a Boss – Pin this Post for Later!

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2012, and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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Amy Fedele

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Amy is the founder of Pretty Purple Door and has been a garden designer since 2014 and graphic designer since 2005. She helps home gardeners design their own beautiful landscapes that are colorful in all four seasons, show off your personality and suit your lifestyle. Amy's work has been featured in publications like The Spruce, Family Handyman, Buzzfeed, Country Living Magazine and more. Read full bio.

20 Comments

  1. Hi, we have a dark chocolate brown 2 seater leather sofa which we are keeping, but we are replacing the old 3 seater sofa and recliner chair with new. My problem is what colour to for with the new furniture. Do I try to match the brown colour which is not going to completely match or go for a contrasting colour. My husband wants the new furniture in a suedette material instead of leather but still to be a dark brown to tie in with what we already have, however I’m not so sure.

    1. Great question. I would first ask yourself how much you actually like the dark brown color. You don’t HAVE to go with brown. If you do try to get something with a little bit of a pattern like a tweed or something that mixes Browns, because like you said you’ll never be able to match it perfectly. If you don’t want to go with brown it’s a neutral color so the world is your oyster. I think beige or red would be nice if you want solid. Or you can go for a bolder pattern too like florals or stripes. Take measurements of the height of the back, the height of the seat, and the depth of the seat. If you get something in a different color try to match those dimensions and the overall style of the couch (traditional, modern, arm shape, things like that). If you are able to match those then the color and the material doesn’t matter. Hope that helps!

  2. Hello, I have brown palate wood furniture and walls are off white colour. I need one advice which coloured sofa is going to suit.I have very few options available white or black leather ,dusty green and pinky beige.

    1. Thanks for your comment. You have neutral walls and neutral furniture so honestly ANY color would work. I think the green would be nice but I don’t think you could go wrong.

  3. I have a grey sentional sofa and was thinking of getting a navy blue velvet love seat but not sure if I should go with the love seat or should I get two sofa chairs instead. What do you think?

    1. Hi, thanks for your comment. I really have no idea as I have never seen your room where you are putting the furniture 🙂

  4. Hello
    I am in need of a new couch. I have the space for a smaller love seat and couch but I like the simplicity of just a couch with perhaps 2 chairs. It’s not a large living room. My dilemma is the couch I’ve found online that I like, once came in couch and loveseat option.(currently not available) or couch and chair option. I can’t get just the couch . It is a grey couch with clean lines and looks comfortable. 79 inches. The chair looks comfortable also 36 inches, but I wonder if it’s going to be difficult to find another chair that will look nice. Or if my best option is to hope they offer the couch and loveseat option again. As they are smaller scale I think it will fit and hopefully not make look crowded but use the space wisely? I can buy a new coffee table and accents after I decide.
    Buying online as you say is also risky. I’ve been to so many furniture stores and have yet to find the couch. At least one that is not the same price as the couch and chair combined.
    Thank you

    1. Hi Kim. I’m not sure what more I could provide to you other than the tips in the article for choosing a second chair that will go with your couch. Make sure you measure the seat HEIGHT of the couch and choose a chair that’s similar in height (you don’t want someone sitting really low and other people towering over them). In addition, choosing a piece that either has a similar color, similar style (clean lines or traditional feel, etc), and a similar seat BACK HEIGHT will make that piece tie in with the couch. If you don’t want to go that route, I would contact the company and see if you can purchase an additional chair separately from them (sometimes all you have to do is ask). In all honesty I would not buy that couch if you want the matching loveseat or two matching chairs & cannot get them or split the set up, but you seem pretty particular and I doubt my opinion would persuade you otherwise 🙂 Hope that helps, good luck.

  5. Hello, I have a modern red leather sofa, and want to get a rise and recline armchair.
    I was thinking a red fabric or black leather.
    Any thoughts

    1. either sounds good to me… just follow the post to make sure the measurements of the seat depth and the chair back match one another..

  6. I have a greyish blue ikea sectional couch and was wondering if grey velvet sofa chair would go well with it?

    1. If you want to make sure the furniture will go together you’ll have to make sure they have similar characteristics. Since the color is different, try to match either the shape, style or scale of the items. SHAPE: Using clean lines in all pieces, or rounded backs, or even similar leg/foot shapes in furniture can tie them together. STYLE: Choosing 2 mid-century modern pieces, or 2 traditional pieces will creative a more cohesive look. SCALE: Using “apartment-sized” pieces, or “oversized” pieces generally will work, but mixing smaller pieces with larger can create balance problems. The best way to combine furniture of different sets is to get items that are very similar in scale. Make sure the seat height and seat depth for each piece is roughly the same. If you are planning on putting the pieces near each other or across from each other, will it be comfortable for two people to have a conversation, or will one person be sitting up higher while the other person has been gobbled up by a really deep chair? The height of the back of the furniture piece is also important in achieving balance. A really low backed modern couch next to a really tall backed traditional couch may look strange paired together if there aren’t several other common elements about them, such as color, shape, or fabric.

  7. Hi

    I am going to purchase one leather sofa and one fabric love seat. I have bamboo floors and want to create a country airy feel to the space. I am thinking a brown leather sofa maybe chestnut in color and then a light fabric sofa. Thanks for the tips on the height of the two pieces of furniture needing to be the same. I am now tying to work out what color fabric love seat I should get and if I want it to be straight arm sofas or rounded arm sofas. All tips appreciated!!

  8. I need some advise. We have a medium color sage leather living room set (sofa, love-seat, and chair with ottoman), at times it looks green and other times almost gray. I am getting a recliner and can’t get the sage color. I have only a few choices of colors to choose from, which is probably a good thing, but I want to make sure I am choosing the best color. Choices are a light tan, dark brown, or a red color, I can’t remember the color but it reminds me of color your would see terracotta in, if that makes any since. I am not decorator for sure, just very simple, but I do want it to look right together. Anyone have a suggestion?

    1. I’d probably go with the tan or the red. If you get the red, maybe you can make it feel like it goes in the room by purchasing some different curtains that have all the colors of the room (example). Or put throw pillows on the sage couches with that particular color red in it to tie them together. Tan would probably go fine as well but less exciting 🙂

  9. I have a dark brown leather sectional and I am looking for an ottoman. The walls are light off whitish. Do I need to get a leather ottoman or can I go with a fabric ottoman.

    1. Ooh! Get a fabric one– maybe one with some pattern on it. Doesn’t have to be matchy matchy. If you get something with off white or in the brown family it will just “go” together instead of matching!

  10. Great inspiration, thanks for posting! I fell in love with a huge, oversized/stuffed tan chair and a half and am having a heck of a time finding a couch or sofa chaise that I like that somehow matches this thing. What you said about scale will be key, I think. Since the chair is so massive, I can’t really get the smaller, modern-looking sofa chaise I have eye on…or can I? I was thinking of doing both pieces in the same tan and then accenting with matching pillows, but they would definitely be different sizes.

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