How to coordinate light dining room table with dark wood chairs?

Posted by admin on October 29th, 2011

Hi! My husband and I are trying to start decorating our dining room. we can't afford to buy any new furniture (like most newlyweds) so we always gladly accept any furniture that is given to us. My aunt and uncle gifted us with a small dining room table and two chairs (that we want to use in the dining room.) the problem we are having is that the two don't match at all, both in style and color. the dining room table is very similiar to this one, except it has a very high gloss finish:

http://www.robcart.com/images/proj_33.jp…

The chairs look very much like this:

http://www.acaciawoodfurniture.co.uk/ima…

The chairs are a little darker and have floral carving on the upper part of the chair.

My question is what can we do to the chairs (paint, stain, etc) to help them coordinate with the table? we aren't interested in changing the table as it is a nicer piece of furniture. also I would love ideas that can be carried over to other chairs that we may buy along the way. Thanks for any ideas.