Bar stool chairs can make for interesting seating in almost any room of the house. In the kitchen, they are fun to use at the breakfast bar. In the game room, using bar stools around a pub table will make you feel like you are out on the town. Even your small breakfast nook will have a different kind of feeling when you outfit it with a tall table and barstools.

Wood Counter Height Stools

Not only are they fun to sit at, but stool chairs can also be part of your overall decorating scheme. They come in a huge range of materials, styles and colors and there is certainly something to suit every decor. You can even decorate an entire room around an interesting style of bar stool. Some of these stools could actually be considered works of art and all of them will definitely enhance your decor. Today's bar stools are not only places to sit at, they are decorative accessories as well.

Wood Counter Height Stools

However, choosing a bar stool isn't as easy as just walking into the store and picking out a set that strikes your fancy. There are many things to consider in order to make sure you get stools that fit in your home and are comfortable for you to sit at. Here are five tips for choosing barstool chairs that will ensure you get a perfect match:

1. Style. You want to be sure you pick a chair that is in keeping with the style of the room that your putting the chair in. If you have a Tuscan style kitchen, you might opt for a scrolly wrought-iron style of chair. If you have a Western decor in your home, then you might consider a chair that has a wrought iron back with a Western motif on it such as cactus or horses. A tropical style home might look great with rattan barstools while a masculine styled game room would be greatly enhanced by chunky wooden stools with leather upholstery. When looking at stool chairs, don't just think about chairs that appeal to you but also think about where you will be putting them and be sure the over all design of the chair matches that room.

2. Height. The next thing you need to consider is how tall of a stool you need to get. You see, not all bars or pub tables are the same height and if you get a stool that is too short you will end up feeling like a little kid sitting at a table that is too tall. On the other hand if you get a stool that is too tall it will be very uncomfortable because the top of the table will be too far away from your head and your legs will probably be squashed underneath it. The rule of thumb is to make sure you have between 10 and 13 inches of space between the bottom of the table or bar and the top of the barstool chair seat. So what you want to do is measure from the floor up to the top of your pub table, counter or bar then when you are looking at the stools measure from the floor to the top of the stool seat. Subtract the two numbers and if it's in between 10 and 13 you've got a winner!

3. Number of stools. The next thing to think about is how many stools you're going to buy. Of course you'll be thinking about how many people you need to seat, but one thing you really must consider is the seating area. You don't want to try to cram too many stools together or it will be uncomfortable. So, you need to measure the length of your countertop, bar top or tabletop. Barstools should be spaced about 25 to 30 inches measuring from the middle of one seat to the next, so divide the measurement that you got from your tabletop by 28 and you'll know how many barstools you need to purchase.

4. Upholstery. Once you've picked out the style of stool chair you like, you'll have another decision to make and that is the upholstery. If you're lucky, you might have picked a chair that doesn't need upholstery and that'll be one less thing you have to think about! But if it does, you'll be presented with a range of swatches from which you'll need to pick the upholstery. Here you want to remember the colors and patterns you have in the room you to put the chairs and and be sure you pick an upholstery that will match.

5. Maintenance. When choosing your barstools, you want to consider how much maintenance you going to have to put into keeping them into top shape. While a lot of stools really don't require any maintenance ones that are posted in leather, for example, will need periodic cleaning and care to the leather. This is just a consideration you want to make because you probably be paying a lot for the stools and you want to be sure they last a long time.

Bar stool chairs can be a great investment and a wonderful addition to your home decor. When shopping for chairs, remember you usually do get what you pay for and if you go for the least expensive ones, you might find your replacing them every year. Get a good-quality barstool and you'll have a great chair as well as a decorative item that'll last for years.

5 Tips For Choosing Bar Stool Chairs For Your Home

Wood Counter Height Stools