My barstools are wooden, as is my dining table (Thrift store find that I refinished). I mixed the look with leather Parsons-style chairs to give a contemporary look. I personally love a farmhouse look mixed with modern elements. I’ve been told by visitors that they feel very comfortable at my home, which is my desire.

In regards to bar stools, I’m going to have to tell you something you probably won’t want to hear. Unless you have angelic children in your life who listen to you the first time you tell them to cut it out, than you are almost certainly going to have to deal with what my mother had to with my brother and I (and all our friends and the kids she babysat). Leaning back onto the back legs of the stool while gripping into the counter to see how far back you can lean and how good your balance is. We drove my mum crazy with how often we did it. We constantly fell off them, hurting ourselves (my brother had a very bad fall off one once). We were constantly being banned from using them for a period of time and as soon as she thought we had proved ourselves to be responsible, intelligent children and were allowed to use them again, we’d do it as soon as she left the room. We couldn’t help ourselves. Every kid who visited tried it at some point too.

If you think the kids in your life won’t do it, go for it. But do consider that stools with a back mean that you can lean further back.