Mission style furniture is a look that can fit seamlessly into many different home décor styles, from contemporary to traditional. The Mission style, which is also often referred to as Amish furniture, has been a staple of the dining room furniture scene for more than a century. This dining room furniture style has stood the test of time because of Mission style’s simple, clean lines and classic features.

History of Mission Style

Mission style furniture originated in the late 1900s with a chair made by A.J. Forbes in 1894 for a church in San Francisco. Furniture manufacturer Joseph McHugh popularized the style in 1898 in New York when he copied the design of Forbes’ chair. He created a whole line of furnishings based on this look. McHugh also named this type of furnishing the term it is still called today, Mission style, which was a reference to the Spanish missions found throughout colonial California.

The style is largely associated with the American Arts and Crafts movement. The movement advocated the social virtues of good design and traditional craftsmanship, and produced dining furniture pieces that were simple in design and materials.

Capturing the Look

Mission style is all about simplicity. The predominant feature of Mission style dining room furniture is its simple, straight-line construction. The dining room furniture is usually made from medium or dark-stained wood. High quality woods are used, such as oak. Mission style dining room tables are often heavy and substantial, but well proportioned. As opposed to pre-Mission style dining furniture, this dining room furniture style noticeably lacks unnecessary ornamentation. If other materials are used, they are simple and unobtrusive, such as iron or copper hardware.

Dinette.com has many dining room furniture sets we would classify as examples of Mission style. A few examples of these simple masterpieces include the Apollo Dinette Sets (in Maple, Oak and Cappuccino), the Avanti 5-Piece Dinette Set, the Colby 5-Piece Dining Set—Light Maple and the Helena 5-Piece Cappuccino Dining Set.