First, I have no idea what in the world other reviewers are talking about when saying the chairs are "black".  They are NOT black.  They are definitely brown, they are a pretty, distressed finish and they looked very nice.  That being said, they are in the "cool" color family as opposed to being a warmer color.  This is the reason we ultimately had to return them.  When we took the chair out of the box I loved it and it seemed like very nice quality, but it just doesn't work with our table.