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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Perfect Chair...Are you out there?

In a previous post I mentioned that I want two swivel/glider club type chairs for our living room. I am saving for this big purchase. To be honest this is the first major furniture purchase Judd and I will make. We have been really blessed by my grandmother when it comes to furniture. She has lovingly sent pieces to our home over the last 4 years. I love what she has given us and haven't really needed anything new until now. Don't worry, I am still keeping all of my grandmother's treasures.


I have become rather obsessed with this whole chair thing. The ones I have been eyeing are rather pricey in my book. Remember, Judd and I are following the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace plan so anything we buy will be paid for in cash. Yeah, we'll be saving for a while. You might not see these chairs in our living room for a few months. Thus, I don't want to take this purchase lightly. My type "A" personally has really shown through on this one. I was getting confused and frustrated when looking in stores this past weekend with my mother-in-law. (We were looking for her, but I was on the lookout for chairs while we browsed).

The nerd in me has officially shined through. I made a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel based on the 3 major brands I have been researching--Four Seasons, Rowe, and Lee Industries. At the top of the spreadsheet I included my must have list. See below.


Must Have:
tall enough back (I am 5'9'' and Judd is 6' even)
slipcover
swivel
glide
washable fabric



The spreadsheet has 5 columns: Style Name/Number, Description (i.e. camel back, wing back, etc), Features (i.e. slipcover, swivel, glider), Outside dimensions, and Inside dimensions. Ok, I know I sound OCD at this point, but I am not an interior architect by any means so I need a cheat sheet when I am shopping. Please don't judge me. Ha.



I have looked at each brand's entire chair collection. I have only included the ones on my list that I like that have most of the features I am looking for. I hope having narrowed this down will be helpful when speaking with the sales associates.



So far my style options are:

Four Seasons


Four Seasons-
Amber
Claire
Ella
Libby
Libby XL
Sarah
Sarah XL
Shelby


Rowe



Rowe-
Sophie
Napa


Lee
Lee Industries-

1180-01

1432-01

2450-01

3752-01

3794-01

Now, I just need my talented hubby to draw our living room to scale and make me some paper cut-outs to scale of the chair dimensions. This way I can try each one out to see which is the best fit. Then I think it will be time to test drive them in the store. Once we find the chair we like, we will pick out the custom slipcover fabric. Have any of you bought furniture recently? What steps did you take to make your decision? I think I might be going about this a little too obsessively, but it is in my nature. I get paid to research and make spreadsheets of my data everyday at UAB. I guess it just comes naturally. I want these chairs to last for many years. I am hoping that when the fabric eventually wears out or we tire of it, I can just order a new slipcover and keep the frame. I am thinking practicality and longevity folks.

Any thoughts or suggestions?