New Chairs? NOT!

I always check the weekly newspaper ad from a local furniture store. I don't NEED new furniture, but since Hubby's hip replacement and broken leg bone mishap, we are more aware of the size and seat height of the sofa and chairs on the main level. My mother also has issues when she comes to visit, which is several times a year. Although the chairs have good arms, they are hard to get out of because of the low seat height and the age of the furniture. So although I don't NEED new chairs, I am always looking...just in case.

And that was the case a couple of weeks ago. The colored ad from the local store showed a comfy reclining arm chair with a seat height of 41 inches. The colors would work with the walls and couch until it could be replaced. Hubby and I made a visit to the store, sat in the chairs, discussed colors, made a decision and wrote the check. Chairs would be delivered on Thursday of the following week.

Two strong young men knocked on the door at 8:30 AM. (That should have been an omen; they said they would arrive between 9 and 9:30.) They carried the two chairs into the room and placed them for perfect TV and fireplace viewing.

I sat in the chocolate chair off and on all day. I LOVED it. Great height. Easy to sit down and get up. My feet touched the floor. The recliner level was comfortable. The seat length was good. I LOVED it.

But as I sat there thinking about how the furniture could be arranged other than its current plan, I was befuddled. I like the couch to be in the position of the chocolate chair now and then as it provides a nice divide between the dining and living spaces. Having the couch as the divider also provides the proper placing for the sofa table, which only works when the couch is the divider. Right now the sofa table is under a window and blocks the view of the fireplace, from the position of the chocolate chair.

There would be no way for the couch and one or the other of the chairs to be aligned as a 'room-divider' and allow a pathway for walking between the two.  At least one of the chairs has to be in the position of the chocolate or tan one because of the position of the TV and fireplace. I could get a smaller couch, in the future, but if the couch is too small, there is not enough seating space. This is the main entertaining space in our home. 

As comfortable as the two new chairs were, they totally dominated the room. I placed one of the chairs currently in the room to show how much larger the new chairs were. At 4:00 I called the furniture store and told the manager I wanted to take advantage of the 90 days satisfaction guarantee. I told him I really liked the chairs but they just did not work in the space I had.

The same two strong young men were back to the house in 30 minutes and hauled the chairs back to the store. For 7 hours I enjoyed the perfect arm/side chair. The hunt will continue...