When buying a chair there are a lot of aspects to take in consideration. Style will be the first thing you think about to fit it with the rest of your home. Budget is another important point, as you need a few of them and a chair can be quite expensive. So study well before you decide to buy.
Seat height
Sedis Stool Stylecraft - kitchen via My Domaine
When you are looking for a dining chair the seat height will be standard. You have to take care when you want to buy a bar chair for the kitchen island as there are two different heights. One will be perfect for the island that has the same height as the countertop of your kitchen. In case your island has a higher part to create a bar look than you need the higher bar chair.
Very important when you combine different types of chair is to check the seat height to be the same, the seat height can vary 2 to 4 cm in height. This specially for an office where the desk chair will have the normal seat height, but in case you want to put an arm chair in front of the desk for a guest or client take than special care to check this as armchairs can be lower, depending if they are designed for the living room or dining room. And you don’t want to look down on your guests.
With or without armrest
Dinning via Barnaby Lane - Midori chair Sancal
Some people prefer to have a chair with an armrest, check the height of the armrest and the height under the table to be able to slide the chair under the table when you are not sitting at the table. When there is not enough space you will damage the table. A very nice combination is to have simple chairs along the table and chairs with armrest at the head of the table. You can even go for a complete different chair at the head of the table.
What about style
Wishbone chair Carl Hansen - Louis XVI style chair Target - mix of chairs Domino
Modern chair, classical chair, wooden chair or an upholstered chair. You see the choices are unlimited. What makes the difference in price? When you visit a store and can personalize your chair you can expect the chair to be more expensive than a chair produced in mass production, where you can’t choose the wood finish or the fabric. Chairs are complicated, constructed out of a lot of different pieces and everything should be in perfect balance to give you all the comfort to stay for hours on this chair.
leather Hagen dining chair Anthropologie - fabric Lin Enchanté Elitis
When you have the budget you should go for quality and a chair you can personalize completely. You can decide on the wood finish or the color of the metal structure. Than come the part of choosing the right fabric. Here you will see that on the fabric samples a martindale code is written. So what is this martindale test about? The Martindale abrasion rub test is a measurement of the durability of fabric according to the amount of times discs can oscillate sandpaper or wool across the fabric before it starts to show distress. This code can go from 5000 to 100.00. Starting from 20.000 is good for upholstery for residential use. 15.000 will be still ok for an occasional chair in your bedroom. So the higher the number the longer you will enjoy the fabric on your chair or sofa. Starting from 50.000 is perfect hospitality.
What if you live in a small place
Cross chair of Pearson Lloyd via Dezeen - Fläpps folding chair via Ambivalenz - Siren S01 stackable chair Bogaerts Label
When living in a small place but enjoying to have friends over for dinner than stackable or foldable chairs are the perfect solution. You can keep them in a corner when not used and take them out in no time to seat everybody around the table. A lot of companies take this type of chairs now in their collection as more and more people live in small apartments in the city. A foldable or stackable chair was often looking cheap in the past, these days you find a lot of options in different materials, styles and budget.
A great chair for the little ones in the family
There have been times that you could only find those plastic very colorful chairs for your baby. More wooden chairs are on the market know. The Tripp Trapp chair of Stokke will be the chair your kid will use till he or she moves out of the house. The concept is amazing, the material beautiful and it comes in a lot of colors. It is simply a great design piece.
Take care of the backrest
I was already talking about the seat height, also take care of the backrest. In case you go for the more relaxed type of armchair around the table than check if the inclination of the backrest is not to big, you want to sit straight at the table. The bigger the inclination the more relaxing, but not ideal when at the table for a nice dinner.
Choosing the perfect desk chair
Specially now we work more from home we want to invest in a good desk chair. What to look for when you want an good ergonomic chair? The support in the back, and often you can choose to have a head support attached to it. Check if you can easily change the seat height. With or without wheels is a personal preference. The armrest should be at the height of the table to give your arms full support. Great choice of materials adn colors are available. This chair can be quite expensive, but think about it: you will spend a lot of hours per day on this chair, it will be a great investment.
Sitting ball
Office Ballz Götessons
Personally I love the sitting ball: I sit straight, my abdominals are trained. A very good option for the office. I switch between a sitting ball and a Eames side chair DSW/ Which makes me think: if you like modern design chairs you will often find replica chairs costing half or less than the original chair. Don’t by replica: they will have the look but not the comfort. Materials are not the same and you will see it in the small details.
Mix it all up
No need to have six the same chairs around the table. Keep it playful You can have have the same chair but in different colors. You can have a classical chair upholstered in different materials or colors. Or you can simply mix them all. This is something that works well for modern or bohemian interior butI already did it too for more contemporary classical interiors. If you like vinage than you can buy two chairs on a flea market, find others on-line and combine them in a very personal way.
Think out of the box
Feel free to combine as you feel. A very good solution, specially with kids is having a bench on one side of the table. Some colorful cushions will make it more comfortable. And who not a swing chair, your kids and your guests will love it. Life should not always be to serious. Let’s by the perfect chair and enjoy life.
So what to take care of
seat height
inclination of the back
check armrest with under table height
seat height should be the same if you have different chairs around table
ergonomic
quality of the fabric
decide on style - color - budget
yes, you can mix them all up
Hope you can go out now and buy with confidence your chair.
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