Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Chair

After much pondering and debate I decided to purchase a new chair for my new work space. I realized after spending four hours or so sitting at my desk writing, my back was killing me, along with my shoulders, my neck, my hip, okay you get the picture. I had never given much thought to my seating arrangement until this issue came up. Perhaps that was the very reason that I could never find a comfortable place to write. So, I headed to the internet and began my search. One of my main issues is that I am rather short. What may work for the average height person, usually doesn't work for me. I was pleasantly surprised to find there are quite a few companies that offer chairs for short people. I searched long and hard and was, as on my desk, shocked by the sticker price on a good ergonomic chair. I feel that anyone who sits for hours at their desk should, no, must, get an ergonomic chair. Think about it, we spend more hours in our chairs than we do in our beds! I am not sure how we can justify getting a cheap $40 chair when we will be in it at least 7 hours a day. On that caveat, I will say if it works for you, great, but it was not working for me. After searching for about three days I decided I had to at least try out a Herman Miller, Aeron even with the $900 price tag. After all it had won tons of awards. I packed my entourage in the van and headed down to Savannah, as there are no furniture stores that had any of the chairs on my list. I visited two stores, both of which had lovely things for the office, sigh... So the adventure began. As soon as we entered the second store, which was Mason, Inc on Jackson St. downtown, my little people turned into a wild pack of monkeys, again. The staff was very nice and helpful and did not mind too much the little ones climbing, "testing out the chairs" and rearranging their displays. As much as the Herman Miller was nice, I fell in love with the "Life Chair" by Knoll. This company has some of the coolest and ergonomic office products I have seen. I could have waited, and ordered a custom chair with the colors and fabrics I had picked, but the one they had on the floor was great. This chair is fully customizable, as in the depth of the seat, the height of the arms rests, the depth of the arm rests, the flexibility of the back, the height of the chair, and the lumbar support.  Again, this is a great feature as I am short and my hubby, should he ever want to sit in it, can make it fit him as well. It's kinds of like having two chairs in one. I will admit the price was a bit steep, but I think well worth the benefits. So while you may not was to spend a small fortune, keep in mind the hours you will be sitting in the chair. If you are going to search for a chair, don't take an entourage with you, bring a book or magazine to hang out in the chair for a while so you can get the real feel then decide what is best for you. Good luck.

Florina Craven

5 comments:

  1. Hey Madame President!

    Checking out your blog; it looks great, love the black and white design!
    I've been working long hours on my blog and my wip and my arms and legs are killing me. It never dawned on me it could be the chair!

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  2. My den desk chair is one I pilfered from my old office -- should have known there was a reason they were throwing them out! It's not completely uncomfortable, but the knob thingie that makes it go up and down doesn't work anymore and the back reclines. Kind of like a rocker without any firm support. But I'm used to it, like old slippers. Which I don't actually wear.
    Like the blog -- found the gray on white a tad hard to read after staring at screens the whole day.
    -- Terri
    http://dreamvoyagers.blogspot.com/

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  3. Great blog! Neat article. I feel your pain. I used my son's chair while he was away in the army, but it was not 'good enough'. My hubby followed me through stores as I sat and played with chairs. The one I have is great...and its black! Love your b&w side borders, too.

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  4. Hi, Florina. I love the chair. Very sophisticated (like your blog design).

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  5. Nice post.

    I'm using an old chair but I put a new pillow seat on it. That way it can still be comfy and still be used.

    The other place I sit is usually on the sofa. So nice to be able to put my feet up once in awhile.

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