Think about it. Can you tell us which is the most important piece of furniture in your home? We would love to hear your responses. Here are some thoughts we’ve had.
Your bed is very important, because hopefully you spend eight hours in it every night (wishful thinking, right?) But your actual bed frame has little to do with your comfort. Your mattress and box spring are what you are actually sleeping on, so we would say the bed is not the most important piece of furniture in your home.
The dining table? How many people actually use theirs? Rarely is most people’s answer. The breakfast room table? Maybe but many people use their counter or barstools and not a table.
What about the sofa? You would think the most important piece of furniture in a home is your sofa, right? After all, most people spend so much time picking out the perfect sofa. It anchors the room, it makes a statement and sets the mood and style for every other piece in the room. But we think the sofa is designed for many people, not just one person, and even if you are lying on it what will you do when more people arrive? Probably get up and sit up straight, giving up the other two seats. The sofa is not just for one; it is for you, your family, your guests, so is it the most important piece of furniture? Maybe, but on a very personal level, we think it is the chair.
The lounge chair, club chair, reclining chair, desk chair and even dining chair is for one person. It is for an individual and therefore an individual relates to his or her chair intimately. It is a different relationship and very personal and very subjective. We think the chair is the most important piece of furniture in your home. Because if you love the chair you are sitting in chances are you will love the rest of the room. Comfort is key and how you feel about your chair will affect how you feel and your mood.
Remember Archie Bunker and his chair? OK we are really dating ourselves. But remember how Archie loved his chair? No one else could sit in it when he was around. Or more recently Martin Crane’s recliner on Frasier? The duct-taped recliner that he refused to part with? A great chair forms a deep attachment over time. We have seen couples fight over a great chair, and will even have to duplicate a great chair when it is coveted by a couple and they both want one.
Photos: Frasier, NBC ; All in the Family, CBS
In a chair we feel a sense of ownership. A sense of personal space. A sense of this is mine and I’m sitting here, don’t you dare take my chair. A sense of this is my thrown. But a sofa is democratic and one will adjust one’s own personal space to accommodate others. A chair says me alone, no one else, all me, me, me. That may not be a good message but a chair is truly meant for one and meant to make one person feel extremely comfortable. So from an indulgence standpoint a sofa could never serve that purpose as much as a chair which is meant to spoil one individual.
By the way, have you noticed that chair designs are a lot more avant-garde than sofa designs? Sofas are relatively conservative compared to chairs. So we think your favorite chair may possibly be the most important piece of furniture in your home. Please let us know your thoughts. We would love to know what is the most important piece of furniture in your home.
