My thinking chair has a new lease of life

Do you have a favourite chair? A seat that once you sit in it, it immediately fits you like a glove. Just the right amount of stuffing, the arm rests are just at that perfect height, the back has enough support but yet is firm enough to have you sit in that angle that’s only right for you.

I find some sofas just too soft. And when you lean back, you sink back even more to the point where you have to lean forward to talk to the person next to you, which sort of defeats the whole point of being on the couch in the first place.

Then there’s the issue with the legs. The more you’re forced to move back to lie against the rear, the more you have to swoosh your rear end back into the couch — unless, of course, you’re just going to slough back, which ends up putting a strain on your back, and just isn’t comfortable, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of relaxing on the sofa in the first instance.

Anyway, if your legs are short — mine have been as long as I’ve stood on them — when you site back on a couch, they just stick straight out. And after a while, you start to get pins and needles, which defeats the purpose of sitting on the couch.

Then there are couches that have cushions.

The problem with cushions is that they move. So when you’re sitting on them and doing exercise like reaching for the television remote, those cushions move. And there’s another issue too. The television remote always seems to get lost in those cushions. One minute, the remote is happily resting beside you and ready to spring into action when annoying reality television programmes come on. Next, just when you really, really need it, it’s gone. Vanished. Into thin air. Then you have to get up and conduct a full scale search and rescue operation, moving those cushions until you find the remote down the back along with an old tissue, some grit and an old coin. Then you have to remake the sofa ago, smush the cushions back into shape and, sure enough, repeat the who exercise again at least once more before you head to bed.

Then there are sofa where the cushions are too hard, and they’re too formal to relax on in the first instance. You almost feel as if you’re being formally interviewed for a job if you sit down. And you’d need to dress up just to kick back.

Arm chairs fit into the same basic category. They’re with too hard, too soft, too stiff, too laid back — and the cushions have the same issues as well. Too hard or too soft.

But I have the Goldilocks of chairs. Not too hard, not too soft, just perfect.

I call it my thinking chair. It’s perfect for my legs, relaxing. No issues with the cushions. It’s a 10 out of 10.

It was a little worse for wear after decades of posterior support. So I decided to get it recovered. Have you any idea how hard it is nowadays to find an upholster who won’t charge an arm and leg to recover an armchair? And, when it comes to picking the right fabric, there are literally tens of thousands of designs out there. For three months I’ve been ordering free fabric samples with the right “rub” factor — it has to be good for at least 20,000 rubs, honestly — to get the right one.

It’s been away for the past two months. It’s now home. And I can think again. That’s a relief.