Out with the old... by KimB

Allen and I have decided to dump our old leather sectional in favor of a new pair of reclining chairs.

We've had our couch for 20+ years and it's in need of repair. The seats need to be replaced and per some estimates the cost of repairing the couch is very near the price of a fancy new chair. So we decided to go "lookabout" to see what's available.

We went to Sears but they had sold out every chair they had. The place was a zoo and the sales person could barely be bothered to talk to us. So we headed off to a locally owned, more upscale furniture store in town, called Gary O's Furniture Store.

We had a very nice and knowledgeable young man, show us all the ins and outs of the chairs available. There were a lot of choices and options!

The first thing we discovered was that a manually reclined chair was not going to work. Allen couldn't push hard enough to get it into lying down mode and couldn't push the foot rest down to get it back upright. A surprise fact of old age: we are not as strong as we once were. We remembered Allen's mother, Shirley, couldn't recline her chair either and regularly tipped it over trying to get it to lie flat.

So, we revised our view and looked at power operated chairs. Almost every chair is available with a power option, so it was down to basics again. Comfort, usability, size, shape and fit.

Just like Goldilocks and the three bears, some were too hard, some were too soft, some were too small, some were too big. But just like her, in the end we found one that was "just right". We opted for a Bodie Power Rocker Recliner in dark brown leather.

The power option allows us to recline to any angle we want. The leather will be easy to care for and durable. Cloth would have been shredded quickly by the cat, Othello, even though we keep his claws trimmed short. The pillows on the back are very comfortable and are soft enough to adjust to your back when you move the recliner to any position. The arms are just right for us shorties, with nice soft arm pillows for support. There is an optional rechargeable battery that you can get, so that you don't have to have the power cord crossing the floor.

We gave it a good test run and Allen nearly fell asleep in it while at the store.

Our chairs will take about 6-8 weeks to come in, as they are made to order. We are already looking forward to sitting in them and watching all the upcoming episodes of Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB.]

Bodie Power Rocker Recliner