Many of you have seen my office redecoration post from almost a year ago. While I spent a lot of time painting walls, closets and shelves, reorganizing my shoes and setting up a grid wall to organize my outfits, I forgot one big thing. A desk chair! For the past 6 years I have not owned a desk chair. What do I sit on while I sew and blog, do you ask? One of my plastic dining chairs. Thats right. When I want to work, I head downstairs and pick up one of my dining chairs and haul it into my office to use as an office chair. It’s not comfortable, it has zero functionality for an office chair, and I spend hours a day in it before I carry it back downstairs for dinner.
The reason I haven’t bought an office chair to date is because I couldn’t seem to find one that really worked for me. I absolutely did not want an office chair that looks like an office chair. No mesh back, no cheesy adjusting apparatus under the seat base. I wanted something colorful and fun but still comfortable! Something that does in fact look and feel like a comfortable dining chair, but would swivel and have arms for more comfort when sewing or working on the computer.
Once I started having back problems the need for a stylish office chair become more real. I was aging quicker than I thought and spending 8 hours on a plastic straight-back chair was doing me no favors. I searched many big box and off-price retailers for something that would work, but in the end, I decided to go with something custom made. I chose BoConcept to make my office chair because their modern and clean aesthetic would lend itself very well to my bright and angular office space. I like to mix and match styles, but I knew that with everything already going on in my office, a sleek mid century modern inspired desk chair would be the perfect puzzle piece to finish the look.
Let’s talk about ordering custom furniture. This was a big step in my adult furniture buying life! I will admit to ordering custom furniture before, for my 2 couches in adult life. We have a local sofa shop here in Marin that my mom and I went to when I was just out of college, and we worked together to design a sofa that fit my first apartment and lasted me ALL THE WAY until a year ago. Sure it was more expensive than IKEA, but every one of my guests for 10 years complimented on how it was the most amazing sofa and the most comfortable thing to sleep on. After a few too many red wine stains (it was white) last year we went to the same sofa shop and had another one made. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was disgustingly dirty, I would have kept that sofa for another 20 years.
What’s my point? That spending the time and money to custom design a piece of furniture that best works for your needs and your space will never be a regret in the long term. I used to live across from BoConcept when I lived in San Francisco, so I was familiar with their product and their custom design services. Basically, you can really choose any upholstered item in the store and configure it with different wood or metal bases, fabric choices and upholstering options that fit your style and budget.
When I went in a few weeks ago I was most blown away by the color and fabric options that they had added since years ago when I lived across the street. They had rich colored felts, buttery soft leathers, bright chenilles and metallics that were all begging to be touched.
