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Big Man Furniture
I hate how you cannot seem to find big man furniture in normal stores. Sometimes it seems that furniture is designed by sadists or at least people without any common sense. Whenever I see low backed couches, foot stools, chairs without arm rests, low to the ground furniture, chairs with hard seats and gigantic entertainment centers my blood starts to boil.
Why would I want to spend my money on anything that is not comfortable and does not work for me?
I don't.
I want to only have the type of furniture that I call big man furniture. This type of furniture works great for all people, not just big men. But since big men normally have more common sense than most people, that is what I call it.
Big man furniture has to fit me, not the other way around.
I don't like to sit in uncomfortable chairs. The kind I have to bend way down to get into and then roll out of onto the floor to get out of.
I hate to put together massive entertainment centers only to find it is far too large for my home or can only fit in one place. Then I need to hire movers to move to my next place only to find it does not fit there either. Furniture that is too large to move and too large to fit does not make sense for anyone.
Best Of the Big Man Furniture
My favorite piece of big man furniture of all time is a recliner. Let me count the ways a recliner is the best type of chair for all men, especially big men:
1. You can put your feet up. There is nothing quite so relaxing and soothing as putting your feet up after a long day of work or at any time. I love to get up early, get in my recliner with a big cup of coffee, put my laptop on my lap, and put my feet up to read or write.
2. Both arms are supported. Couches are ok, but at best you will only have one arm supported if you are sitting on the end.
3. Recliners are better for your comfort than a couch because you are sitting by yourself. Sitting alone is much more comfortable than sitting with others. I love to sit on the couch with a woman and kiss, hug and do other things. I love to sit on a couch with my kids and watch a good movie. I love to take a nap on the couch. But if I want to sit and relax I will choose the recliner over the couch 90 % of the time.
4. Recliners are better than chairs with foot stools because the footrest part of the recliner folds into the chair when it is not in use. Foot stools are always out and in the way. They have to be vacuumed around and since they are short you will have a tendency to stumble over them. Once the recliner was invented you would have thought that foot stools would never be seen again. They are just so stupid compared to a recliner.
5. Recliners are just the ultimate big man furniture. It is hard to believe that men will go years of their lives without the type of comfort that a recliner provides. Do yourself the biggest favor you can and get a recliner.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to get your feet up when you are trying to relax. It is almost impossible to relax fully with your feet on the ground. When I was married my wife would not allow a recliner into the house. I was rarely comfortable in my own home. We did have a somewhat comfortable love seat that was more or less my chair. In order to be comfortable on it I sprawled down on it like a couch. My neck would be pinched up by one arm rest and my legs would be draped over the other arm rest to try to have some comfort. Contorting myself into this position was hard on my neck, back and spine.
I did the best I could to get comfortable in what I had to work with. But compared to the comfort I have now, sitting on that love seat was like being chained to the rack.
You will need a couch, of course. But a good man's couch, not a dainty woman's couch. A big mans couch will be big, tall off the floor and long enough that you can sleep on. I take naps on my couch. I sleep on it if people are over. You need a couch if you have kids. Kids seem to like couches more than chairs. You need a couch to lounge around on when you are sick. You need a couch to make out on and even have sex on. In short, you need a couch.
Bad Big Man Furniture
The main type of furniture you will not need is chairs without arm rests. This is the most uncomfortable chair there is.
Another poor choice of chair are the ones without padding. I mean, who thinks of this stuff? They may look good but they sure don't feel good. If you are going to spend any money on chairs, get some with plenty of padding on the seat. Those old wooden antique chairs without padding is not really better than sitting on a tree stump. At least get a pillow on those chairs. I cannot sit on those wooden chairs for more than 15 minutes. I just horse down the food and get up to leave.
A third bad option are low and soft chairs. These types of chairs are really stupid. They are hard to get into and even harder to get out of. Then when you are sitting in them they are not comfortable at all. The better choice is to buy chairs that are taller and a little firmer. They need to be tall so you do not have to bend your knees more than 90 degrees when you are sitting in them. They need to be firm enough so you can easily get up. You may not need this now. You may be young and spry. But that does not last forever. Besides sitting in poor furniture and forcing your body into all kinds of uncomfortable positions will make you older.
When I was married we did have some really comfortable dining room chairs at one time early in our marriage. The seats had a really good spring cushion and foam seat. The chair was covered in fabric. I could sit at these chairs for hours. Enjoying a long dinner with the extended family was a delight. I also spent hours doing all kinds of office work, reading and planning at the dining room table on these comfortable chairs.
Comfortable dining room chairs are the perfect big man furniture and so wonderful because this is the time you can connect with people. You can all sit comfortably and relaxed over a leisure meal, dessert, coffee and drinks for hours. You can laugh until you cry or cry until you laugh. This is life. But this is all spoiled with uncomfortable chairs.
Then, my wife got the idea that she needed to reupholster these chairs with a different fabric because they had a few minor stains on them. They were dining room chairs after all. We ate from those chairs all the time with small children. All four of us did our share of spilling, even my wife. But if you are offended by a few minor blotches on your chairs, you have too much to worry about.
Bad idea. Once the original fabric is off, there is no way to make the chair right again. Those beautiful, comfortable chairs were ruined.
She ended up buying some narrow wood chairs with very uncomfortable seats that you can only sit on for about 20 minutes before you need to get up. Forget about a long conversation at the dining room table anymore. People would just hurry up and eat and get up.
That is what happens when you want your furniture to look a certain way instead of feel a certain way. You end all possibility for long, meaningful discussion.
Big man furniture is good furniture for all people because it just makes sense to have furniture that is functional and comfortable first and not worry so much about looks.
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