A Chair for Reading; A Room for Living

I have been trying to pick up an ancient and sometimes forgotten form of entertainment these days: Reading books. I realized that I didn't really have a good place in my house for this. I had my computer chair, my bed, which actually sits in front of the TV for the before-bed-episode (bad habit, I know), and a couch. I mostly read in bed as we did not have a functional living room. I hate laying in bed to read, it's just not right and I ended up always going to sleep instead. My living room has been set up as an extension of my workshop for woodworking and letterpress for the last year and was not conducive to reading either.

Last weekend I set out to change that*. I consolidated the workshop equipment back into the single room and cleared out the living room and started doing research. I haven't had a proper living room setup in several (read: ever) years. I wanted a traditional non-electronics/TV living room that would fit my goals:

• Provide a specific place for reading
• Entertaining guests
• Get us out of the habit of using the bedroom as a living space
• A place to play board games
• A place to relax/unwind with a wonderfully beardly drink at the end of the day.

A lot of these bullet points actually have some cost savings associated with them. I plan to entertain guests more often rather than going out to bars/restaurants, but I have not been set up to entertain. This is the major step towards that and by providing a space for my newly formed reading and board game habits, this allows me to focus more on that, rather than other costly entertainment hobbies.

To start, we decided that we would keep the couch (of course), and add a coffee table, two chairs with a side table between, some lamps and, budget permitting, a rug to bring it all together.

The first purchase was a Queen Anne wingback chair for $350(!). Holy crap, though! No wonder these are/were popular chairs! Coming from a $50 dollar task chair in front of my computer and the $600 office chair at work, this chair is the holy-grail of comfort and relaxation. I could happily sit in it for hours... which I have done now. It was the perfect purchase to complete two of my objectives: A place to relax/unwind and a place for reading.

Next, Ms. Frugal Beard is picking us up a wooden industrial cart-style coffee table she's been eyeing for several months. The only reason we are justifying and it's costs - $250 - it is because it is built to survive the apocalypse and we've agreed that this coffee table will be placed into our will and passed on in 60-70 years. My wingback is the same way.

We have also decided to purchase a second wingback for the "her" chair. Originally she wanted a big lounging chair, but after using my chair several times, she has fallen in love as well.

I have found the plan has worked quite well, I have people over more often, and my reading habit has picked up significantly and we even have broken out a few board games. Most importantly, it's a cozy room that we can relax in.


*If you have debt, or are in a "Hair On Fire" situation (ie. your finances are not COMPLETELY under control. Do. Not. Do. This. Fix your debt situation and get on track before you start 'optimizing' like this.