One of the big things about tiny houses is using every inch of space you can. In this case, because my apartment was going inside an existing metal building (a well insulated metal building), they were able to take advantage of a few deep and wide breaks in the framing to make me some built-ins. This one, as you can see in the photo, is at the end of my long shelf. Yes, the shelf runs right up to it, but I don’t care. Again, space is important!
So, the top shelf is kind of a hiding spot for glass measuring cups and that sort of thing; you can barely see them in the back behind the yellow cup I don’t use much. It is a nice tea cup, but I like the infuser on the blue cup from last week just a little better. The other big thing on that shelf is another of my favorite purchases.
I like toast. I like toaster pastries. I like (ok, love) bagels with cream cheese. So yes, I really like my toaster! It’s the iSiLER 2 Slice Toaster. It has extra wide slots for my bagels, multiple darkness adjustments, a cancel button, and an easy-to-clean tray. It also has a place on bottom to wrap your cord for storage, which is awesome for me since I don’t keep it out all the time. And it’s only 9.5 inches long by 5.3 inches wide by 7 inches tall – so it fits!
The second shelf holds sugar in a Kerr jar, a couple of books and a painted pineapple for decoration, and two glasses I got at the dollar store because they were pretty. “Pretty” is also what prompted me to buy the flatware you see in the glass jars on the bottom shelf, and “pretty” is why they’re displayed the way they are. They’re the Kitiok rainbow flatware set and I did buy them off Amazon. Unfortunately, they’re not available anymore and I’m not going to risk linking to a set I’ve not seen for myself.
But if you like color like I do, you may want to look around and find a set that’s similar. I’ve had these for quite a while and they still make me smile every time I pull one out.
And then there’s just the crock with the larger utensils I hardly ever use. The odds are good most of them, like so many other unneeded items, will end up walking to my sister’s kitchen. For a while there, she just looked up and laughed every time I stepped in the back door to drop things on her kitchen island that I’d finally admitted I’ll never use (or could borrow them from her if I needed them).
In retrospect, I could probably have put this information in my last post, but we’ll see. Here’s the other end of the top shelf I showed you last week.
On the far right, you can see the left side of the Monet piece. I’ve mentioned it before, but it and the framed art you can see clearly in this picture are in inexpensive acrylic box frames from Hobby Lobby. They’re lightweight enough that I hang them with pushpins. The art print on the left is just something I cut out of a calendar. Calendars are great resources for art!
You can also, on the right, see part of my blue wire snack basket. This is where I toss candies, toaster pastries, popcorn packets, and other such things. Sometimes it’s mostly empty, and at other times it’s packed, like on Christmas day after I’d opened all of my gifts.
The next thing you see is the green vinyl basket that matches the two in my bathroom. This jewel hides all sorts of things that I don’t use often, including my knives, measuring spoons, plates…and I’m not entirely sure what else is in there. It’s wonderful, though, for keeping things out of reach that I wouldn’t want a child getting their hands on, and I do occasionally have children in the house.
The tin next to the basket is both decorative and practical. I bought it years ago, full of tea bags, and keep my tea in it still. Yes, I enjoy hot tea. I like cold sweet tea too, but don’t do that much at home. Give me a cup of hot tea with honey and sugar and I’m happy. I use both loose leaf and bagged teas. I’ve purchased from several companies, but if you enjoy a cup too, I particularly suggest you check out Adagio Teas. They have some amazing blends!
And then we come to one of my favorite purchases ever! Truly, TikTok made me buy it, and I have never experienced one moment of buyer’s remorse. In following several Europeans on TikTok, I began to see just why they were all about their electric kettles. This one is lightweight, easily pulled down for use and put back up for storage. It heats up super-fast, and sometimes I keep it on the counter for days simply because I use it so much – and it’s pretty. It boils water for my tea, of course, but also for my Solle CinnaMâte, which I like to drink hot, (Check out Tired of Exhaustion? for more info on that), hot cocoa, and such things as ramen noodles, which I enjoy on occasion even though I do know they’re not good for you.
I said last week that I was determined to have open shelving. My dream was actually floating shelves, so I was beyond delighted when I realized that’s what was being built for me. They were also able to take advantage of the framing to give me two built-ins that you’ll see later.
These floating, open shelves are above my washing machine and the top shelf runs all the way to the far wall. I love how my decorator friend put my art on the wall behind my dishes. I am not at all gifted in this area and would never have gotten that far out of my box! This print in particular adds just the right touch behind my clear and white bowls. For the curious, it’s Claude Monet’s Sunset in Venice.
I found this print of Sunset in Venice on Amazon. It is slightly larger than mine at 16×11.
And for the record, one of my glass bowls sacrificed itself when I decided I needed to confirm the name of the painting. I now only have one clear glass bowl sitting up there. I am sad. (Not really, just disappointed in myself for dropping my phone on the stack of bowls while trying to take a picture of the small print instead of just pulling the frame off the shelf.)
My friend also created the floral piece on the bottom shelf, not only to add color but to help tie in the gold of the upper shelf’s baskets. When I was searching for those three baskets, I was hoping for yellow to match the stripe in the multi-colored basket, but true yellow is hard to find. After I’d dubiously decked out the top shelf and sent her the photo, she set about creating some gold accents that would pull the color further into the room. You’ve already seen one of them if you read the library post. She actually painted a medical dictionary (An intentional salute to my love of words) gold and laid it on the shelf as an accent piece.
All four baskets are of woven rope. The three oval baskets on top came as a set. The rectangle basket on bottom came in a set of three as well; you’ll see the other two later. All the baskets arrived squished flat. This is why some are more consistently formed than others; I only devoted so much effort to getting them properly shaped. Both styles are available in a wide range of color options!
The top three baskets contain, from left to right, cereal (Yes, I like cold cereal – dry, because I don’t like milk), whatever I need the second basket to hold at the moment, and my hair stuff (dryer, flat iron, straightening brush, combs and brushes…) You can see that, at roughly 13 by 8 by 8 they hold a lot. So does the basket on bottom, which is 15 by 10 by 10. It handles the bulk of my cleaning supplies, which you can see peeking out a little bit.
To the left of the rainbow basket is my glass jar filled with Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean. I do have the same laundry detergent as a liquid in the rainbow basket, but these pods are my go-to. It’s my favorite detergent, and the colors are perfect for my house.
Finally, you have my paper towel holder and, hiding behind that, a small crock with my toothbrush and toothpaste.
And this has gotten long, so we’ll handle the other end of the top shelf next week.
Yes, I once more fell behind on posting about my tiny house. Frankly, I knew what was coming and that it would take a lot of time to prep these next few posts. Ashamed of my procrastination? Undeniably. So, are you ready to head to the kitchen?
This part of the series will definitely be multiple posts, because there are tons of details in this kitchen.
The photo you see above is a close-up from a picture I posted earlier. I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I had to convince them that I really did want white walls. This picture shows why. I knew I would be bringing in a lot of color in my art, storage, and accessories! Much of it, especially the art, came with me in the move and I can’t tell you much about it, but many items were bought specifically for this apartment, and I will happily share those details.
Another thing that took a little convincing, though not too much, was the open shelving. I specifically wanted everything visible, looked forward to using my necessities to decorate and not be looking at cabinet doors all the time. Playing off the teak countertop, which I’ll share in a better picture later, they brought in an assortment of woods for me and sealed them for kitchen use. I love it!
One comment I’ve received from readers and visitors is that I have very little counter space. At first glance, this is true, but it’s actually not. My washer and dryer more than make up for the shortage of official counter space. I obviously don’t put anything super heavy on them, but I really don’t deal with super heavy anyway. I have never felt confined in my tiny kitchen.
The rectangular frames you see to the right of the mirror? Yes, this is an old photo, but yes, they are still empty, waiting on me. I have everything I need to teach myself watercolor, but I’ve not done it. It seems like every time I even think about pulling the supplies out I find something else to do instead. Still, learning watercolor is one of my goals for 2024 and those frames are going to hang there, staring at me, until I follow through.
One thing I’ll mention while I’m here, since this is the only photo it appears in, is the towel that’s hanging from the top drawer. It was the result of a lot of searching! Things were different when I had a dishwasher; I could grit my teeth and put up with my kitchen towels that weren’t absorbent and didn’t dry anything. I mean, seriously. Why have a kitchen towel that won’t dry dishes enough that you can put them away?!
So, I headed to Amazon and began my search. My requirements were pretty detailed. First, I wanted a solid color, preferably orange. That ruled out a lot; no surprise there. This towel comes in 26 colors, one of which was exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted cotton. Also, the reviews had to agree that the thing really would dry well. If a towel wasn’t consistently praised for this one characteristic, I kept scrolling. Too, I wanted something small enough to be practical (this one is 12×12) and was really hoping for a loop I could use to hang it. I didn’t want to have to install a towel bar, but I wanted a towel to always be at hand.
Ok, hear me out. This scalp massager is one of those things you look at and think “gag gift.” No. Not at all.
Have you ever, maybe as a child, has someone gently massage your scalp with their fingernails?
Yeah. This! This sci-fi looking thing keeps calling for my hand to pick it up and use it. It’s AMAZING, and I’m kicking myself for never having tried one before. My sister and I were both blown away by my nephew’s thought in buying us these.
Order yourself one. Better yet, order the pack of two I’m going to link to. Trust me; you will not regret it!
Remember, I’m an Amazon Associate and can earn tiny bits of money from qualifying purchases. It’s a fact, though, that I will only recommend things here that I would recommend in person!
The “+” comes before the library. It seemed to be a good time to give an overall look at the main room, so here goes.
In this photo you can clearly see the stained concrete I like so much. To me, it looks like well-worn leather. It’s a breeze to keep clean, which is especially good since I have access to a pool; coming in wet is not a problem. Another thing this photo reveals is the curtains I’m using instead of doors on both the closet and bath. The closet curtains don’t reach all the way to the floor since I ordered them long before I knew what my actual measurements would be. Eventually I’ll order a longer set or add something at the bottom, but for now they’re fine. The bathroom curtain is also short, but that was intentional as I wanted to leave a large space at the top of the doorway for airflow on those rare occasions when I have the curtains closed.
One last bit of randomness about the “kitchen.” Those white boxes you see beside the mirror are the same box frames I use elsewhere. The friend who spent several hours not only redecorating my tiny home but also making things (like the lamp and book easel on my desk) to use as accents in it, hung those there and gave me orders to fill them with art I liked. They mark a goal. My primary care recently told me, “It’s time to do something just for Tammy.” I took his advice to heart and, since I’ve been wanting to learn watercolor, I ordered some supplies. I am determined to not only learn, but to create pieces I feel comfortable putting in those frames.
Now the Library and, yes, I use the word loosely. You get two photos because I thought it would give a better idea of how everything fits together. Bonus peek at the bath included free of charge.
The first thing you likely noticed about my library is the small number of books. I wasn’t kidding when I said I did a hardcore purge in all areas. These physical books that remain are my essentials. The bulk of them being Bibles should not surprise anyone given my book Experiencing the Bible (shameless plug). The others I refuse to get rid of for one reason and another.
I shared previously that I’m an aphant (one who has aphantasia); people as high on the scale as I am can remember what people and places look like to a certain extent, but that knowledge is conceptual, not visual. Consequently, I need photos and that’s why pictures of my kids and grandkids take the primary position in these shelves. Even the parrots on the wall were photographed by my sister on my surprise cruise getaway. (No kidding. She literally scheduled with my boss and booked a cruise for my birthday. She’s the best!) They serve both as art and vacation reminder.
The blue basket on top is convenient for extra storage; right this minute it just holds my lighters and matches; it’s nice knowing I have storage waiting for me to use it! The flowers and the gold-painted dictionary were gifts from my decorator friend. She knows my love of words, so the dictionary is not just an accent piece but a nod to my passion.
If you’re wondering about the framed quote on the top shelf, it’s from Mark Twain. It says, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
Now, the reason I’m able to have so few physical books…
Bonus: You now know about one of my favorite authors.
I’ve lost pretty much everything twice in my life. The first time taught me a hard lesson and led to my getting my very first kindle as a gift from a friend who had upgraded. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about reading ebooks in the beginning, but learned quickly that I liked it. By the time that Kindle had died, I was carrying an iphone and started using the Kindle app. That was hard on my eyes, though, creating strain I didn’t need. (I tended to read for literal hours at a time. I still can.) So, after much research, I bought a Kindle Paperwhite that, a couple of years ago, I replaced with this Kindle Oasis.
I love this thing! You can tell by the wear on the cover that I use it a lot. As they say, it’s not the age; it’s the mileage. The Kindle Paperwhite (and Paperwhite Oasis) uses an e-ink that is very easy on the eyes. This Oasis also has adjustable lighting as well as the up/down buttons you see on the side. The regular Kindle Paperwhite did not have these buttons, and I would probably not want to go back to doing without them. And this e-reader is waterproof! So yes, reading in the tub is just fine.
So, to get back to my original point. I pretty much stick to paper books for non-fiction, which is what you mostly see on my shelves, because I mark those books up. I want to be able to come back and find things of note and relocate where I’ve recorded my thoughts on a topic. On the other hand, except for a few random non-fiction books, my Kindle is filled with fiction across a variety of genres. I don’t even know how many books I have on this thing and it’s nowhere near full. My TBR (To Be Read) list is massive, which would not be possible if I were limited to what I could fit in this room.
Since I’m on the topic of ebooks, here are some hints for those concerned about ebook prices. First, subscribe to BookBub. You’ll get alerts every day of books in your preferred genres that are on sale or free. A large number of my ebooks were picked up this way. Another thing I do is keep an ebook wishlist on Amazon. I update it any time I find a book I want to buy eventually, and every couple of days I’ll log onto Amazon and check out that list. If any have gone free or been marked down dramatically, I’ll hit the Buy Now button. So loading your kindle doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. You only need to pay full price when you want to read it today.
And that’s it for this week. Like last week, I’ve chosen to put all of the product links here, at the end of the post.
We’re taking a closer look at the desk today, specifically discussing storage.
This desk offers great upper storage with one large open compartment in the center and two on each side of it. I will note that in the desk I found for you on Amazon those three compartments appear to be the same width. That is not the case here.
Moving from left to right, you can see that I simply put boxed items in the first space. The center storage is made up of 6 plastic trays that I picked up at Walmart and spray-painted teal. You would be surprised just how much that set of trays holds. The white thing you see between two of the trays is my AC remote; I like to keep it handy. Finally, in the third compartment, I have a wood box that had been hanging around for years. It fit, so I spray painted it purple. Beside it, in case you’re curious, are a glass pen (in the box) and a bottle of purple India ink.
In case it’s not obvious just from this photo, I like color. I fell in love with all the colors while cruising the Caribbean with my sister. Consequently, from my absolutely amazing vintage-style fan to the artwork and decor you’ll see throughout, color rules. Be ready.
And since I mentioned the fan, I’ll point out that my ceilings are low enough that a ceiling fan is not an option. I didn’t even think about that fact until my third night of feeling like I was suffocating from the heat prompted a conversation with my sister. She reminded me that my bedroom ceiling fan in the other apartment was never turned off; I’m used to air that moves. Shortly after this conversation, we headed to Walmart where I almost embarrassed myself in my excitement over this gem. I love its vintage style and the fact it is an almost exact match for the color of my “kitchen” cabinets. I can set it to oscillate and it has a variety of speeds. It even has a fabric-covered cord like they used when I was a kid!
Down girl. Calm down. Yes, I love my fan.
Moving on. Heading back to the photo, if you look at the left part of the L you’ll see that there is a traditional desk drawer. It is huge. I filled it with a variety of desk organizers that I may or may not ever be willing to show. (I do not have a magazine-perfect home and the drawers prove it.) To the right of that, you can see another opening that can be used in a variety of ways. I’ve chosen to slide a bamboo tray into that spot. My pencil sharpener (and, in this photo, a tube of moisturizer) fits perfectly beside the tray.
Moving on to the next photo, I’ll hit quickly on what’s on top of the desk. (By the way, the book on the easel is the one I’m pulling the American Women biographical sketches from.)
The glass jar holding peppermints is one of a set of 12 I bought on Amazon when I was working on gifts for friends. It’s 20 ounces and has a bamboo top with a seal. It’s the perfect size when you need to hold something (like peppermints) but don’t need a huge container.
The “rainbow” to its left is a clear plastic box that holds seven smaller pill boxes, each marked “Mon.” through “Sun”. This is a huge help to me. I take several supplements, as well as a couple of prescriptions, and it’s much easier to set this case up for the week than it is to haul all those bottles out from the medicine shelf every single day. Each little pill case has two compartments, one for AM and one for PM. When I travel, or even if I just know I’ll be working an extra long day at the church, I snatch up the appropriate pill boxes and toss them in my purse.
Now to the floor. (I might get killed for letting you see this part of the concrete. Remember I’m the one who insisted on no flooring; the rest of the floor is gorgeous.) This is what I meant when I said this desk allows a wealth of under-desk storage. The two white boxes in the back corner are stackable plastic drawers. The top one holds my paper towels and the bottom is essentially my first aid kit; it contains all sorts of things from bandages to lotion to ice pack sleeves to the wrist brace I wear on (thankfully) rare occasions. I did find these boxes available on Amazon and about choked at the price, but in reality these are over five years old and have held up extremely well to continual use, so they’re worth it.
Next to this is a plastic basket I bought somewhere years ago, and it’s home to a variety of items having to do with my book and blog publishing. I hope to reach a point where I have a better place for these things, but for now it works. And then, of course, you have the shredder. It may seem counterintuitive to have a shredder in a small apartment, but it’s great not only for security purposes but also for keeping paper trash volume down as well. I snagged this one at Sam’s Club and it has been more of a help than I ever dreamed.
And that’s almost it for the desk. All that’s left is the shelf on the end. It’s perfect for the few DVDs I permitted myself to keep as well as my bank (Yes, the door is an old post office box front.), journals, my Bible and notebook (when they make it to the shelf; I use them constantly), and the binder that holds my Prismacolor collection. The three zippered sections of this pencil case have elastic straps that hold a total of 120 pencils, and it’s the best storage solution I’ve ever found for my art pencils.
And that’s it for the “office.” Next, the “library.”
I decided that, for this post, it might be best to put the links at the end.
A little over a month ago I’d reached a point of almost total exhaustion. I was taking vitamins, eating right (mostly), and getting rest, but the exhaustion grew so increasingly real that I was ready to crawl back into bed before lunch every single day. I went to my primary care, who ordered bloodwork, and then I headed to my favorite health food store: The Health Fix in Liberty, Texas.
I didn’t go for advice. I went because I knew exactly what I needed: Solle Vital. I took it years ago and it was wonderful, but our finances being what they were I had to stop. It’s a powder you mix with water, and it replaces your multi-vitamin. I generally dump it in a bottle of cold water and drink it down. It makes for a green drink, but the taste is excellent.
While I was there, I asked about CinnaMate, which I’d heard of many times but had never tried. It turns out this supplement helps your body make B vitamins. Hello… Exhaustion? B vitamins needed. (Mind you, I was already taking a B 12 supplement that was helping, but not enough.) This one, not surprisingly, has a flavor that’s heavy on the cinnamon. It makes a great hot drink, but I also put it in cold water when hot teas aren’t convenient. Again, it tastes good; my sister will make herself multiple “hot teas” with it every day just because she likes it so much. I generally take it between noon and two; it gives me a boost that takes me easily through the rest of the day.
These two, taken together, have annihilated the exhaustion that had me genuinely concerned, and it didn’t take long for them to do it. Not exaggerating here; I noticed the difference the very first day. This last month has been night and day different and I am determined to never get off these products again. I’d been taking supplements that are good, but they couldn’t touch what these two do. (Did you notice the crumpled look of the CinnaMate packet in the photo? I pulled this packet out of my purse; I carry them and have given more than one away to others who needed the boost.)
CinnaMate also helps with blood sugar if that’s a battle you fight. I never could even talk Jack into trying it, which is sad, because it really could have helped him. Both of these probably do a whole lot more. Well, I know they do, but I’m only here to share my own story and offer this suggestion. You may want to check them out for yourself: I obviously am here to recommend them. You can purchase them online at sollenaturals.com, and you can even get $10 off your first order if you use my referral code: solle25371. (Yes, I would get a credit too if you did.)
I also suggest checking out The Health Fix in Liberty, Texas. The owner, Betty Runkle, is an ND I would trust with my life. She is also active on Facebook; just search “The Health Fix Store” to find her page. And no, she isn’t paying me for this recommendation. I send people her way all the time.
It’s probably no surprise, given I’m a writer, that the office area is the heart of my tiny home. There is so much to discuss, so many details of storage and use, that it will get more than one post.
Your first question is probably going to be about the desk. It’s not new; my son gave it to me after he inherited it from someone else. It is my absolute favorite of all the desks I’ve had through the years, and as you can assume from the fact that I’m the third owner, it’s well built. I like not having drawers beside me the way you do in traditional desks; I like to move around too much. With this layout, I don’t need them. I have plenty of storage up high and a great set of shelves that you’ll see later. When I started writing this post I thought I would be apologizing for not being able to help you find one, but I just tracked it down on Amazon! Well, I can’t guarantee it’s exactly the same desk, but it’s super close.
Made by Sauder, this L-shaped desk from the Manhattan Gate Collection is officially 58.74″D x 55.47″W x 42.52″H. Yes, I can confirm that, at nearly 60″x60″ it’s pretty big. In fact, more than one person tried to talk me into selling it and using a smaller desk instead.
I stood strong, however, especially since I not only love its functionality but absolutely adore the color (mystic oak, to be specific) and wanted it in my home. My decision has proven to be a wise one. This desk allows for a lot of storage, which we will get to, gives me room to spread out when I’m working with an assortment of references and resources, and it serves as my dinner table. I love it!
In the “office” photo, you can barely see my bed in the lower right corner. I said in a previous post that we measured everything down to the inch, and you can tell here that I wasn’t kidding. In my plan I had allowed what I figured was 1″ of wiggle room, and what I ended up with is exactly 1 1/2″ of space between my bed and desk. The desk sits a little off the wall to allow for electrical cords to drop down behind it.
I should explain the outlets. As you can see, the desk has an upper shelf. Given the probability of needing to use part of the under-desk area for storage, we decided to set the two outlets higher than usual so they would land in the gap between desk and shelf. If you’re able to enlarge the photo, you’ll see we were a little off on the left outlet. Fortunately, it’s permanently occupied by two cords and nothing is glaringly visible anyway. The other is my active outlet where I plug and unplug as needed.
The photos you see lined up on the desk ledge beside my active outlet are 5×7 prints from a cruise my sister and I took years ago. The frames are simple plastic box frames that I picked up at Hobby Lobby for next to nothing. I use the same frames, in various sizes, elsewhere in the room and you can catch a glimpse of two more in the office photo. They’re around the corner from the black and white art that hangs over my desk. One huge advantage to these frames is their weight. They all hang on pushpins.
Having aphantasia, with no visual memory of people and places, photos are important to me. I eventually want to get a digital photo frame that my kids can fill with pictures remotely. In the meantime, you’ll see several more photos as we tour my apartment. With only a couple of exceptions, I’ve been able to fill the place with personal artwork, pieces created by myself, my friends, and my family.
The black and white pictures that conveniently cover the shower access panel are two of those. That friend, Anna Davidson, is a wonderful artist who started out as an AOL online acquaintance and became much more. These are actually photocopies of old pieces of hers, but they’ve traveled with me from home to home for decades. They always make me smile as they bring back awesome memories of years spent talking, visiting each other, and writing interactive fan fiction with other close friends who lived around the country. She doesn’t have a website anymore, sadly, or I would lead you to some of her newer work.
And….this one is already getting long, so that’s it for this week. Meet me here in seven days and we’ll cover some more office ground.
I moved with an office chair in tow. It had been serving ok, but there were some things I hadn’t considered, had failed to comprehend until I was actually living in my one-room apartment with my single chair. The reality was that in my previous apartment I’d reached the point where I hardly used it at all.
When you live in a larger home, you don’t think much about where you sit. You just get up and move if for any reason you’re uncomfortable. Without realizing why, I had taken to doing a large part of my work on the sofa. It didn’t take many days of living with my worn out desk chair to see the problem. It was wreaking havoc with my back. My budget was limited enough that I couldn’t purchase a new one right away, but that did allow me time to do the proper research.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I had a “New Apartment” wish list. (I still do, actually.) I put it to work where this chair was concerned, moving potential options onto the list and back off as I compared specs and product reviews. After many days of scouring Amazon and reading reviews, first deciding one way and then another, I finally settled on three that seemed best, and used Amazon’s feature that lets you “see” an item in your home. I quickly realized that two of the chairs I was looking at were too big for the space. That was a challenge I’d not considered, and I am grateful to Amazon for the help!
There were certain things I was specifically looking for in a new chair. Clearly, I wanted quality. I also knew I needed lumbar support, preferably adjustable support, and I wanted arm rests that flipped up. This, of course, enables me to push it under the desk when I’m not using it; regaining those few square feet is a plus. Lower on my list, but still necessary, was the ability to raise and lower the seat and the option of letting the chair rock if I wanted it to. (I do. Often.)
So, the fun stuff. I’ve been putting together my own furniture for a while, simple things anyway, so I wasn’t intimidated by this project. When it arrived, the box was a little heavy, but not so much that I couldn’t carry it safely (I’m not 20 anymore.). It was packed impeccably, with every part clearly labeled with a letter (A, B, C) and it came not only with printed instructions, but directions to a YouTube video that took care of every question I could have possibly had. Bonus? Angels started singing when I pulled out the supply kit and saw a REAL allen wrench. If you’ve dealt with many self-assembly items, you’ll understand my joy. The thing has an ergonomic handle that made putting the chair together easy. I will not be loaning it out; it’s mine.
So yes, I put the chair together myself with no problems. I’d tell you how long it took, but I didn’t pay a bit of attention to that. Just know that at no point did I suffer any level of frustration.
My new chair has been a true blessing. It’s sturdy, has great casters, offers an adjustable lumbar support (See photo above.), and has those arms that swing up out of the way. It is comfortable even after hours spent hard at work doing all of the things. It’s my dining room chair. It lets me kick back while chatting on the phone. It’s great. Regardless of the hours I spend in this chair, my back is now happy.
Finding just the right chair when you’ll only have one to use is a big deal. I’m so happy I discovered the right chair on the first try! In case you want this one, here’s the link again. And once more I share the legal disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Next week, we start discussing the center of my home: The Office.
