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After a year of using the breakfast room as a bedroom, Matt and I were finally able to move into the guest bedroom about a week after I refinished the hallway floor. In the weeks leading up to that move, I was dreaming of having my breakfast room back. I had given away our dining table that I had used in the room before, so I was also dreaming of either purchasing or building a new dining table. After finding a beautiful unfinished pedestal, I decided that that I wanted to purchase that pedestal base and then build the top and finish the whole table.
Well, that’ll have to wait now, because just a couple of days before we moved into the bedroom, Matt threw a wrench into my plans with his announcement that he wanted a recliner where he could sit during the day.
I’ll be quite honest. I heard the word “recliner” and my heart sank. First of all, where would I put it? And second, that word “recliner” brings about an involuntary feeling of dread.
As I’ve been remodeling and decorating the house, I’ve asked Matt every step of the way what he needs and wants. He has always assured me that he doesn’t need a chair anywhere because when he’s up, he uses his wheelchair. (My husband has M.S., so he’s wheelchair bound and also spends quite a bit of time in bed throughout the day.)
But now he had decided that he’d spend a whole lot more time sitting up (and a whole lot less time in bed) if he had a comfy chair somewhere and didn’t have to sit in his wheelchair exclusively.
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So, yeah. *Sigh* He waited until I had finished the living room, finished the music room, finished the guest bedroom, and was just about to get the breakfast room back in usable order, to spring this info on me. So that left the home gym or my studio as options for his recliner.
Or…the breakfast room. Ugh. The breakfast room. That’s the room that made the most sense.
I struggled with the idea for a day, but there was no way I was going to say no. It was obvious over the last year that he really enjoyed being in the breakfast room during the day. It’s the brightest room in the house during the day, it has a TV in it, and it’s pretty much right in the middle of the areas where I spend most of my days. So over the last year, he was never stuck by himself in a bedroom. He really got used to that and enjoyed it.
So, the breakfast room was the natural choice. Then came the second issue — finding a recliner that would be comfortable for him, and that I could live with in a very central room of our house.
I was determined to find something that didn’t look like a recliner. After much searching and and reading customer reviews, I finally settled on this light gray recliner from Wayfair.
I bought two of them so that we could sit together in the room and watch TV. They came in a few days ago, and here’s how they look.
I really like them! And more importantly, Matt really likes his new chair. It’s a great size — not too big, and not too small. I was concerned about how it would “fit” Matt since he’s 6’1″ tall. I was afraid that the back might not be tall enough to support his head, but this one works perfectly for him! And it’s comfy for me as well, but I was less concerned about it fitting me since I’m only 5′ tall.
It’ll take some getting used to for him, because it’s been a while (literally years) since he’s sat in anything other than his wheelchair. But so far, so good. We even sat in them yesterday and ate lunch while watching a show, and it worked out great!
So now our breakfast room is a sitting room, and now that I know the chair will work out for Matt, I want to do a little more decorating in the room. I took the curtains down many, many months ago because with a bed in here, the room was really cramped and I didn’t want to take a chance on the curtains getting ruined. (Since we were in here a lot, so was Cooper, and he’s kind of a whirlwind of energy.) So I need to dig those out of storage and get them hung back up.
And because I use a Hoyer lift to get Matt from his wheelchair onto his recliner, that means that he won’t ever need to have his wheelchair in this room. That means that I’m pretty sure I can use an area rug in here! That’s always exciting to me to find areas where I can actually use rugs because with a wheelchair user in the house, there just aren’t many areas where an area rug won’t be a problem for him. In fact, the only place I currently have an area rug is in the living room. I love area rugs, so I look forward to being able to use one in here as well.
And the there’s the chandelier. The size and height of the chandelier is much more suited for use above a dining table. With it being above two recliners, it kind of feels like it’s coming down right on our heads. So for the time being, I may see about finding a flush or semi-flush mount light to use in this room until we’re ready to turn it back into a proper dining space. That will happen when we build the addition on the back of the house to include a comfy family room where Matt will definitely have a very nice, quality recliner where he can sit.
And finally, I’d like to get a little side table with a drawer that we can use between the chairs where I can place my cup, and where we can store the remotes.
So while I won’t get my breakfast room back for a while, I’ve managed to move from disappointment to excitement about getting this room usable for Matt and decorated for me. And I love the idea of him continuing to have the ability to spend as much time as possible in this room since it’s clearly his favorite room to be in during the day.
