As many of you know, I’ve been on the hunt for a cozy chair for the corner of my bedroom for almost 6 months now. I wanted a place where I could curl up with my books and read with the cats snoozing near me.
I’ve been searching Facebook Marketplace and stores that offer chairs for sale in Surfside Beach, SC for a while now to find this chair. I was willing to shell out a few hundred dollars for a chair from Wayfair or Amazon, but I was hoping I could pay a third of those prices for something gently used. Every now and then, I’d find a chair that looked like it was in good condition and the asking price was reasonable. But something was always holding me back (mainly, how I was going to transport the chair and get it up my three flights of stairs—yes, I could rope my brother into helping me and he would do it for me, absolutely, but he’s busy and I hate bugging him for things like this). But sometimes the color was too bright or bold. Or it didn’t have an ottoman. Or it didn’t look as cozy as I wanted.
On Monday afternoon while I was eating lunch, I was reading Kyria’s post about her adventures of selling on FB Marketplace, which prompted me to pull up the app again and see if any new Four Hands Chairs had been listed recently. And then I saw it: A beautiful armchair in a neutral pattern with an ottoman, and the asking price was just $75.
So, I asked if it was available. (It was.) I called my mom to see if she was free to help me go get this chair. (She was.) I messaged the seller and said I could come by that evening. (Good.)
I measured the trunk of my car to see if I could fit the chair. I have a Kia Soul and unfortunately, she was just a bit too small for the chair. Thankfully, my mom has a Kia Sportage, so her trunk space is bigger than mine and we took off for the seller’s home. The chair almost didn’t fit in her car—we had to remove the legs (thankfully, they just twisted right off) and then sit it up in a particular way to get it to fit. Whew, crisis averted.
We stopped by a restaurant on our way home for dinner and then it was off to my apartment to bring the chair home!
I hope you haven’t forgotten about the three flights of stairs. I sure haven’t. I don’t have an elevator, so there was nothing else to do: We had to take the stairs.
It was not fun, friends. My mom and I struggled and I’m surprised we did not have simultaneous heart attacks on the stairs. Our heart rates were UP, is what I’m saying, and we had to take lots of breaks. Once we finally got the chair inside the apartment, we both collapsed on the couch so we could catch our breath and get our heart rates down to a normal level. I guess we’re not ready to take on The Amazing Race, huh? (My mom and I love the show and it would be so fun to race with her, but I always joke that I’d become the most hated person on reality TV. I don’t handle myself well in stressful situations, especially when it’s my mom and I can be snappy with her. People would love my mom for the way she puts up with me, but I’m not ready to be a reviled reality TV show person.)
Anyway, back to the chair. Once it was inside the apartment, we were so relieved! It’s here! But we set it down in the living room so we could collapse on the couch and needed to move it into the bedroom. But no biggie. This would be the easy part of the evening, right?
LOL, no.
First, the chair almost didn’t fit through the opening between my living room and the small hallway between my bedroom and bathroom. Somehow, though, I was able to shove it through with enough force. And then we realized the chair is absolutely, 100% too wide for my narrow doorframe. (This damn apartment and its damn narrow doorways!) We tried everything. We flipped it around every which way to see if there was one side that was less narrow, but nothing was working.
So, I figured it was the bedroom door that was the problem. At first, I thought, “Well, I guess I’ll call maintenance to have them remove the door and help me bring in the chair.” But then I was like, “Wait, it’s just a bunch of screws. I can do that!” So that’s what I did. I removed my entire door from my bedroom so I could bring the chair inside.
But y’all. THE CHAIR STILL WOULDN’T FIT.
I was in panic mode at this point. This is my beloved reading chair that is supposed to be nestled in the corner of my bedroom! I have a whole aesthetic I’m going for here! I don’t know where I could put this chair in my living room because it’s already pretty full with my big sectional and desk. Maybe I could put it in the corner of my living room, in front of the patio door? I never use the patio (because again, these damn narrow doors and not being able to even fit patio furniture through it). I could make it work. It wouldn’t be my original aesthetic, but it would still be a reading nook. EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE.
I decided to try one more time to get the chair inside my bedroom. I started by picking up the back of the chair and pushing it inside my bedroom. That was the easy part. Then, I angled the bottom of the chair to see if I could fit one side of the chair inside, which would allow me to easily pull the rest of the chair inside. And it worked! Somehow my Tetris-level skills got this chair inside my bedroom and my cozy reading nook plans did not have to be altered.
Because the chair came with an ottoman (which is what I wanted), it’s a little too big to be angled in the corner like I wanted. (If I did that, I’d have to step over the ottoman every time I wanted to get to the furthest corner of my bedroom, and this is where my dresser is and where I usually climb into bed.) I am thinking about rearranging my bedroom so everything fits perfectly, but for now, I have the chair tucked up against a wall.
Of course, the chair is mainly being used by the cats right now. I find them curled up on it about 90% of the time—Ellie likes the chair and Lila prefers the ottoman, although last night I found them curled up together, which was ridiculously cute. Sometimes, they let me use it when I ask nicely. 😉
Oh whew, that’s quite the ordeal. I totally empathize with you – when we were moving there were some tense moments about getting things out of our basement. The staircase was pretty narrow and my son had to disassemble my elliptical machine to get it up the stairs. However, it looks very cozy and relaxing, now that it’s home!
The good news is, I’m hiring movers for my next move so it will be up to them to figure out how to get it out of my apartment. Ha!
This is a great story, and i love how the outcome is the cats now have a cozy place to sleep, ha ha! I’m so, so envious of your reading nook. I’m trying to figure out if there’s any way to do that in my bedroom. It would take a lot of rearranging and decluttering to pull it off. But I’m thinking about it!
Yay! If you can make it happen, you should. Just be aware that it may become your cats’ favorite napping spot!
Look at how cozy they are! So sweet. We have a big desk and computer hutch that were assembled in our bedroom, so I know we won’t be able to get them out without taking them apart. Of course, you can’t do that with a chair! What an ordeal you went through. I’m glad your story has a happy ending.
I still can’t believe I managed to get it inside my bedroom! What a feat. And it’s for the movers to figure out how to get it out of there whenever I move out of this apartment, haha.
What a great story and what a happy ending! Happy reading!
When we sell our house the basement sectional and treadmill will be going with the house. That is all I have to say on that matter!
Love the cozy reading nook! You earned it!
Sometimes, it’s just not worth the hassle to get it out of your house! I definitely understand that. Ha!
What a process, Stephany! So glad you finally got the chair into its perfect spot. It’s LOVELY and the cats clearly approve.
We just got a new couch for our basement and the delivery people had to Tetris it down the stairs. No way is that thing ever coming out!
I am so glad I got it inside my bedroom, but I have no idea how it’s coming out of there! Not my problem. Haha. The chair is most DEFINITELY cat-approved.
I’m so glad for the photo at the top showing the chair made it into the room, because reading about how it got there was stressing me out! I do want to make room in my room for a nook like yours: I need to start thinking about how to make it work.
Haha – I figured I would allay some stressful reading by showing the chair in its rightful place. What an ordeal, though! Whew.
Ok did either of you yell “pivot” a la David Schwimmer in Friends? That is what I was thinking of as I read through this. I am impressed you took the door off the hinges. I feel like that is so much work! But yay, you did it and it’s in your room. Phew. Let’s not think about how you will get it out of the room… But it does look like a beautiful chair! I have a really great recliner in our bedroom in front of our fireplace but I sadly have not used it this winter! I have chosen to nap in bed instead of reading in front of the fireplace… plus I haven’t lit the pilot light for the fireplace and at this point, it’s probably not worth doing that since we are well through winter – and it hasn’t been horribly cold so I haven’t felt like I NEEDED the fireplace.
Haha – my mom did yell pivot at least a few times during the ordeal! It was a light-hearted touch we needed. And I’m hiring movers for my next move, so I’m just going to let them figure it out.
The door, though, is still off its hinges, so I need to figure out how to get it back to rights. Oops.
I like it even more after hearing the story!!
OMG look at those two cuties together!
Also OMG what a fiasco to get this damn chair into your bedroom! GAH! A few years ago Steven and I had to tetris some heavy wood desks through narrow hallways at his office and that uses parts of your brains (and muscles) that have long been dormant (at least for me). I am so glad it finally worked out so the girls can use it 😉
My mom and I were very much breathing heavily and using parts of our bodies that do not get much use, haha. But the sense of accomplishment when I finally got the chair through the door! Nothing like it!
Oh boy, what an ordeal… but I am so happy you snatched up the beautiful chair (+ ottoman) for such a reasonable price AND were able to somehow get it up the stairs with your mom AND somehow get it in your bedroom through the narrow door. Phew.
Ordeal is the right word for it! It was quite the task, and I’m so glad I somehow got it inside my bedroom. Whew!
Congrats on managing this. I could not stop my mind from screaming PIVOT when I read this. It is always a challenge moving big furniture through doorways. Glad you managed. Hope you will enjoy the reading chair many many hours to come. If you get the cats of, that is…
Yes, lots of “PIVOTS” were being yelled during the move, haha. At least it wasn’t so stressful that we couldn’t enjoy that! The cats are definitely loving the chair a LOT and I find at least one of them on it at all times, hehe.
I am envious of your cozy reading nook! But oh I understand the challenges of fitting things into spaces where they just will. not. fit. Ask me sometime why I have a split box spring and I’ll tell you the story of an ill-fated attempt to get the old one to the third floor of a townhouse with a very narrow staircase. There was a bit of a breakdown, is all I’m going to say. 😉 So I sympathize – and I’m so glad it worked out!!!
Oh man! That sounds like a story for the ages. What is it about these narrow stairs and doorways that won’t fit normal-sized furniture? So annoying!