Guys, I'm about to show you something bad. REALLY BAD.
It’s my husband’s office. Poor guy.
Ugh.
For years, this room has been a holding pen—a temporary home for things that construction has displaced, or pieces we’ve acquired but haven’t yet placed in a permanent location. For a long time it was our family room, but then we excavated the basement and put a family room down there. Next it was Dave’s office, and for a time it was an office by day, newborn-nursery by night. (The first kid gets a fully-designed bedroom; second one gets stashed in an empty corner, right?) Everything we don't want to look at gets stuffed in here: workout equipment, power tools, Christmas gifts, and unassembled furniture.
Ugh.
Ugh.
It's time to get our act together. It's not fair that my husband, who works from home, has to look at this pile of crap all the time. So I’m now in the process of making some upgrades.
I started with a finding him a desk. It was time to replace the inexpensive metal one we bought 5 years ago (the same kind I DIYed into a bedside table last year). After much searching for a simple yet elegant Parsons desk, we settled on this lovely beast from Jayson Home, which I scored during a killer holiday sale.
Source: Jayson Home
Now it’s time to find the desk’s partner: a great office chair that swivels. This has proven far more difficult than I anticipated, because apparently 95% of the swiveling desk chairs on this planet suck, or they're so ungodly expensive you’d have to work nights just to afford one. Every chair I browsed seemed off: too formal, too feminine, too utilitarian, too uncomfortable-looking, or the wrong finish. Most options looked like they belonged in bad lawyer’s offices, overfunded startups, or the Holiday Inn business center.
Finally, though, I stumbled on a few gems. Have a look.
1. Rhodes desk chair, $799, Ballard Designs. 2. Sunny mid-back desk chair, $298, AllModern. 3. Tory desk chair, $176, Joss & Main. 4. Prince mid-back desk chair, $110, AllModern. 5. Althea mid-back desk chair, $176, Wayfair. 6. Soho swivel desk chair, $251, Domino.
I’m still deciding what to get, and of course I’ll need to consider the other furnishings we plan to put in the room, like new seating (soon), rugs (soon), a new light fixture (later), and built in bookcases (much later). All that aside, though, which would you choose? Do you have any favorite sources for good-looking office chairs?
