I Found the Perfect Big Round Reading Chair
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I’ve long dreamed of having eithera screened-in porch or a sunroom, and I was lucky enough to fulfill that dream when I moved at the end of last year. My new apartment has a long, rectangular sunroom that faces the street, with windows taking up nearly all of three walls. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to furnish it with abig comfy reading chair.
The moment I signed the lease, I started looking for inspiration online. A round oversize chair was a recurring item in many of the aspirational sunroom photos I found. The idea of a wide seat, plush cushions for back support, and room to extend my legs immediately appealed to me — simultaneously snuggly and spacious. I searched every variation of “big round chair” that I could think of, and I’m pretty sure I looked at just about every version of this chair that exists on the internet. (I also spent a few hours trawling my local furniture stores.) I discovered a huge range of price points, from the relatively inexpensive to the astronomical; you could spend $300 on a big round chair from Wayfair or well over $2,000 at more mid- and high-end retailers. I obviously wanted something that looked good and fit the vibe but that was also good quality. So while I was hoping to find a bargain, I was willing to spend about $1,500 for a big round chair I really loved that I’d have for many years (though I ended up spending slightly more, due to taxes and delivery fees). Here’s everything I considered on my path to cozy comfort.
The ones I ruled out early
Many of the chairs I considered early on turned out to be made with cheaper materials, like all-foam constructions or plywood frames, that I felt didn’t justify some of the still-quite-high prices I was seeing — often over $1,000 for anything not made mostly of foam.Otherswere simply too expensive ($2,000 and up) or would take months to be delivered. And everything became a little more complicated when I started clicking different upholstery and color choices — a lot of times, the price (and shipping time) would jump dramatically when I selected a different fabric.
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I found this chair from Beautiful by Drew Barrymore in a Reddit thread of fellow oversize-chair seekers, and if I were bound by a very strict budget, I probably would have gone with it. The caveats are that it’s smaller than I wanted and I would have had to put it together myself. Though the product description says the frame is made of wood, the cost — which was drastically lower than that of other chairs I looked at — made me think it would be lower quality overall. But it comes in six colors and did seem nice enough for the price.
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Joybird’s Amelia Grand Chair was one of the first chairs I looked at, and while I was naturally inclined to buy a chair named after myself, I decided to keep looking after I read some negative reviews that made me wary. A few mentioned that the Amelia chair’s foam and frame didn’t feel especially durable or supportive, and that the pillows seemed understuffed. I was also spooked by more general reviews from people who were disappointed in the quality of other Joybird products, so I didn’t want to risk it for a still decently high price.
The ones that were close but not quite right
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I briefly considered Interior Define’s Marshall chair, which I generally liked the look of, but ultimately decided to hold out for a truly round shape. The Marshall also had a long lead time — each Interior Define piece is made custom to order — and a smaller seat size than I wanted, in addition to a higher starting price.
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Pottery Barn’s Balboa Grand chair fit my vision and offered a choice of two different cushion fillings. It’s also available in lots of colors and fabrics. At over $2,000, it was simply too expensive — though, as with my eventual winner, you can sometimes get it on sale in a limited number of upholstery options.
The runners-up
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Article’s Leigh chair became a strong contender because the starting price was so much closer to what I wasoriginallyhoping to spend. It comes in three stocked neutral colors, as well as a range of “custom” options that cost more and require more lead time. The frame is made of pine and engineered poplar wood as well as nylon webbing, and the fill is a mix of duck feathers, foam, and polyfill. However, it’s not quite as big as the chair I ended up getting or the Castlery one below that I also strongly considered. Plus it’s not perfectly round.
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This Castlery chair was a front-runner for a while because of its perfectly round shape, large seat, and under-$1,500 price tag. But compared to the chair I ultimately bought, I felt that some of its materials — including a mix of plywood and engineered wood for the frame — weren’t as high quality. It also only comes in two colors, white and gray.
The eventual winner
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Eventually, I came across theRoom & Board Eos Oversized Swivel Chair. I had never purchased anything from the brand but had heard good things about the quality and knew its furniture wasmade in the U.S.— many pieces, including the Eos chair, are made in my home state of North Carolina. It looked plush and inviting, with a hardwood frame and cushions filled with down and feathers. It came in a range of colors and fabrics, and even swiveled a full 360 degrees. However, the Eos was considerably more expensive than any other option I had seriously considered thus far in my hunt. The price varies based on your choice of upholstery, and the cheapest in-stock version (Sumner Ivory) is $1,699 plus tax and a $159 delivery fee; there are also 14 other color options at that price if you’re willing to wait on a custom chair. I kept the tab open as I debated whether I could justify the price, since my husband and I still had other furniture we needed to buy.
Black Friday brought a stroke of incredible luck: I just so happened to check in on my Eos tab and found a single color-fabric combo, the Landen Taupe, on sale from $1,999 to $1,449. It wasn’texactlythe shade I would have picked, but it was neutral, so I went for it. After tax and delivery, I ended up paying about $1,700 total. And even though the discounted price still maxed my planned budget, I haven’t regretted it for a second.
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The chair arrived just a few weeks after I ordered it. And while the delivery fee was an extra expense, it was so nice to have someone else lug the chair into my second-floor apartment. In person, it looks just as inviting and appealing as it did online. It’s also high quality and extremely comfortable, thanks to the durable frame and plush down filling. The three pillows make for a pleasantly supportive backrest, and I love that I can sit with my legs up, crossed, or extended straight out, thanks to the wide seat. (Though I’m five-five and my legs aren’t especially long, so if you’re taller, yours may dangle off a bit more.) Two people can even squish onto it together, if they’re willing to get cozy. And the swivel has turned out to be immensely useful in a room with so many windows, because I can rotate as much as I need to keep the sun out of my eyes or off a screen if I’m using my laptop.
The chair has also become a favorite spot ofmy new kittens, Soot and Smudge. The day I brought them home, they quickly curled up and fell asleep on it. And as they’ve gotten older and braver, they’ve been running, jumping, climbing, and otherwise using the chair as their personal playground. After spending so much money on it, I’ve been worried they’ll claw the fabric, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on them — but as of now, the upholstery looks just as good as the day it was delivered, with no loose threads, scratches, or tears despite them frequently scaling the back. While there’s a definite possibility they’ll do more damage as they get bigger, I’ll be providing them with plenty of scratching-post options to try to avoid that fate. And in the meantime, I’ve been relieved that the plain-weave fabric my chair is upholstered with is not overly delicate; Room & Board says it’s “pet resistant,” and so far I have to agree.
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