A Big Comfy Chair For Our Weary Souls

A big comfy chair holds us just the way we want to be held, and these days, in (choose your favorite: this economy; this post-covid world; this political climate; etc), we all seem like we could use a good hug. And while the huggable people in our lives (if we’re lucky enough to have them) will always be the go-to for comfort when the world feels like too much, it’s also nice to have a backup on deck. And one perk of having a comfy chair as your #2 is that you’ll never have to ask permission, or worry about reciprocity (though I am not thoroughly convinced that your most well-loved furniture won’t appreciate – on some level – the love you send its way.

One of the many things I find so enjoyable about keeping my fluffy fingers on the pulse of furniture trends is that we can glean some Big Human Truths from where we plant our bottoms. That is, it seems to me that what We (that’s the collective “We”) sit in says a lot about how we feel. I like to say that furniture trends are a way to “read the room,” though that statement, when spoken by wise and responsible adults, comes with all sorts of qualifications. But since we’re young, frisky, and always seem to have our fluff in a bunch, we’re going to throw caution to the very wind that’s blowing our hair into such a wild and free style that is the very essence of our effortless cool and go ahead and state what everyone already knows but just doersn’t have the chutzpah to say out loud: the furniture of 2023 tells us one thing and one thing only: we are parched for comfort.

Is that too much pressure to put on our accouterments? Freud always said that sometimes a chair is just a chair, but I imagine that he probably sat that bony old hiney on something stiff-backed and wooden. And of course his analysands were all laid out on chaise lounges, and though it’s widely known that one of his most oft-stated requests was “tell me about your Fluff Daddy” I don’t think he had any idea just how maternal our furniture would turn out to be a hundred years later. I mean, doesn’t this rig look comfy?

Big Comfy Reading Chair

A big comfy reading chair like the one above looks to me like the perfect place to plunk down with a good book and not come out for days. Or am I just projecting? Or am I the only one? Let’s check with Google Trends for verification of my sanity:

Not crazy: “Big Comfy Chair” searches peaked in July of 2023, fully 3+ years after Covid hit. The next question, the one I’m maybe curious about: did it take three years for us to come around to the oversized, comfy, fluffy, cozy, cuddly aesthetic, or are things just feeling worse and worse? I guess 2024 will tell us something. But whatever it is, I hope you’ll rest easer knowing that the Fluff Daddy’s going to keep his finger right here on the pulse, and I’ll be monitoring the situation closely.

You’re welcome in advance 🙂