Best place to buy a comfy chair for a petite person

[Anonymous]

I need to take my 81 year old mom chair shopping. She spends a lot of time sitting and reading in an armchair in her room and wants to upgrade to something more comfortable. She’s short—5’—and has arthritis, and can be incredibly difficult to shop with! She suffers from buyers remorse whenever she purchases anything moderately big ticket. A couple years back she bought a La-z-boy recliner that she wound up almost immediately regretting—she did not get one of ones sized for shorter people, so she thinks that is the problem, but I am not sure. I think she might really just not like recliners. My dad also bought her a recliner that she rejected a couple years prior and now both these chairs live in my basement, driving my husband a little crazy.

Anyway, we need to go in person so she can try some things. Suggestions before we go back o La-z-boy? I was thinking of starting at Macy’s—are there some that are known to have better furniture departments than others? Or any other place with a good selection of comfortable armchairs or recliners. We are in VA but I will travel for a better selection.

[Anonymous]

Creative Classics in Old Town tends to have smaller scale chairs, etc. on display, if size is the issue. Otherwise it's worth the drive to Belfort.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been eyeing this chair at Macys. I’m 5’2 and it was really comfortable when I tried it out.
https://www.macys.com/shop/product/jollene-27-leather-accent-chair-created-for-macys?ID=4589086&pla_country=US&CAGPSPN=pla&pla_country=US&trackingid=449x1057881663&m_sc=sem&m_sb=Google&m_tp=PLA&m_ac=Google_Furniture_PLA&m_ag=Furniture-PLA&m_cn=GS_Furniture_PLA_Restructure_Medium&m_pi=go_cmp-13051126761_adg-164003552547_ad-696454511490_pla-307048903645_dev-m_ext-_prd-2541605USA&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-Tw4LQg5auzGn0Wb3tY2QyAUGnn&gclid=Cj0KCQjwj9-zBhDyARIsAERjds3XoiFJv6hNNsTeQ7dUH5yOiH0acvzUVpvYWIG_EdXexgDnoYEXvb0aAtCzEALw_wcB

[Anonymous]

So she needs a shorter depth chair, OP. They're very hard to find. The workaround is to add not just a random cushion, but an entire stuffed back to shorten the depth. Otherwise her spine won't be aligned correctly and she's going to get back problems.

The back of the chair also needs to be high enough to support her head and shoulders.

[Anonymous]

I am similar size and found that Ethan Allen had a nice selection in the store so I could try them out.

[Anonymous]

Bassett or Lazy Boy. Both have chairs to fit a variety of sizes of people.

[Anonymous]

Pottery Barn Teen is pretty decent.

It might be time to think about a self-rising/ lifting chair. Or a firmer chair that's easier to get in and out of. My mom got a wood-backed recliner-rocker at Costo that she adored. It was a little like this:
https://www.countrysideamishfurniture.com/product/sandpoint-swivel-gliding-recliner

[Anonymous]

Random Harvest in Old Town or Georgetown. Local shop with good prices and service and everything they sell is scaled to grownups in smaller spaces. I just refurnished my living room with upholstered chairs from them chosen to suit me and my mom, both petite-scaled in height and 60 and mid-80s. All my friends of different heights and mobility levels rave about how comfortable they are. The Old Town store is just down the block from Creative Classics, so you can look there, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Creative Classics in Old Town tends to have smaller scale chairs, etc. on display, if size is the issue. Otherwise it's worth the drive to Belfort.

Agree with this store idea.

[Anonymous]

This is OP and thank you all for the ideas! We will head to old town this weekend and branch out from there as needed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Creative Classics in Old Town tends to have smaller scale chairs, etc. on display, if size is the issue. Otherwise it's worth the drive to Belfort.

Agree with this store idea.

Agree, though pricey and limited options. I do best at green front. Try the motioncraft recliner. 5’1” and mine is a dream. Could never sit in the big puffy ones. I have mine in a soft fabric. They always have some at Greenfront Manassas. https://www.motioncraft-furniture.com/catalog/5060-retro

[Anonymous]

Agree with Creative Classics, too, but I found good chairs for my very short mom at Bassett in Rockville. I took her and she sat in a lot of chairs. These fit her well both in how high the seat is for the floor, how deep the seat is, and how wide it is, so she can comfortably rest her arms on the side. I forget the name of the style, but it was one they had on the floor. It came as either a standard or a swivel.
I bought a loveseat with a smaller profile for her from Ballards. I had to ask them about smaller ones, and they had an option that wasn’t available in the store to try, but worked out well.

[Anonymous]

100% Belfort, they can customize most aspects of the chairs and she should find the right fit there. We got a custom sectional from them in 2021, then got a yellow lab puppy and have two pre-teen boys, couch still looks almost perfect.

[Anonymous]

Belfort is garbage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Belfort is garbage

?? They have a wide variety of brand/products from moderate to higher end custom. Some of the lower end pieces are not the best, but I don't see how the whole store can be written off as garbage.