Our only recliner was a Dania wood and leather piece w/separate footrest. DS inherited that after DH barely used it. It must be 40 years old now.

I don't like *big* furniture, especially things with giant arms and bulges of puffy padding. I do like the appearance of the chairs mdln posted. I'd need electric assistance to operate a recliner without dislocating my shoulder (if the ones in the cancer treatment center are any example). The day may come when I will love a recliner, ugly or not!

Our favorite chairs are two 'tub' style from Century with 'spring/down' construction; same construction in our LR sofa.

In this house we have a room with two La-Z-Boy recliners and a reclining sofa. DH likes a chair best. I prefer to sit in one of those chairs upright. If I recline to watch TV or read I choose the reclining sofa. It's all about the fit. You don't want some brands that are boney and stiff. Nor do you want to get lost in a mountain of memory foam. The length has to be right for your feet also.

As far as back pain goes, when needed, I use an ice pack tucked into a small pillow on my lower back while just slightly reclined. There is no one right way to position yourself with back pain. You know your body best.

SO picked out our living room furniture, therefore EVERYTHING reclines. We have a recliner, a reclining couch and a reclining loveseat. I like them fine. The recliner itself is very comfortable. Or it was until I started developing a strange unexplained hip pain and now it hurts to use. SO loves them and therefore when it comes time to refurnish we will likely get a similar set.

Recliners can look like any chair!! They have come along way. We have two, one swivels, they both rock. We also have a zero clearance reclining leather love seat. It removes the need and tripping hazard of foot stools.

My DH sees NO reason why ALL our furniture does not recline. I roll my eyes.

DH picked out our Lane wall hugger leather couch. We ALL declared it was the most comfy couch there. (Factor when purchasing )

Then we have slender sleek pale grey electric reclining chairs in the theatre room. Another showroom purchase, tried them out liked them.

Then a brown leather one, that rocks "and" reclines. It matches the couch. We LOVE recliners.

Looks a lot like this only with more seams, since mine is leather and no feet since it rocks.

"Recliners can look like any chair!!"

Not when they're open!! When someone is on one reclined!!

To each, their own. Remind me of seats in dental office operatories and chairs in barber shops.

Ugh...My DH loved his recliner. It was (to me) an eyesore, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Shortly after we got him his big recliner, we bought a 2nd one, a Lazy Boy in a soft beige fabric that rocks and reclines. We bought it 4ish years ago, paid about 500 for it and I don’t think anyone has sat in more than a half dozen times. It just holds pillows and takes up space. I have a new sofa on order. I plan on donating the chair to the Furniture bank when it arrives. They will use it to help a battered woman start a new and I feel good about that.

I’ve never sat in one that was both comfortable and nice looking, it was either one or the other but never both so I’m personally not a fan. I’ve tried 2x’s now, but I think I’ll just stick with the sofa.

My recliner is so comfy I recently told DH it would have to literally start falling apart before I would ever part with it. In our TV room we have a 2 seat loveseat and a 3 seat Sofa plus my recliner. All recline. I like to have my feet up and maybe a throw if I’m chilly. They are power recliners. I don’t like side levers. I do wish mine had a charging port for devices like the couches.

I have two love seat and all four seats (2 in each) recline as well as MY recliner which I'm sitting in right now actually. hahaha I always have my feet up. When I do have my feet down, my recliner is a rocker. I don't know how I lived without my recliner before and can't see me never having one again. My parents got me into the recliner thing. At one time they though they were horrible pieces of ugly furniture. But they ended up buying a couch and two matching recliners and they were so comfy I had to have one too.

Although they make them rather attractive now, I never have had one. All the chairs in my house are wing chairs with straight backs, big wings. Husband's is leather. We never sit on the sofas unless there is company.

My recliner is what I use all the time. Lazy boy with lever to release leg rest and a swivel. Best thing ever.... Used it through many surgeries when I could not sleep in bed. And yes they come in all styles and colors.

Elmer, the word "camp" is really a generic term. It just means a second home in the country and/or mountains. For most people around here it usually means the northern part of the state where there is a large national forest, a large state forest and calm rivers. Lots of outdoor recreation. A camp can run from a one room shack with an outhouse to a large expensive lodge type home you see in magazines. We don't use terms such as country home, river home, second home, mountain home, etc, it sounds pretentious. We just call them all camps. Like a home on a lake, we don't refer to them as a lake house. We call them cottages, no mater the size.

I can’t stand recliners and much prefer an upright chair. Besides finding them uncomfortable, I also think they’re ugly. But to each their own.

function, thanks for taking the time for an explanation. It's a regional term, for sure.

Elmer it is also used in parts of the South. Being bored and having nothing on at 2 in the morning I watched a show about alligator hunting. They kept using the term camp for what appeared to be homes next to water.

We had a Lane wing back high leg recliner before Harvey, I miss that chair a lot, just as comfortable to sit in un-reclined as reclining. Replaced it with another brand, which I don't much care for.

We have 2 recliners. We find them most comfortable! Our style is casual living, and whether anyone else likes the look of them or not, we do.

Go to the furniture store and sit on every recliner style there is. You may find one you like.

We have a large upholstered recliner in the tv room. My husband loves it to watch tv or listen to music. I've always hated it until I broke my shoulder.

I was in so much pain and couldn't lay in bed. I paced the floor most of the night to not wake everyone up and wound up in that recliner and eventually fell asleep. I slept in that chair for 10 days until I could finally lay down in bed.

I still hate the chair, but they are great if you break a bone!

Jane

I find puffy furniture, and recliners tend to be puffy, quite uncomfortable and I think it is bad for your posture. I understand some people may require a recliner due to medical problems, but otherwise I would think and arm chair and an ottoman for putting your feet up would be preferable to a recliner.

Fun fact, furniture historians consider the iconic Morris Chair an example of one of the first recliners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_chair

We have 2 recliners. We each tried out a bunch of different ones. DH's reclines to flat. Mine is a rocker recliner that is powered. If I have to get a new one it will be one with a battery back up!

Elmer, up here in Michigan when someone says "camp" it is a hunting camp.

I have yet to find one that is comfortable for me and I have tried a lot of different sizes, shapes, and firmness's. I agree with the upright chair and ottoman or even the old style lounger.

No need to decide between recliner/sofa when you can do both. I like this one as it looks like a regular sofa. I'm not a fan of the huge over-stuffed marshmallow recliner/sofa's that seem so ubiquitous and somehow always oversized for the room they're in.

zalco,

Your mentioning a Morris chair recalled a very fond memory of something completely unrelated that I experienced ages ago, 20 years ago or more. I was at a pub with an English friend in the London area but a bit away from the center of town. It was on the high street of a mostly residential neighborhood. It could have been in a country village, it's how it looked. It was a warm and comfortable summer evening. We were sitting outside at a picnic table and we were on pint # 3 or #4 of the evening. Suddenly, a group of men came walking up holding white handkerchiefs and my friend said "You're about to experience something uniquely English. Those are Morris dancers." They started dancing and I got hysterical, I had to get up and walk down the street to regain control. The brew in my belly helped but it really was funny seeing these otherwise normal looking guys prancing around. It looked like something from a Monty Python skit. The link shows an example of it.

Sorry for the sidetrack. Back to recliners.

We have always had a recliner ( at least one ) in the house , mostly for DH. I don't like the looks of them, but they are so functional and comfy. Well, some are super comfy. We had one years ago that was ok looking ( not terrible) and everyone who sat in it marveled how it was the most comfortable chair ever. We went back to the place that made it, and ordered another one several years later. It was ok, but it was just not the same (like the Rosanne sketch where it's they say it's the same but it just wasn't). That was probably over 20 years ago with the replacement. The place is out of business; I think it must be out of business for at least 15 years now.

Fast forward to now- we have still have the not quite as good one in the man cave now.

In our living room, we have one with an ottoman (the stressless type). It's not a very good quality one but it's ok. DH likes it fine, but it's not wonderful. He has a bad back and yes used both recliners when he could not sleep prior to surgery.

I appreciate this thread because it reminded me of the Ikea poang chairs. To my amazement, DH thought they were wonderfully comfortable. I am tempted to get 2 when the time comes ( when our barely adequate stressless clone bites the dust). I remember seeing somewhere you could get varying fabrics for them.

I love the looks of the ones posted above that don't look like recliners, but DH is big and always says those are too skimpy. Going to do my research on the Poang ( which I did look up and weight limit is 375. Not that we need that much weight but it sure suggests durability!).

I bought this gorgeous, unbelievably comfortable Nepsco bentwood recliner chair for a terrific price about a year ago from a friend. White leather--and the one I bought still had the pillow. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/558164947566601247/

Nothing tacky about this chair.

Elmer, thanks! That was fun!

West Elm has a recliner that is not bad looking.

And there is the Milo Baughman Recliner 74 for an even sleeker look.

You can find some more options here.

It takes a little bit of looking to find interesting options for recliners, but it is not impossible to find one that is attractive. All recliners are not alike.

Oh, Elmer, what a riot!

Well, Elmer, of course I had to look up Morris Dancing in the be-all-end-all source of knowledge, Wikipedia. Interesting. And I believe that the style of dance that your video shows is a Molly Dance, based on the lone dancer dressed in a tunic or dress. I wonder what style you saw over beers?

And, an illustration in the wiki article was a photo from my DMIL’s hometown of Skipton. That town keeps popping up for me lately in various arenas, how odd.

What I saw was men dressed in white, waving handkerchiefs, wearing flower head pieces and bells on their legs, prancing around. Just as in the video.

I grabbed the video quickly as an example of the silliness I saw. If there are fine details that differ or dance type variations, that's fine, you still get the idea.

I was there on a business trip and had a free evening I could spend with this long time friend. We did so in the neighborhood where he lived at the time. Others at the pub were decidedly locals, not visitors or tourists, and I wasn't the only person laughing. The dancers were serious, maybe even somber, the audience was not.

My English friend was also chuckling. To him, it was another example of elements of absurdity present in his culture's traditions. I recall his saying "can you imagine being stupid enough to dress like that and act like that in public?"

That sounds like a fun evening!

I was overnighting in Glasgow before a flight home. I woke up in the morning to the sound of Highland music. Intrigued, I followed it through the streets and came upon an international Highland dance competition in an open square! The group that was up when I arrived was, coincidentally, from near my hometown in Illinois. Far-flung, come to fling lol. It was just such a cool cap to my hiking week, to be in Scotland and hear Scottish music wafting through the air in the morning mist.

The coincidence got better. When I returned to work, a fellow in the office stopped by and asked where I’d been. England, on a walking tour, I said. Oh, my mom’s from England, where did you go walking? he said. Yorkshire, I said. He looked at me oddly and said, my mom is from Skipton. I looked at him oddly and said, Skipton was the next town from where I got off the train.

We were married a year later.

That worked out well for you. Congrats. Luckily you didn't marry a Morris dancer.

Did I say he’s not a Morris dancer?

Hahahahaha! And no, he is not. But if he were, at least I’d always have a hankie handy to be offered!

I'm so lazy. I'd have to be planning to sit for a lot longer than I usually do to make it worth the effort of getting settled into a recliner -- knowing I'd also have to clamber back out of one. With a stationary seat I just bend my knees to sit and straighten them to rise. Seems I've forever hopping up to do something or fetch something.

How long do *you* spend IN a recliner? When? What do you do while in it? Read? Watch TV? Sleep? Are you eating or drinking?

If I recline in a recliner, I fall asleep! DH and I watch movies, him in his Danish modern recliner and me in my comfy swivel upright easy chair with ottoman. I do like to put my feet up mostly, but not always, and the ottoman is easy to kick aside.

Have read and appreciated all the advices here. I did see advice from several people which I'm sure is good advice, to go try a number of recliners before getting one. But right now because of Covid I'm not going to stores, and I just don't want to wait until I'm vaccinated because I think a recliner is a great idea. So I'm talking to a few local people who are trying to sell theirs, and also looking at Amazon. both locals and Amazon would deliver just to the door . We'll see what happens.

I enjoyed the video too, Elmer. I have to think that Morris dance is the origin of American square dancing!

Recliners, those lay done on the job!

Re the Morris dancing. I don't think it's any sillier looking than many folk dances.

They can mash your cat.

Cat has been with me for many many years, do not want her mashed. When I am sitting on the sofa she usually ends up on the top back right next to my head, but I'm thinking I should be careful whenever I sit up and close the extended footrest if I get a recliner.

Okay for den or tv room. Very, very comfortable. Great for napping and movies. I didn't put in my sitting room.

Does anybody really sit much in a sitting room . Our last house the livingroom was used very little. Our friends and family would always head to the family room or kitchen. It was less formal, relaxed and comfortable than the living room.

I assume "sitting room" is the same as "living room"? I do use mine regularly - it is south facing and has a large window. I read on the sofa there most days. I don't have the TV or computer in there - those are in the "family room" (originally an office) addition and that is where a recliner would likely go - both rooms are smaller than today's norm, in a ~1200sf house, and neither room is what you might call formal.

Lacey, I imagine when one is sitting at an outdoor pub, on one’s 3rd or 4th pint, enjoying a pleasant English evening, and a corps of male dancers comes prancing by waving white hankies, it seems pretty silly.

I love all forms of folk dancing. I‘ve only done it a handful of times, and boy is it good exercise! Square and folk dancing was always a unit of PE when I was in school, and it was quite challenging.

bpath, I think I would have lost it even without the pints. The "dancing/prancing" with the waving hankies was bizarre looking, almost as if designed to amuse. It was all the more surreal because the dancers themselves were about the only ones present with serious looks on their faces.

My saying that it appeared to be a Monty Python-esque homage is an accurate description of how I felt about it.

Lucille, I've had recliners and cats for over 30 years and have never mashed my cat!

Pamghatten, I'm glad you haven't mashed your cat. But a search shows that indeed it happens occasionally. For me, it is easy enough just to ascertain the cat's whereabouts just as 'cat insurance'.

I have two from Haverty's in my family room - I like them a lot - light tan and leather. I find them very comfortable for both sitting and napping. They don't look big and bulky and clunky but like a nice arm chair with an added bonus.

My newest one is a dark brown leather Cat Napper. I do like it. Has power button to raise and lower it for me. Also a place to charge my phone and whatever. Izzi and I do enjoy resting in a recliner.

Sue