Living Room Layout question

[starryfish]

We are getting new furniture for the living room. Two requirements: 1 big recliner for my DH and a couch with a chaise for me.

What I am debating is whether to make the couch bigger (4 seat with 1 being a chaise) or shorter (3 seat with 1 being a chaise). If I do the shorter couch, I could fit a skinnier recliner for me. I spend 99% of my time on the chaise. The only thing that makes me want to do a recliner is having one for when we have a baby (its a rocker/recliner/glider from la.zb.oy).

Would you do:
1). 1 recliner and a 4 seat couch (one of the seats is a chaise)
2). 2 recliners with  3 seat couch (one of seats is a chaise)

So, I guess the question to the Moms out there....do I really need a recliner for me for a future baby? Or will I be ok without one? (one would be in the future nursery, just not in the Living room). I could use my DH's recliner if needed.

I know I am 100% overthinking this, but I hate the last couch I bought, so I just want to make sure I don't do that again.

Thanks!

[Marmee]

I have 4 kids & never owned anything like a recliner. I did buy a glider for my 4th but barely used it. I nursed for years on couches just fine.

[starryfish]

Nov 29, 2015 22:01:54 GMT -5 Marmee said:

I have 4 kids & never owned anything like a recliner. I did buy a glider for my 4th but barely used it. I nursed for years on couches just fine.

Thank you! This helps a lot!

[tcu2003]

Lurker on this board, but chiming in to say I hate our recliner. It just doesn't work well/isn't comfortable for rocking, nursing, holding the kiddo in it. We have a glider (that is way smaller than a recliner) with ottoman that I LOVE - we moved our recliner to a room we rarely use and put the glider and ottoman with our couch a love seat. I used the glider day in and day out until DS was close to 3.

[lilac05]

I have two kids. I can honestly say it's never even crossed my mind that I wished to have a recliner of any sort in the living room. (& one time, we had the perfect place for it and could have purchased one, but didn't even think about it!) I suppose it would be nice, but it never occurred to me.

I do have a glider that I've used with both boys. I bought it for $50 on Craigslist because I wasn't sure I would use it that much. I've used it for every nap time and every bedtime for 5 years straight. It's so tired!

[beanieweanie]

We never had a recliner, the couch was just fine for nursing. We did have a glider, which I spent a lot of time in at nights and before bed times, but during the day didn't use it.

[boiler717]

We put our rocker/glider/recliner in the sunroom and it's been amazing through pregnancy. Sitting on the couch is super painful for me.

[starryfish]

Nov 30, 2015 6:45:06 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

We put our rocker/glider/recliner in the sunroom and it's been amazing through pregnancy. Sitting on the couch is super painful for me.

I figure I can always steal DHs when PG :-)

[magdala]

Nov 30, 2015 6:45:06 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

We put our rocker/glider/recliner in the sunroom and it's been amazing through pregnancy. Sitting on the couch is super painful for me.

This is similar to my experience. I have an upholstered glider with matching gliding ottoman. It was the most comfortable thing to sit in while I was pregnant. It was the most comfortable place to nurse DD. Now that DD has grown beyond breast feeding, it is still a comfortable place to read her stories and rock her when she is sick or teething.

[Deleted]

I would just put my feet up on the chaise lounge and forego the extra recliner.

[auntie]

I almost never sit on my sofa- maybe once a week to fold towels if DH doesn't fold them.

We each have a comfy chair- his is a big leather club chair with an ottoman, mine is a smaller more upright chair and ottoman. Ottomans can be extra seating in a pinch or even hold food on trays if needed.

I BF DS almost exclusively in an old Lawson style chair and ottoman. IME, most recliners don't have arms that are high enough to rest your arms with the weight of an infant. DH had an old wood rocking chair, but the scale made it a bad fit for me. Plus, hard woods and postpartum are often a bad combination. I had a wicker chaise I used when DS was a newborn, but the chair was comfier.

[olivesyou]

For feeding baby: Glider instead of a recliner for sure. Recliners are nice for watching TV, where you extend it and put your feet up and stay for a while. Gliders are smaller, so easier to get in and out of one handed (holding a baby) and they glide so nice that baby frequently will fall asleep in your arms.

[froggy76]

I think a good chair is a must for when you have a baby, but it doesn't have to be in the living room. We only had couches in the living room, but a recliner in a spare room and a glider in the nursery. I could nurse anywhere, but the glider in the nursery was my favorite place in the middle of the night.

[sierramist03]

Dh and I only had one recliner for years. I always stuck sitting on the couch and honestly it isn't near as comfortable. About a year ago Dh bought me my own chair and it's been amazing. It's much more comfortable to put my feet up.
I agree with pp I spent a lot of time sleeping in my recliner during pregnancy when the bed and couch were comfortable. Now that dd is here I have no problem breastfeeding in my recliner. Sometimes it's a little tough to get out of when I have the baby but I'm learning quickly.
I know you say you will steal the recliner from your Dh but honestly I thought the same thing and it never happened. Only time I sat in the recliner was when he was gone. He would rarely offer it up at night.