Eames® Lounge Chair & Ottoman by Herman Miller®

This is the chair I want for the living room. Room & Board makes this one. It's not cheap.

Then there's this one. It's a mid-range copy.


Or, even this one. This is a pretty decent looking fake, right?


Personally I think the cheap one looks better than the mid-range, but check out how much better the Room & Board one looks. I'd like to use a word like Lush, but that reminds me of Dave and I feel guilty for even thinking that. I wish I didn't have such a materialistic tendency toward the authentic, the true designer-backed reproduction of the original, but I sense I'd feel the other one looking at me saying, I'm an impostor, every time I walked by it. Ah, is that worth $2,000? It's crazy, but to me it sort of is?

This is the argument then I present myself with. The classic, authentic, is a chair that will work in any home you have for the rest of your life. It will never go out of style, and if it's the "real" thing, made by a quality company that stands behind its products, you can trust that it will last. It has integrity, beauty and endurance. Plus it's made in Michigan!*

Then there's the cheap one. It's less than half the cost of the high-end. I wouldn't have a heart attack too bad if someone spilled on it, or Fatty and Blackie decide they need a scratching post. Once it was in the house and not sitting next to the other one, would you even notice? (I'd know). At least when the arm fell off or it lost a button, I could comfort myself with, Well it was never the real thing anyway.

For the record, I don't even have the cash to buy the cheap one. I just like to think about these things a lot. I like to think about dining room chairs a lot too. These kill me. They're almost $650 a piece.


In this case, I would sacrifice the integrity and the dream, though, for these. About 10% the cost of the chairs that would be perfect. So that would mean the good lounge chair would be worth it, right? I just saved about $2400 on dining room chairs.

This is what's on my mind. I want that $3600 chair and ottoman. I can hear my Mom in the background, whispering, Just get it, you know you'll never be happy with the others.

* I've noticed that just about every piece I look at at Room & Board is made in USA. There's a little map with the location highlighted and, Made in Michigan or whatever. It makes me feel better about spending too much money on trendy, over-priced furniture. Or rather, it makes me feel good that rich people are spending it, on stuff that's keeping Americans working.