Upgrading My Office Chair To A Gaming Chair

I got a new office/gaming chair! This is a little unorthodox because I'm a content creator but I'm not at the level of sponsorship. It's kind of just a hobby at this point. I'm not opposed to it and I've definitely tried really hard in previous blogging incarnations I've had to become a paid content creator. It's a lot of hard work and not a lot of security and unfortunately I don't have the luxury of that style of money making. However, this was a very long way to say while this is not a sponsored post.

Hey, it's Valkree! I just want to let you know that as a member of the Amazon Associates program, that when I link to a product I am recommending, I may receive a commission but just like being kind, it costs you nothing. I promise to only recommend products that I own or are generally helpful and useful and not just because I may earn money off it. If you have any questions, please reach out. 

Here is the Amazon description of the chair:

I have always wanted to get a proper gaming chair. I just could never justify spending the money. However, my job has just implemented a new work from home policy, where two days a week we can choose to work from home. My previous office chair was a $35 Walmart chair that had no arm rests, very little padding and absolutely zero support. I worked from home due to the weather in December for two days and had such bad back pain from sitting in it for 8 hours that the second day I had to sit on the couch. I couldn't stand sitting in it to work on the computer for that long! With the idea of me moving farther from my job and wanting to take advantage of the work from home policy I began to hunt for a chair that was cute, comfortable and wouldn't break the bank or max out my credit card.

I ordered this chair and it arrived very promptly. I was able to build it and use it just in time for my three day weekend. I took Friday off and decided to test drive it. I've sat in it for a few days now, yesterday being the first day that I sat in it for 8+ hours and had zero back pain! It is a large chair and I have very wide hips. I'm not extremely obese, just plus size but my previous chair could not hold someone bigger than myself. This chair could easily fit someone larger than myself comfortably. According to the Q&A section it says the max weight is 250 lbs but then there is another that says 300 lbs. I would not order this if you are above 300 lbs or if you are shorter than 5'0". I am just at 5' and on the lowest setting, my feet just barely touch the ground. If I remove the support pillow my feet don't touch. However, by removing the support pillow I'm not using the chair properly and so of course there will be some discomfort. The chair is pretty wide but that could be because I am used to the smaller office chair. The new chair barely fits into the space I have it in but in two months I am moving and I can make my desk area bigger. I thought about rotating my L-shaped desk so I'm not pinned in against the wall and window but with such a short amount of time left here, it's not worth disconnecting everything.

Let me just say that I am not that great at assembling things but I'm far too cheap to pay someone to do it for me. I did go on a date with someone and then asked them to come back to my apartment to help me build a tv stand once. That's how much I loathe putting things together. This chair only gave me medium difficulty. I read the instructions both before and as I went along. All of the O-rings were misshapen so I think that was intentional but it created some issues during the build. I also had a hard time securing the metal brace that the height adjustment mechanism sits in that secures to the bottom of the seat. I had to screw them in and unscrew them, then adjust several times. Otherwise the rest of the build was very simple. 

The chair is very heavy to me (Amazon says it weighs 47 pounds and that feels about right). It can be done with one person who doesn't consider themselves very strong, but if you're very small I would suggest asking another person to help you build it. Especially with turning it over to put the seat on the height adjust mechanism and definitely to help you attach the back to the bottom.

I was not a fan of the fact that my hands got dirty handling all of the parts. Mainly because when I turned the chair over and set it up right, I got all the white parts of the chair dirty. I had to go wash my hands and get a wash cloth to wipe the whole chair down.

The biggest blessing in disguise was that little heart pillow. First of all, so cute. Second of all I put it in the small of my back and it helps with my posture AND is just the cutest little thing. I'm probably going to start taking it back and forth to work with me. I don't really use the headrest pillow but when I lean back it is comfortable too. I like that I can flip it over and instead of it being white, it is purple. I just wish I could adjust the straps so it could be secured for a backrest pillow too.

I was torn between this chair, which was $220 at the time of purchase and another chair that had a sword embroidered in it, which was closer to $300. I really liked the other chair because it was black and fit in better with my aesthetic. I was a little hesitant about getting a light colored chair because dirt shows much easier (as I mentioned earlier when putting it together). But the price is what it really came down to and a difference of $50 really mattered. I really like this chair and am happy with my choice. The chair itself is easy to clean and is helping soothe that worry. Not to mention the chair, the headrest pillow and the heart pillow all have zippers on them so you can clean them, which is a really nice bonus. If you're still debating on whether or not to upgrade and push the "buy now" button on a gaming chair, this is your sign to do it. Especially if you work from home (it's a tax write off) in addition to game.