The centre piece of your living room is generally your television or fireplace, to fully appreciate your lovely surroundings you need some stylish furniture to perch your behind on. This is where a great big comfortable leather arm chair comes into your life. There are many things to consider before you head out and get a new arm chair though. The style taking up much of your time when considering. You have to remember comfort and endurance too. Lets have a look at what you might want to think about.

The most important thing you are going to think about before you get your new arm chair is which style you are going to go for. There are plenty of designs out there for you to pick from, there's classic looks or you could go for a more modern design. You should consider what material you want, do you want a leather arm chair or something else. Obviously you need to think about what your living room looks like before you jump in a buy a brand new modern design for your old cottage in the country. Equally you don't want an old leather armchair in your new modern penthouse flat or house.

Many people spend a huge amount of time sitting on their leather arm chairs, either watching television, reading or chatting with friends or visitors. Clearly you are going to need your new purchase to be comfortable and not give you back trouble after long sessions in front of the TV or playing your games console. You are also going to want a chair that encourages good posture. These things might be at the back of your mind but they really are important factors and should be given serious thought.

Another factor along with comfort is endurance. If you are going to be sitting for many hours a day you need something that's going to last. You need a high quality item. Imagine after a few months of use your new purchase is looking tatty and bursting at the seems. Clearly if you end up buying a cheap chair you are going to be replacing it sooner than you want.

When it comes to finally making the purchase there are many places available to buy from. On almost every street corner there is a big chain furniture retailer. And at almost every point in the year they have some sort of sale going on, they try to make you feel like you're getting a great deal, but you should shop around as everyone else will be having a “sale” too. There's also independent retailers to consider. In my experience they tend to be quite expensive, but depending on the seller their products are of much higher quality and not mass manufactured.

It doesn't take much abuse for the beauty to fade very quickly. A single drop of coffee, a dab of butter - and the nice, light tan leather is stained forever. You can of course make strict rules for yourself and others about what not to do in that chair (regarding eating and drinking). There may also be treatments you could apply to the leather, to make it smudge resistant to some degree. But the best protection against ruining your leather furniture, is to buy something made with darkly colored leather.

When I say dark, I mean anything from a hazel brown, over maroon and grey nuances, to genuinely black leather. These will be excellent choices for an arm chair that will stay clean looking for many years without much effort on your part. Please note that nu-buck or suede is still very vulnerable, no matter how dark a nuance it is. This type of leather is just too open and will be blemished by even the tiniest amounts of dirt - whether in the form of dust or liquid. No, you should go for the more shiny, slightly polished looking leather when shopping for a leather arm chair. These have quite a bit of resistance towards liquids - which gives you just enough time to go get a wet rag, should disaster strike and someone spills coffee on the chair. Dirt in the form of dust doesn't stand a chance of penetrating here - it just lies on the surface and can be wiped right off or vacuumed away.

It is quite simple really: would you wear a white dress in the kitchen? If you were making gazpacho? Of course not - but that is the way you should think when you buy your leather armchair. For everyday use, light colors are just too sensitive.

This was a guest-post by Chris H, for homebuilderstips.com, where you can also read about wicker furniture, including armchairs.

You may be worried that an orange rug could look a little bit retro, especially as orange was all the rage back in the seventies. However it is always the way that you use an item that counts, not just the item or the color of the item itself. If you put an orange shag rug in the middle of a room full of lava lamps and seventies furniture then of course it will look retro. But place the same rug at the center of a contemporary loft apartment bursting with chic furniture and accessories in the latest designs and it will look like the perfect contemporary piece it is.

If you want to be sure that your rug does not look like a throwback to the seventies, you can always choose one with a contemporary design rather than a plain color. Bold, asymmetric designs will make sure that your rug looks like a designer piece rather than a purchase from a vintage garage sale. Look out for geometric designs and those with over-sized floral images, which are both highly contemporary.

You could also buy a rug made of materials which were not used for rugs back in the seventies, such as one of the new leather rugs. These rugs are made by cutting leather or suede into tiny strips which are knotted onto a canvas backing material. These leather rugs are great as a center piece in a living or dining room, especially in a room with a large floor area where they can form a proper focal point.

You might struggle to find a leather rug in orange in every store, however talk to a retailer who sells these types of rugs and they may be able to order one for you or look around on the web as you can normally find unusual items there. A wonderful look would be a dark leather arm chair or sofa in black or chocolate brown in a warm neutral room with a burnt orange leather rug as a stunning center piece.

Antique arm chairs are in high demand from collectors. They come in all shapes and sizes and an infinite different number of finishes and material patterns. These collectors will tend to buy with the intention of refinishing them to their original condition and selling them on. The collectors either take on the task themselves or contract it out to a third party, an experienced re-finisher, to do the job for them.

When you take on the job of antique leather armchair restoration you need to know who you can contact to get the items needed to complete the job. Or know someone who can make what you need. For example, the fabrics used on the original items are no doubt going to be long out of print, so someone who collects old fabrics or has the ability to reproduce the fabrics is going to be your new best friend. Also, there are many accessories that may not be available on todays market, like beads, rivets, staples and other details.

If you need you replace wood that's either broken or there are parts missing, then you are going to have to employ a joiner to complete the job. Unless of course you happen to be an experienced joiner yourself. Clearly you have to use the correct woods, using a different patterned grain or colour is going to have a negative effect on the finished item. Then there are stains, if the original items wood has been stained then you are going to have to seek out the right colour of stain, which could take some time, there are hundreds of possibilities to choose from. You don't want to be trying out stains on the chair itself, so some sample pieces of wood are in order.

After staining you need to leave the wood to dry completely before you go any further. This could take a day or two. Once its ready to go, you can assemble the frame and and refinish the padding with the fabric that you have hopefully found previously. Once that's done you can move onto the details, the studs and staples and any other finishing touches that need applying.

Clearly this isn't a guide on how to restore antique furniture, its just a little something to give you some insight as to what is in front of you. There is plenty of information out there on the world wide web and plenty of good books for you to get some great information from.

Once you have your arm chair refinished, I would recommend that you keep your new love out of harms way. In rooms that aren't used too often and certainly not somewhere that children frequently play. Where it can be enjoyed for years to come.

Modern leather arm chairs come in at all price ranges. From reasonably cheap to very expensive. Depending on who you pick to design your chair, what style you go for, what materials you pick and the size of the seat will all effect the final price of your new chair. Clearly some of the top designers are going to charge much much more than the more mainstream designers.

A modern leather armchair can be used in a vast range of situations such as in living rooms, dens or even offices and work places. They are very comfortable for sitting in for extended amounts of time such as meetings at work or for entertaining guests in your home.

A leather chair does need to be looked after and maintained somewhat. They need to be kept clean and fed with the appropriate feed to keep the leather supple, the right colour and smelling great.

There are some precautions you need to take when you own any leather products. You really want to try and keep leather out of direct sunlight, for example next to a large open window for extended periods of time. The sun will fade and dry out the leather, reducing the life of you arm chair.

If you have children or animals running around you home you need to make sure that if they are climbing around on the furniture that their feet or shoes are clean or are kept off the chairs altogether. If they don't and the dirt gets all over the seat then it could potentially damage the leather. Although if you have the leather correctly treated then this will create a barrier against the dirt and could save you a fortune in repair bills. Just be sure to clean up any dirt as soon as possible to be sure that it doesn't cause any damage in the long run.

A modern leather arm chair doesn't have to be a brand new modern design, like the ones you see in those super modern penthouse flats or show houses. Modern chairs can also come in those classic designs that you love too. If you have a little old house in the country you aren't limited to old wrecked arm chairs from the charity shop. You can have modern build and classic looks.

The main concern you should have before you buy an arm chair is how big your living room actually is, how much space you have and how big you want your new arm chair to be. Then you have to consider the style you want and will it match what you already have. A wing back chair may be just what you want if you have a formal style of living room, they can be bought in both leather and fabric. If you have a more informal living space you may find that an overstuffed arm chair maybe just what you need to fill that space. They come in both cloth and microfibre, which feels somewhat like suede and is easy to clean.

They might say that dogs are a mans best friend, but in actual fact its the reclining arm chair that take that place. They allow you to get your feet up, flat out and relax like nothing else.

Larger arm chairs will be better suited to larger spaces. If you live in a small house will a small living room then you really don't want a big chair. It will closer off all the space and make your room feel and look even smaller.

One more decision you have to consider is what finish you would like for your arm chair. Leather? Its got that great look, easy to clean and really durable. Or something else like cotton or denim or even on of the many man made fabrics that are available on the market today.

Getting the right arm chair may take a bit of consideration, but do a little research and finding the style you like and the style that is going to go best with your décor and your choice will be made that bit easier.

A good ergonomic task chair will allow the user to work in the most comfort while still encouraging good posture. Failure to take note of these two points can negatively effect productivity. Choosing the correct office chair for the individual persons body and work style can encourage good work and will have the user feeling energised even well into the working day and be happier doing so.

Arm chairs are also great for resting your arms and hands will working at the computer for extended periods of time and reducing the chances of fatigue.

As human beings, we are all different in our design, weight and height and comfort preferences, an adjustable arm chair is almost essential if more than one person will be using the seat. These items might cost more initially than a non adjustable alternative, but this extra cost is well worth it.

Clearly on higher cost items the padding and materials used in the construction will be better than on cheaper chairs. These higher quality materials will no doubt improve the users experience while using the seat. However with coverings like leather, imitation leather and vinyl, while looking good and are easy to clean, can leave the user sliding down the chair and constantly adjusting their seating and possibly encouraging bad posture.

Cloth arm chairs will be a better option in this case, offering somewhat more grip to the user and keeping them in the same position throughout the day compared to a leather arm chair. Though this does come at a cost of decreased durability and having to replace the chairs more frequently. No matter what material you choose you need to make sure the chosen arm chair has sufficient support for the back.

There are clearly several options to consider before you go out and buy a new arm chair. There are endless classic and modern designs and there is always a new innovations and ideas that come onto the market to confuse matters further. As well as an infinite number of colours to choose from. There is guaranteed to be a perfect parter out there for your personal preferences and the design of your work space.