For Father’s Day this year, I decided to get my dad something beyond the customary tie or ceramic mug that says “#1 DAD!” I wanted to change it up. I was searching online for things I could possibly purchase for him. Electronics? Too expensive. Book? Too outdone. Wooden backless barstool? Yes!

The bar stool is such an understated yet functional piece of furniture for the home. As a gift, it is even more special because no one typically considers the bar stool. You see, my father is not only a great father–he is a fantastic grand-father to my children. He is a story teller and will often be found regaling them with tales about his own childhood in his old village in Ukraine. He’ll tell them of how he used to ice skate on the pond by his house  or how he met their grandmother after she first bashfully asked him to walk her to school.

A bar stool would be the perfect purchase for a man such as my father. Some bar stools are pretty low and these kinds of seats would be the best for when he wants to tell stories to my kids. Now he won’t have to kneel on his tired and worn knees anymore. He will have his very own bar stool to sit comfortably on. I know that this bar stool isn’t just a simple little chair; it’s symbolic of everything my dad has done and how he deserves a rest.

As a well-seasoned bachelor, I like to fancy myself a little bit of James Bond and a little bit of George Clooney. I am an international man of refined tastes and many talents. People are often impressed that I can play more twenty-five instruments, including the didgeridoo. I have been to almost every country in the world and eaten almost every exotic dish there is. I can speak more languages than you can count and am well-versed in philosophy. My scholarly pursuits are of utmost significance to who I am as a person. I have been called “charming” or “smooth” on many occasions and am admittedly quite popular with the ladies. What’s my secret? My bar and stools.

You see, in my thrilling world of speed and leisure, the inspiration for everything can be found on the bottom of a glass of Scotch and a box of premium cigars. I can’t explain it but after a drink and a smoke, I feel I can do almost anything. It is this valuable space that is comprised of my bar and stools where I can entertain and be entertained. Where else would I be able to serenade my lady friend of  the week with a soulful rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night”?

I’ll have you know that I built my bar and stools myself out of pure blood and sweat–but no tears because I do not cry. I painstakingly crafted all the details and polished my wooden bar and stools so that it could shine proudly. It took me a good week or so but when I was finished, I threw a great mixer. All of my friends said that they liked my new bar and stools. One person said that the fact that it isn’t overly ostentatious but still tastefully erudite makes it all the more attractive. I think that sums up my life quite nicely. 

When you decorate your kitchen, you have a specific design scheme in mind. Why should your kitchen stools not follow suit? A lot of homeowners are buying their kitchen stools in their original natural state so that either the natural grain can shine through or the wrought iron can be exposed in its glory. Although both materials are beautiful in their own right, why not add that extra touch and add some upholstery to your kitchen stools?

Contrary to popular belief, upholstery does not take away from the attractiveness of your bar stools. If anything, it would be able to complement if not greatly enhance the overall look of your kitchen. If you have a French Country themed kitchen like I do, having your wooden kitchen stools outfitted in yellow cushions will complete the appearance of a Provence kitchen. You have many options in terms of color and style of your upholstery. Most people like it completely tight and fitted to their bar stools so a lot of times, they end up circular and leather or vinyl. If you wish, you can also opt for cotton or a decorative material with roosters on it. Whatever suits your style.

These upholstered bar stools provide that extra comfort that you would not get if you were to have the original bar stools–sans upholstery. If you think that upholstery is simply too dramatic of a change, you can always find detachable cushions that you can switch out and take off completely when you please. The point I’m trying to make is that you should open up your horizons when it comes to your kitchen stools. It may make more of a difference than you will know.

It’s unfortunate that furniture bar stools aren’t as popular as they used to be. Perhaps it’s because they are often associated with the kind of furnishings you would see in the staid living room or on the veranda of an old person’s home. These associations aren’t necessarily true but it’s hard for me to not make this correlation. I didn’t see it any differently until my mom (a senior citizen, mind you) bought the furniture bar stools for her own living room. I never considered her to be outmoded or unfashionable. Even in her old age, she was always on the cusp of style.

I asked her what made her want to buy this whole set of furniture bar stools. It’s so tacky, I said. She responded with a two-word, “Try it.” I sat in one cushioned bar stool and immediately felt enveloped by its comfortable embrace. “Let go!” I wanted to yell at the stool but before I could, I was asleep.

When I awoke, my mother explained to me in more words why she preferred furniture bar stools over regular bar stools. Furniture bar stools, she argued, are more like sofa chairs than swivel bar stools or commercial bar stools. They are superlatively versatile and cozy and can therefore be brought in their living room or game room as extra seating. If you wish, they can also stay in the kitchen as regular counter bar stools.

Overall, the feeling you get from sitting in furniture bar stools is an overwhelming sense of leisure and ease. When you sit on one, you don’t want to do anything else but be right there.

I am and have always been the tallest one in my class. At 6’2”, I feel like a giant among a world of midgets. As a girl, this was especially difficult to deal with because girls are not naturally this height. If they are, they are assumed to be either model-pretty or athletic–two things which I am not. I only really feel useful when people ask me to reach things for them. In these cases, I feel blessed that I am so elevated above everyone else.

I have just moved to my own apartment and it is kind of difficult to find furniture that literally fit me. I have to get most things custom-made so that I could be comfortable. In the kitchen space, I had to get my kitchen island made specially for my size. The countertops measure about 4 feet tall. Therefore, I have to invest in extra tall barstools that are about 46-inches high.

I really love my bar stools because they are some of the few things that make me feel normal. When I sit in them, my legs aren’t cramped like they would be with a conventional bar stool. No–these lovely, lofty barstools allow me to have my legs hang naturally (they actually hang!) above the ground. I no longer have back problems related to having to stoop over on the chair anymore. When people come over, they may feel a little uncomfortable that these chairs are so high up but now they get to see the world from my perspective!

As an active painter, I am constantly moving. The kind of paintings that I do have been described as Jackson Pollock-esque. This means that I do abstract work by splattering and dripping different kinds of paint on a canvas. There is no visible figurative representation but just a general sensation that you can garner from my works of art.

I tack my paintings onto a great big easel rather than a studio floor like Pollock did. Because of this, I like to use backless chrome bar stool because they allow me to swing around to get my painting material and return to the painting very quickly. For me, my inspiration comes and goes like flashes in my head. I can see an orange sky at one instant and then I will see an electric green poisonous fish in the next. Because I am loyal to all of the sparks of inspiration that appear to me,  the quicker I can translate it onto the canvas, the better.

I own several swivel bar stools for this very reason and they have all served me well. When I have acquired all the use I could from each individual swivel bar stool, they go to a space in the attic. I’m actually thinking of transforming that space into an exhibit within itself. It will be called “A Gathering of Swivel Bar Stools” like the old  friends that they are.

I’m opening up a diner called “Rock Around the Clock” based on the Bill Haley and his Comets song. Everything in the diner will be designed around that theme. From the 50s décor to the guitars and clocks, I want it all to be very centered around this song and the feeling I felt when I first heard it when I was young.

As instruments for the overall aesthetic, I’m hoping to find some cherry red counter bar stools that remind me of this bygone era with it’s naïve innocence and rockin’ good times. I have tried to go to stores in the mall, different wholesalers and several web sites. None of them had exactly what I was looking for.
Just the other day, I was browsing on the Internet when I found a link to this site called Premiere Bar Stools. They have all the bar stools you can imagine. It was beautiful. Then I came upon the counter bar stool in all of its red cherry and chrome glory. This retro styled seat features an upholstered cushion and a swivel feature. It’s a backless bar stool and very simple–just as I wanted it to be.

As I saw it there on the web site, all of my memories came flashing back to me. I was in the local diner with my mother. “Rock Around the Clock” was playing. I was sitting on one of the counter bar stools, swiveling my little self around and around. My mother told me that if I didn’t stop spinning, it would go so fast that I wouldn’t  be able to stop and no one would be able to save me. As a young, impressionable child, everything I didn’t like to hear made me break out into tears. She wiped away the wetness on my face, held me in her warm embrace and promised to buy me a chocolate shake (my favorite). Five minutes later, I was back to spinning myself around on the red counter bar stools. This time, I did it ever so slowly as to not get stuck in a warp.

My kitchen is the hub of all the activity that goes around in my home. I suppose that would make me some kind of head of state or monarch of this sovereignty that is my family. In my kitchen, I like to keep well-maintained rules that are obeyed dutifully. If this is the common room, then the kitchen counter is our roundtable and the kitchen bar stools are the royal members’ thrones. While we’re at this overextending Camelot metaphor, these kitchen bar stools are assigned according to their dominions. The second-in-command knight rules the land of the Living Roomia. The princess rules Bathroomia and the little prince rules Game Roomia. Our trusty steed is kept out in the stable in our backyard chained to the fence.

During any of our knightly meetings, I will prepare a feast and they will sit about in their kitchen bar stools. As the ruler of this kingdom, I gave them permission to assign themselves specific seats around the counte–I mean roundtable. This worked out for the best because they all have their preferences regarding how high they want their thrones to be and how comfortable. The little prince prefers that his seat is slightly higher than the others because he is rather short in stature and can only speak to the rest of us when he is at eye level. I don’ blame him. I can at least offer them that much freedom regarding the fixtures they are using.

When we have our open discussions regarding how each of our territories are doing, I see clearly that these kitchen bar stools serve as more than just chairs; they are platforms from which we express our fears and hopes.

At "Sullivan’s", the pub that is down the street from my apartment, I’ve begun to see an unmistakable trend: people. I have been a regular since I’ve moved here several years ago. There were a maximum of thirty or so people including the employees who worked there on any given night. That’s the way I liked it, too. I want to have my glass of bourbon to myself while sitting on the comfortable black commercial bar stools at a quiet bar. I liked Sullivans because I could contemplate my day with the poison slowly flowing through my stomach like warm, silky honey.

First, I noticed five or ten more people file in than usual. Maybe more people heard about the cheap drinks. Then, the following week, it would be ten greater on top of the other newcomers. By last week, I was beginning to feel shoved out of my spot. Or what used to be my spot, anyway. One night, I asked the Joe the bartender what was leading to this new rush of patronizers to their pub. He said that it was because of the new commercial bar stools they had installed. It wasn’t so much that there were as many new people, he claimed. It was the fact that there was less of a turnover rate since people would sit on the commercial bar stools for longer than they normally would. The warmth of the upholstered seats and the cheap drinks compelled them to sit tight while more bodies filed in.

Now, I may be selfish in saying this but I almost wish that their restaurant bar stools weren’t so nice and inviting because now I can’t go in there with the simple intentions of having a quiet drink to myself. I may have to start drinking at home now…

I’m opening up a salon in near me called "Hair Today, Still Hair Tomorrow". It will be a modern and fresh alternative to the ugly, old-fashioned hair salons overpopulating my small town that are still convinced that Reagan is in office. Seriously, neon confetti designs never worked; nor will gheri-curls and frizz. I feel that it is my job and duty to save the people of this place I call home and usher them into the 21st century with great hair and a stylish salon with counter stools. I want to provide a new place for the younger crowd to be able to walk through the doors without being embarassed of being there in the first place.

In decorating my new salon, I had come up with several possible aesthetics. I could either do the simple and sleek design with clean black vinyl floors and white vinyl seats or I can choose to do the contemporary granite floor scheme with brown leather seats. Although creating a beautiful salon is incredibly important, I think that budget and space are the ulimate factors affecting my decision at the moment. Leather and granite may look nice but in the end, I simply can’t afford this option. Besides, I think that black floors and white seats are super chic.
 
With that in mind, I went out and found several chrome swivel bar stools that fit the description to a tee. They are fifties-inspired stools with both a padded white vinyl back and cushioned white seat. The footrest, like much of the overall construction, is made of a durable steel. As per usual with salon stools, these unique chrome swivel bar stools also have hydraulics to easily adjust the stools to the perfect height when you’re styling or cutting your clients’ hair. The swiveling capabilities add that extra versatility and functionality that every hairstylist needs.

Made possible with these new chrome swivel barstools, designing the salon of my dreams will ultimately modernize the entire space and be something that I’m immensely proud of.