to use a cushion

[stubbornhubby]

• my wife bought a new kitchen table and chairs
• I wasn't there - I was perfectly happy for her to choose them
• they are very nice
• but the chairs are a little bit low for the table
• so I sit on a cushion
• which drives her mad - especially if we have visitors

We can't really afford to replace them.

Should I

• quit with the cushion thing already
• don't mention it, but quietly keep on using it
• something else...

I think you need to trim the legs a bit but also you might still need to use a cushion. I know my husband finds unpadded chairs very uncomfortable, he has rather a bony behind by comparison to my own natural padding.

I use a cushion on my chair at the dining table aswell!

The chairs are just so sodding low!

Thankfully DH doesnt have a problem with it though.

Im liking the idea of 4 little holes in the floor.

YANBU
Your an adult you don't need your wife's permission to do something.

what harm can a cushion do? you obviously give your wife far too little to complain about!

Might I suggest some kind of small stilts made from fimo or similar that you could paint or varnish so that your DW wife wouldn't notice?

Of course then when you stopped using a cushion she would think she had 'won', and that could be a problem. But you would look like the bigger man. Literally.

glue a plank of wood under the 2 front legs of the chair, glue another plank of wood for the 2 back legs. Add little wheels to planks of wood.

Stun your guests as you zip around the table on your height adjusted chair.

Same problem only it is I who was too short, lovely chairpads and matching accessories all around for us.

Before chairpads, my chair wore ridiculous looking little rubber boots that raised it up. DH was happy to help pick out the chairpads...

I am the tallest in my family.
My wife doesnt use a cushion because to do so would be to admit that the chairs are too low . The children don't use cushions as they wouldn't dare :-) one of them - the tallest oddly, sits on her foot.

I will try some of these suggeations out on my wife this evening and let you know how I get on

Could you subtly hint that guests have subtly hinted that cushions are needed? Or get some friends of yours to make a slight, polite fuss about eating at the table. Sort of, the odd banging of elbows etc.?

Sorry, I have quite a cruelly creative mind at times. In this situation I couldn't resist playing mind games. I doubt my suggestions will actually help, sadly. Liking the idea of something to raise the height of the chairs though. Could you put little wheels on all of them, and then need those rubber cirles to stop them rolling about? A lot of older chairs in the style you mentioned have wheels, so you could make out to guests that they're simply exceptionally posh.

Perhaps you could invent a proctological emergency that requires a cushion?

oh stubbornhubby the pictures you are drawing in my mind!

...of Mrs Stubborn and all the little stubborns being barely able to see over the rim of your v grand table, while you dominate the dining room like a colossus!

No wonder poor Mrs is pissed off as she sees you scoop the last roast potato of a Sunday lunch. She can't reach! And is too stubborn to admit it!

ah damn it. I think I love both of you

an update -

I couldn't have been reading the thread very carefully because when I got home from work and sat down for my egg and chips, the first suggestion that came to mind was OrmRenewed's eschewing the cushion instead I made my self as low as possible, slouching back on the chair, chin just peeping over the table top, elbows level with my ears, egg metaphorically and literally on my face.

Mrs Stubborn was less than impressed (exactly as, I now realise, precicted by OrmRenewed; what was I thinking?

"What on earth are you doing??" asked Mrs S, "Is this something to do with the chairs, again"

"It was a suggestion I got from Mumsnet", I said, brightly, "IANBU, you know".

"You what?"

Before she went to bed Mrs S went from kitchen to living room and hid all the cushion she could find.

After she went to bed I pulled up a couple of kitchen tiles to see about these holes.

@SpringHeeledJack Hold that thought for I am indeed a colossus. Would you like to come into to kitchen and inspect my legs?

@gommummy go - so where do I find some of those rubber chairboots?

Can I swap husbands and have you stubbornhubby??!!
My husband insists on taking off the cushions on our dining chairs! I bought the cushions as I was fed up of getting a numb bum sitting on the hard wood; he keeps pulling them off and I keep putting them back; it's a battle of wills!!

Youc an swap with me - our chairs are a bit too high for the table.

well good luck with that, @littlemefi, and thanks for the kind offer, but I am taken. (SpringHeeledJack got there before you )

This is very funny.

What, exactly, is your wife's issue with the cushion? Just that you using it reminds her of her foolishness over the chair purchase? Or does your choice of cushion not match the decor or something?

You sound a very tolerant husband, my husband would literally think I was mad if I got upset about such a thing.

If I were you, I'd be tempted to get a display case for my cushion, kept locked on the table to be unlocked with much fanfare every mealtime, just for fun!

Hey Stubbornhubby - got them at a home repair/diy shop; they are actually for stabilizing furniture for the elderly. They look like things that you often see at the bottom of a cane to make it usable outside in winter.

LOL at you ripping up the floor tiles!

@LordVolAuVent - as you probably are thinking: we do have better things to argue about. But this is the thing we DO argue about :-)

I think Mrs S considers that the relative height of the table and chairs are within normally accepted tolerances and I am making a fuss about nothing and would I please just leave it out with that damn cushion already?

'a very tolerant husband?' I only wish Mrs S was reading this thread. Perhaps I should embroider that on my cushion. @SpringHeeledJack - do you know how to embroider a cushion to impress a man?

@gomummygo - thanks. As it happens I have to go to the local DIY shop very first thing tomorrow morning to buy some good floor tile glue. So I'll have a look for them.

What would she say to booster seats?

Surely - eat more cake, drink more beer, get fatter bottom, sit higher.

Problem solved.

If she's hiding the cushions now, I'd say you're well within your rights to go out and buy one especially for dinner times.

On a more serious note, though, if you want to be at a more comfortable height when you eat, you're well within your rights to grab a cushion. Though, with hindsight, it might have been an idea to have gone with her when buying the table, and avoided all this. (Not that that helps you now...) I'll certainly be bearing this thread in mind when I come to buying furniture in future!

I definitely think the cushion should be embroidered, yes.

However, if you are sick of arguing about the cushion, perhaps you should show Mrs S this thread, then you might argue about your shameless flirting with SpringHeeledJack .

she started it