We've two Stressless recliners in our lounge. When my wife came out of hospital last year, she had difficulty getting out of them. These sort of chairs, are never that easy for anyone.
I'd already bought an "elevator ring" for one of them, a couple of years ago to make getting out easier for her, so when she came home, I screwed several 3" x 2" blocks of wood to the underside of the ring to raise it that much higher. No big deal.
But for the last few days she's been complaining that she's not comfortable sitting in the same chair every day and "could I do something with the other one?"
Not so easy, the "other one," though in perfect condition, is fifteen years old and they no longer make elevator rings for them. They turn on a narrow metal track and attaching feet to it, would likely bend it and it would jam.
So this morning I went to the local wood yard and bought a 2ft square 18 gauge marine ply.
I stood the chair on it and drew round the base with a pencil and cut out the circle with my jig saw.
I cut six 4" bits of 3" x 2" and sanded them down. Easy enough with my belt sander, if I put it upside down in my vice and hold them against it. You can get a very good finish. Then screwed them to the plywood, setting them back 3cms, so they can't be seen.
The tricky bit was attaching the new base to the narrow metal track on which the chair turns, without fouling the runners that support the chair.
So I had to "fettle" four small brackets, screw them to the plywood so they just trapped the edge of the track.
Now, ideally, I should have painted the feet and the edge of the plywood. But I just covered it with black plastic tape. No one's going to notice and it was done and dusted by lunchtime.
The chair is now about 5" higher than it was before, it's more comfortable and far easier for her to get out of it.
