Big Bruin

Necessity is the mother of invention and the crazy big box that showed up at my office is evidence of that. Necessity, because my husband and I need a comfy place to sit and watch the Travel Channel and Food Network for hours on end. Invention, because Sumo Lounge introduced the new Sway Couple bean bag chair and sent one to Bigbruin.com for a review. I have a feeling this could be the start of a beautiful friendship!

First things first, let’s take a look at some official product information on the Sway Couple taken from the Sumo Lounge website…

Features and Specifications:

» Weight: 50 pounds
» Dimensions: 51″ wide x 44″ long x 33″ high
» Curved back supports your spine and neck
» 100% satisfaction guarantee

Fabrics and Colors:

» Cozy Corduroy available in:
» Pitch Black
» Raspberry Red
» Royal Purple
» Navy Blue
» Microsuede available in:
» Pitch Black
» Fiery Red
» Khaki
» Funky Brown
» Charcoal Chill

Before we continue, let’s look at a brief word directly from Sumolounge.com about their line of unique chairs.

“We welcome you to the unveiling of our awesome new line of huge beanbag chairs. The Sway Couple beanbag chair in corduroy fabric will become your new favorite piece of furniture. These huge beanbags feature a laid-back look that lets you recline in comfort and style. Our Sway beanbag chair will cradle your back and support your spine to provide perfect support while you relax comfortably. Sway huge beanbag chairs are available in 2 different sizes (single or couple), with a removable beanbag chair cover in either luxurious microsuede fabric or cozy corduroy fabric, in lots of great colors. Get free shipping and our 100% satisfaction guarantee on your huge beanbag chairs from Sumo Lounge. Take advantage of the comfort, style and choice of the Sway Couple beanbag. Buy online from the leaders in huge beanbag furniture and skip the lack of selection and markups from our competitors.”

The Arrival:

When I mentioned earlier that the chair came in a crazy big box, I wasn’t kidding. I was expecting a fairly good size box, but this is definitely a two-person job as the image below will confirm. So, call your significant other, family member, friend, or kind looking vagrant off the street and set up a time to help you haul this puppy into your home. My husband and I had to do some serious jockeying to get it in and out of the back of my Prius (Shut up… I get great gas mileage!), bring it inside and then drag it upstairs to our TV room.

The next image shows you that our Sumo Lounge Sway Couple showed up in a thick poly bag to protect it on its journey. Just to drive this point home of how large the packaging is, we actually had to take the door off of its hinges to get it inside. It probably wouldn’t have been the case if we’d bothered to take it out of the box, but we weren’t sure what to expect so we left it in.

Once we opened the box, we found that the chair is completely assembled and wrapped in a vacuum-sealed polyethylene bag, shown once again in the image below. Here comes the other reason why you will need help; getting that chair out of the box took some work. My recommendation is to have one person hold on to the packaging for dear life, while the other grabs onto the plastic wrap and pulls with all their might.

After I stopped laughing at my husband who almost fell down the stairs with the chair landing on top of him, we carefully cut into the vacuum wrap and waited for the awesome inflation of the chair as it was released from its confines. It wasn’t as impressive as I’d hoped, but the chair did puff nicely and with only a little pushing and prodding, it took shape.

Let the Lounging Commence:

I chose the Cozy Corduroy in “Raspberry Red” and I can attest to the cozy, warm fuzziness of the fabric. I am, what my husband calls, “texture girl” and the corduroy cover was even softer than I imagined. The cover zips on and off so it is easy to remove for spot cleaning and pet hair came off readily enough with one of those velvet lint/hair brushes. The microsuede version is also machine washable. We have three large fuzzy cats so let me tell you that the ease of cleaning fabrics is a big deal in our house. Here’s Lexi posing with the chair in the image below. As you can see she is a big puffball and her fur gets everywhere. She was the first to investigate the new addition to our home, but regardless of how hard I tried, she just wouldn’t stay on the chair long enough for me to get the picture. Sigh…

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I did finally sit down in the chair. Growing up in the 70’s, I’m used to beanbag chairs that were amorphous blobs of pleather, which any exposed flesh stuck to mercilessly and were too flimsy to give any real support or comfort.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Sumo Lounge chair was substantial enough to provide back support, yet gave enough to make me feel like the chair was molding to my body. The chair is also higher off of the ground than I expected, so it’s more like sitting down on a couch, then falling into it like the beanbags of old.

I snuggled down for a night of television and my husband joined me. Now, I’ve mentioned repeatedly about how big the packaging was that the chair came in, but I didn’t really have any delusions on whether or not two average sized adults could fit comfortably on the chair. Could we both sit on it? Yes. Was there room to spare? No, sadly. My husband and I are of average size, he’s 6′ and I’m 5’7″ so we aren’t NBA stars here, but it was definitely close quarters with both of us on it. A really nice bonus feature is that there is a side pocket that could hold remotes, game controllers, or reading material.

Conclusion:

Overall, I like Sumo Lounge Sway Couple beanbag chair very much. I don’t believe that two adults would be happy sharing it for too long, but it is very comfortable for a single adult to sink into and veg for a few hours.

These definitely aren’t your traditional beanbag chairs, and they really do have a stylish appearance. Since this is a new breed of beanbag chair, you won’t feel embarrassed when guests come over and see it in your living/family room.

The Sumo Lounge Sway Couple currently starts at $279 for microsuede and $299 for corduroy and they are available directly from the manufacturer. That is definitely a chunk of change for a beanbag chair, but it is definitely a nice beanbag chair. Sumo Lounge does include free shipping on these, and given the size and weight that is definitely appreciated.

I give the Sumo Sway Couple lounger the Bigbruin.com “Recommended” award for being a great, comfy chair for lounging, reading, or watching TV. Had the price been a bit more reasonable, it might have earned the highly recommended award – but then again, you get what you pay for and good quality costs money.

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