Folding Library Ladder Chair

Well built. Nice wood. It is an attractive chair sitting in my kitchen and very handy to reach upper cabinets. I have a step ladder but I have it put away because it is ugly. Then when I need it it is inconvenient to get out and use. This chair can sit out in plain sight and is right there when I need it.

My chair arrived quickly and with the exception of the problems Mr. James points out in his negative review the chair is easy to assemble. Mr. James shared some valid frustrations with assembling this chair that I could have also easily experienced if his negative review had not given me a heads up and mentally prepared me to face this difficulty with the chair's assembly.If those producing these chairs took the time to pre-drill appropriately placed pilot holes in the seat bottom and mentioned in the assembly directions that a stubby philips screwdriver would be needed, they could easily prevent the frustration Mr. James experienced.When I got to step 3 in the assembly instructions which have you attach the seat to the onto the back leg assembly I placed the chair as show in the attached picture (using appropriate clamps could be useful here also), and placed all 4 of the screws into their respective holes and turned each one just enough to mark the seat bottom so I could then drill my own pilot holes. If you do this, you have to be careful that you do not drill all the way through the seat and mar its surface. This made attaching the seat much easier than trying to screw it to the backrest without any pilots holes. I have to thank Mr. James for taking the time to write his negative review for preparing me for this extra step.The chair is beautiful and suits my purposes perfectly. If it had predrilled pilot holes in the seat bottom and screws for attaching the seat bottom that worked with the supplied allen wrench (so you wouldn't need a stubby screwdriver or other solution), I probable would have given it 5 stars.

Assembly really is not that hard . . . except the seat. Everything uses allen head bolts (comes with the allen key) except the seat bottom. The seat bottom is where an allen key would have been most useful. As other have noted, everything really goes together easily. A 10 year old cold do it. The seat bottom has no pre-drilled holes. There is not enough room to get an 90 degree drill in there. You have to use a stubby phillips screwdriver. There is not a lot of room to get your hand & stubby screwdriver (-1 star).So I was able to turn the screws just enough to get them leave a mark. Then took the whole thing apart & used a 1/8 drill bit to pre-drill the seat bottom. Probably should have used 3/16. Was than able to screw the bottom on, but it was still a hard turn. Just how enough room to turn and not loose some knuckle skin. (-1 star for the scrapped knuckles)After it was all put together, I was pretty impressed. The chair is solid and does not rock at all. The chair itself is somewhat comfortable. There is a locking pin so you can move the chair with out it unfolding. Seems to work well enough. The ladder portion of the chair works very well. Sold feeling and no wobble. So no more climbing on t he dinning room chairs to get things off the shelf in the kitchen. A time-out chair for the grandkids when needed.

I know I should probably not write this review right now as I am so angry I would like to take an ax to this chair. What should have been a half hour assembly job is now at over an hour, and I officially have to give up. The problem is two screws which hold the seat to supports underneath; there are no pre-drilled holes for the screws to go in, so you have to start them yourself with elbow grease - which would be fine except for the fact that because of the way the pieces join there is no way to get a good enough angle at the screw to apply any sort of pressure. I have taken it apart, and tried a drill with an extender on it to no avail. I am very skilled at assembling things, but I am literally going to have to tote this thing to a carpentry shop here it town to see if they can do something with it. What a huge, HUGE annoyance...

I ordered this Carolina Cottage Folding Library Chair from Brookstone, because they had the best price. My son had no problems putting it together for me, and I just love it!!!! The chair looks better than in the picture. I was hesitant in ordering from them, because of the one bad review, but as far as I could tell, it is the same exact chair that other companies were selling for more, and so I decided to order the one with the best price. I called them up before ordering this chair, and they were very nice and took the time to answer my questions. What an awesome chair.

We wanted something useful for reaching up in to some of our tallest kitchen cabinets, but nice enough looking to leave out in plain sight all the time. The instructions and build process leave something to be desired, but if you read through enough of these reviews, you'll get some excellent tips to make the process easier. I strongly recommend the pre-drilling step mentioned in a couple, and the addition of some alternatives when it comes to screw drivers. Customer service was excellent. We were missing a few of the little wooden plugs that cover the screw holes. I sent an email, and in just a couple of business days, had a package of plugs in the mail.

My 10 year old son saw this Benjamin Franklin invention recently at the Benjamin Franklin museum and begged for one, my response was,"It's an antique, I don't think we can buy one anyone!" his response of course you can you can find anything on Amazon and he was right...It was a little annoying to assemble and would have been much happier if it had come assembled, but it was a quick job and my loves it and now uses it as his study desk chair and does indeed use it also as a ladder to reach stuff on shelves in his bedroom.....I absolutely recommend it as a great product.

Nice wood, easy to put together. The drawback of these chairs is the tips of the chair back get dinged up when you have it folded over as a ladder. Very sturdy as a ladder and a fairly comfortable seat. I just wish they made one that was 3 or 4 inches higher for kitchen counters.