I Gave In to the Hype For This Viral Amazon Chair — and It's Worth Every Penny

I'm not typically one to give in to hype. Case in point: I've never seen Scandal, still don't own any Glossier beauty products, and don't understand kombucha. Is it a stubbornness thing, because I don't want to love anything that I didn't discover all on my own? Perhaps. But I recently hopped on the bandwagon for a viral product on Amazon, and let me tell you: it was worth every penny.

When my teammate wrote up an under-$100 velvet chair on Amazon Prime, I shrugged it off. "It's probably cheap," I thought to myself, remembering my recent commitment to buying decent-quality products that bring me joy rather than impulsively settling for cheap items. Since I just moved apartments, I've been faced with this conundrum frequently, but so far it's served me well to wait and budget for a nice decor piece that I really love rather than spring for a knockoff version that wears and tears quickly.

However, when I started seeing social media posts about how great this midcentury Amazon buy is, I started to question my own resistance to the lure of "the chair." After all, I reeeeeally needed an accent chair to complete my new living room setup, and an aqua blue chair with a velvet finish would fit in just right . . . for my decor style and my budget. Still, I hesitated to press "buy."

But when an industry crush of mine took the time to write a personal blog post about how much she loves the chair, I finally caved. I hopped on the Amazon app and ordered "the chair" in green for a cool $90 (plus free shipping). I reasoned with myself that if it turned out to be tacky and cheap, I'd skip my Audible, Spotify, and New York Times subscriptions next month to justify some of the money spent.

When I got the notification that my new chair had been delivered a mere 36 hours (!!!) later, I expected disappointment when I cut open the box. As I assembled the legs to the chair's body, I warily noted how easy it was to arrange — a couple twists of a screwdriver — and how nice the velvet felt. The chair was more blue than green, but I'd been hoping for that when I selected my shade on Amazon. When I flipped the chair over to give it the once-over, I was certainly pleased. Not wanting to get my hopes up too quickly, I took a seat.

Fast-forward to three hours later, when my fiancé walked in the door and found me still seated in the chair, legs tucked up underneath me while I answered emails for work. "I like the new chair," he said casually as I realized I'd been stationary for the entire evening. Unlike most the other chairs in my home, the new velvet addition didn't make my tailbone hurt after long periods seated and the texture felt warm and cozy.

When I stood up, the chair didn't look any different — a concern of mine when choosing velvet, as I'd previously worried about buttprints. And my cat, a picky feline at the best of times, immediately hopped up and took my place. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The chair is still just as comfortable and in great shape, despite being used as a makeshift drying rack for damp laundry, serving as a chubby cat's throne, and being subjected to my fiancé's not-so-delicate way of flopping down in his seat. I'm even considering replacing other seating in our home with more colors of this same chair because I love it so much!

I know I'm just one more voice adding to the hype over this chair, but take it from a stubborn shopper: if you're looking for a stylish seating solution on a budget, you can't do better than this.