The Chair

When my in-laws came to visit, they brought the cutest child's rocking chair with them. There is proof it's been in the family since 1870, but it's possibly been around since 1830, so kind of a big deal. When I got it, it had no seat, so being the project queen that I am, I set to work!

This is in the middle of caning the chair. It turns out that caning is a pain in the bum. I mean, I'm glad I did it, but I can't imagine I'll ever take on a project like that again. It took me 6 hours to do what amounts to a square foot of caning. You have to soak the reed before you use it, and you have to work relatively quickly so it doesn't dry out. And there are 6 steps of weaving (up and down twice, side to side twice, and each diagonal once) to complete. 

This is the seat once I'd finished caning it. I was relieved to be done with it and quite pleased with how it turned out. I mean, especially considering my experience in the caning department.

Deej came and checked it out. His seal of approval is absolutely necessary. (Sidenote - he's got a bink in his mouth and a bink in his hand, because that's how he likes to roll.)

I decided to paint the cane because I didn't like how light it was in comparison to the rest of the chair. I wanted to do a fun color, but nothing too bold because I thought that would detract from the antique beauty of this piece.

The ends of the cane, once they dried out, were really poky, and since I know Deej will be all over this, I took some felt and hot-glued over the cane. I chose hot glue because it can be melted off easily and it wouldn't damage the wood on the chair. Luckily, I had an extra glue gun, because my little helper had to be doing exactly what I was doing. Granted, his gun wasn't plugged in, but look how cute he is, working on that chair!

The finished product, complete with pillow. I have a bright yellow ottoman and a yellow throw pillow on my couch, so I wanted to bring the yellow back in and I thought a fun pillow would be cute. I saw this adorable anchor fabric and fell in love. And since my father in law wishes he was actually a salty sea dog, it's also kind of an homage to the family history of the chair.

Old Man Valentine here, telling stories about the good 'ole days. He loves to wear my glasses (ok, he loves for me to put them on him and for him to pull them off and throw them - sigh), so I just had to snap a picture of him with the glasses in his rocker. He has been so interested in this chair, so I was excited to finish it for him. He has loved it and has figured out how to make it rock back and forth. I foresee this chair being a favorite of his for a long time.

I should note that my father in law and Deg spent some time scrubbing off the years of grime that inevitably build up on a piece of furniture used by children. Then they used a conditioning wax on the wood so that it would help the wood hold up and make it look awesome.

And seriously, how cool is this chair?!