Repost: Fifty Year Old Child's Rocker Rejuvenated for the Next Little Princess

Vintage children's rocker dates back to the early fifties and had seen it's share of wear and tear through three generations of child's play. Click image to see all of its details better.

M Y  A R T — This post first ran February 27, just about a week after I started this blog, when no one was actually reading it, lol. I thought I'd repost it now since it shows another piece for a child I've done. This "rehab" was created for my friend Vicki's granddaughter, Deja, and was once Vicki's childhood rocking chair. It came with lots of memories, and I felt the burden of not screwing it up! The chair had seen better days though, with several coats of paint and much wear and tear, but I think I made it fit for the little princess. Deja is also my youngest collector, owning one of my paintings you can see here. My writing has definitely improved since I first started, but you'll get the story anyway.

Repost:

This small child's rocking chair from the early '50s had seen a few generations of my friend's family's children come and go. It had also been 'redone' several times, lending a soft, thick, chunky look to the paint, scratches revealing 'interesting' paint choices through the years, lol. I was remaking this chair for a 4-5 year old granddaughter of a great friend, so I definitely went girly girly here. Well, in my own way—I'm more of a peach or apricot than a Barbie Pink type o'guy  : )

The chair was stripped down to the wood for an even 'canvas' and then after priming, I started by painting flowers. The chair was then painted in several layers; flowers, squares of colors, striping, stipling, some of which I eventually sanded off to reveal the underlayering.  I bought premade wooden letters in the little girl's name, D-E-J-A, afixed them to the back top slat, and gave them their own paint treatment.

The seat was just a piece of wood, but looked like it might have had a padding once. Again, I went the premade route, and bought a beautifully feminine silk-covered, goose-down-filled pillow for the seat. It was fit for a princess, but one a princess could grow older with and still appreciate. I carefully undid the fabric seams on the back and after removing the wooden seat from the chair, upholstered it with this down and silk concoction. The results were pretty spectacular if I do say so myself, lol. Clearcoated with 6 coats of polyurethane, this is one family heirloom that just might not need redoing for quite a while.

Click on each image to enlarge.