This rocking chair is a family heirloom in more ways than one.
In August, Paul's great aunt passed away. Weeks later, Paul's mom texted to see if we wanted her wooden rocking chair. "Tell her sure!" I said. "Tell her we'd love it for baby Cripe."
It was sort of a joke, but sort of serious. Baby Cripe was not on the way yet, but eventually he or she would be, right? We could use a rocking chair then.
On Thanksgiving, because baby Cripe is actually on the way, Paul's family brought it down and I was pleased to find out that it was small and actually comfy. This wasn't going to be a "just for show" rocker, it was one I'd actually enjoy sitting in. The cover was old and dirty and desperately needed to be replaced, but the wood was great.
While I was up in Sacramento for the holidays, I picked up some black and white striped fabric at Ikea that I knew would match our headboard if we ended up keeping the chair in our bedroom but was also generic enough that it could work in any of our rooms (including baby's which will be primarily black and white regardless of gender). Plus, let's get real, "black and white" is more or less the motto in our house.
I took apart the old cushions and used them as templates to re-cut the new seat and back covers. It was a much easier project that I had geared up for. So easy that I decided to take them a step further and add wooden buttons to finish off the look.
AND HERE IS WHERE THINGS GET LUCKY : For a few years, I have had some wooden buttons that my grandpa (the same grandpa that painted a portrait Paul and I) had carved for me and my mom. The buttons had never made it into a project because I had no idea what sort of project would be special enough for them (and I am not a good enough knitter to make a cardigan).
So now baby has a rocking chair that's been in Paul's family for decades, includes details from his or her Great Grandpa and has handmade cushions made by Mom. Sounds like a winner. ;)
