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Vintage Rocking Chair Re-Do

HometoCottage.com Before and After Kid's Rocking Chair Redo

Ever consider reupholstering something, but intimidated by that process? Here’s a great way to get your feet wet… start on a small upholstery project, like this child’s vintage rocking chair re-do project I’m about to show you.

Our youngest grandson turned 1 this fall, and his daddy, (our son) loved his little rocking chair when he was a wee lad, so when I spotted this child’s vintage rocking chair at a yard sale this last Spring, I immediately thought of our grandson.

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair before

Even though the vintage rocking chair was currently a bit, er… ugly… it was sturdy and I had faith it could be re-done and look very cute. Even cute enough for me to feel good about giving it to our grandson and him hopefully, eventually loving it as much as his daddy loved his own little rocking chair.

Here’s the thing, I am not by any means a professional re-upholsterer. So if you’re reading this, and you are one, don’t laugh too hard at how I approached my little project. I just did it the way it made sense for me, with my limited tools, and basic knowledge of reupholstering. I’m sure there are tricks up a professional’s sleeve to re-do this vintage rocking chair. But this post, and this blog for that matter, is all about encouraging you non-professional upholsters and decorators with a desire to make your surroundings functional and beautiful and to show you that even with limited knowledge and tools I, and you can do it!

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair after old fabric removed

So, I started by ripping the old fabric and padding off the seat.

Then I sprayed primer and several coats of paint on the vintage chair.

Next came the padding…

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair padding before attached

I basically cut the piece of padding as I was fitting it on the chair, taking out the corners for the front and back corners, but leaving enough to wrap down to the very bottom edge of the front, back and sides. This wasn’t the most efficient way to do this, I’m sure, but since I was just doing 1 chair and not a bunch, I could take the time and fiddle around with it just so.

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair padding around sides too

The padding is secured to the chair by using a hot-melt glue gun. The reason I glued the padding first, before the fabric goes on, was to help prevent the padding from moving around under the fabric and bunching up.

Then, moving on to the fabric. For that, unlike the padding where I cut out the square corner,

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair fold and clip corners

I instead cut a diagonal cut from the corner into just where the fabric of the seat hit the arm support, then folded back that fabric, creating a right angle with no raw edges.

Also, for the fabric, I made sure to leave enough length around the bottom, to allow the extra needed to wrap around and attach on the bottom inside.

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair bottom of chair

Here you can see what I mean… the fabric comes around and is glue-gunned all along the inside edge, securing it well. (my electric staple gun doesn’t work anymore… it sends out a bunch of staples at the same time and makes a mess! I need to get a new electric or manual one for projects like this, but I’m not sure what to look for… any tips would be greatly appreciated!!!)

Next, to finish off the bottom and add a little bit of pizzazz, I made some welting in a contrasting blue-ish polka dot fabric.

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair zipper foot for sewing trim

I didn’t have any normal welt cording, so I used some jute cording that worked great. Then with a zipper foot, and my sewing machine needle position all the way to the right, I could get a nice tight fit for it.

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair trim made

Here’s a close up of the welt. I folded and tucked the ends, so that when I placed and glued it on the bottom edges, it wouldn’t have any raw edges exposed.

Then one more little detail…

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair brads

Along the side little edge of the fabric on the corners, I wanted to add a little handsome detail for our little fella that notices and will gently touch with the tiny tip of his finger all the minute details…

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair brads done

There, just 2 brads on the short sides to give it a finished detail. You can also see the welting edge glued along the bottom.

HometoCottage.com vintage rocking chair chair done

Ta-da! All done. Isn’t it cute? The fabric I selected looked to me like a vintage fabric from the 1930’s, which is probably about when this child’s vintage rocking chair was made.

The rocking chair has since been given to our grandson and he’s learning how to crawl up and sit down in it. And talk about cute!… oh my word!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and now Instagram!  I appreciate you reading along.

This post is linked up at the following other sites: A Stroll Thru Life, Tip Me Tuesday, Yesterday on Tuesday, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Just a Girl and Her Blog, DIY Dreamer, From my Front Porch to Yours, Posed Perfection, French Country Cottage

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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