Vintage Chair: From Rocky to Rocking!

I picked up this rocking chair for just $10!

It’s a petite little thing, so I knew at once I wanted to refurbish it for a child reader to enjoy. And I had the perfect fabric in mind. See if you can guess the theme…

Tentacle #1: Stripping

First, I unscrewed the back and seat from the frame and removed the faded fabric and padding. Some of the stuffing was so old it was made of straw. Yuck!

Funny how an entire chair doesn’t look like much more than kindling when disassembled!

Tentacle #2: Spring Repairs

Next in line were repairs. The twine holding the springs in place had frayed and broken. So my first fix was repositioning the springs and replacing the twine.

Tentacle #3: Frame Repairs

After a few more repairs with a little E6000® glue and DAP® wood filler, I also replaced a couple of corner braces.

Tentacle #4: Jute Repairs

As is common with old chairs, the jute webbing on the back had given out. So I replaced it, anchoring the fresh jute in place with my (woohoo!) Surebonder® pneumatic staple gun.

Tentacle #5: Paint

After sanding the frame by hand with 220-grit sandpaper, I applied a coat of Zinsser® BIN primer to prevent any stain bleed-through. Next, I added three coats of Farmhouse® “Classic White” paint and protective Minwax® Polycrylic. So much fresher looking!

Tentacle #6: Stuffing

With its new jute strapping in place, I could now add padding to the back. I covered this with a layer of batting to hold it in place.

For the seat, I first added a protective layer of batting followed by stuffing over the springs. Next, I wrapped batting around the whole sandwich.

Tentacle #7: Fabric

Time for the adorable Spoonflower® fabric I selected! You’ve been getting hints… colorful reading octopi! I wrapped the fabric over the foam sandwiches and stapled it in place. This was my first opportunity to use trim tape. I stapled this cardboard strip along the fabric edge. Then I flipped the fabric over the tape into place to create a smooth, staple-free line.

Tentacle #8: Trim

After that, I added cord trim to the base of the seat to fill any gap between the cushion and frame. Then I covered the underside with a fresh dust cover.