Hi friends! I am sooo excited to share a fun little DIY project that we recently did for our little guy's nursery. In fact, this is DIY project #1 for that room! Exciting times : )
Throughout our life, my grandmother, otherwise known as MaMa (or my mom's mom) let us play on this pint-sized rocking chair that she was gifted as a child. I'm not going to date her exactly, but this piece of furniture, which is solid wood, is 70ish years old! Apparently she absolutely loved it as a kid and would sit by the fire on her childhood Georgia farm, rocking the nights away. So sweet and sentimental, right?! Well, she has always promised us grandkids that she would pass down the rocking chair to the first born great-grandkid. And guess what my little pea pod is? The first great-grandkid! So he gets his turn at the rocking chair now and of course will pass it around and share with his siblings and cousins.
Here's the rocking chair before we did any paint magic to it. My MaMa asked me to spruce it up with a little paint since it was chipped in some areas.
I know, it's so cute, right? Perfectly made for teeny-tiny little bottoms!
The first thing we (and by we, I mean David, since this preggo can't get near spray paint!) did was paint the chair with a coat of primer spray paint. I love Zinsser primer- it's my go to for any surface. Honestly, with that kind of primer, you don't even have to sand down the piece very much! It sticks to any surface. We just wiped it down and sort of lightly brushed off the top layer.
Yes, we spray paint on ripped up dog food bags. And yes, my backyard is really a jungle of weeds. Growing grass in this spot hasn't really worked out that well for us.... ; )
Oh! And before I forget, David got to use a new tool out of my Haven Conference swag bag! Rust-Oleum gifted me with this awesome spray paint trigger, made to provide a little comfort to all of us crazy peeps who like to spray paint everything in sight. Per David, it rocked! It definitely made spray painting easier and more comfortable. You can find one for you right here. And no, the peeps over at Rust-Oleum didn't ask (or pay!) me to say this, we just really like the product. Thanks Rust-Oleum!
Then we painted the chair with a coat of white semi-gloss spray paint. The finish just wasn't doing it for us. It was time for a little more funk. So we broke out the high-gloss white and went to town.
Doesn't he look all shiny and new?!
Nothing screams hottie like a spray-painting project and Crocs. Lay off ladies, he's mine ; )
Once the last glossy white coat dried, we taped off the areas around the bottom so that we could spray the rockers. I had seen this post over on Christine's blog a few months ago and was completely inspired. I love the fun touch of color on the rocker and knew I had to try it with this piece.
You could probably tape off more to protect your piece from over spray (in fact, I was kind of panicking and thinking that we should), but David broke out his spray painting swagger and felt like he could paint slowly and carefully to prevent any over spray. And it worked! Call him King of Spray Paint. No really, he'd probably love it.
Oooooh, yeah. Let the fun begin.
And the finished product? An adorable little multi-colored spray painted rocker for our guy's nursery!
I draped a few of baby Ten June's blankets and swaddling cloths over the chair for these photos, but I'm thinking I'll have to break out the sewing machine and craft a "made-for-tiny-rocking-chair-butts-only" pillow! Everything else is too big to fit this adorable little chair.
Shawdy's looking good from the back, too.
How beautiful is the basketweave on the chair? I'm so in love with this little guy!
So there you have it! Our first DIY for the nursery. I can't wait to see my little man sitting in the rocking chair, reading a book. Thank you so much for passing this amazing family piece down, MaMa. It means so much and I know your sweet great-grandson will love it!! : )
Sharing this post with: Traci at Beneath My Heart
Sharing this post with: Traci at Beneath My Heart
Awesome! I never would have thought of just painting the rockers but it has such a great effect! Oh and I completely agree about the spray paint gun. Once you use one, you'll never go back!
ReplyDeleteadorable! love the navy runners!! i can't wait to use my spray paint gadget thingy.
ReplyDeleteHow precious! I can't wait to see what you come up with for the rest of the room :)
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing! So sweet to have an heirloom piece for baby. I still have Mark's rocking chair!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I love the contrasting blue on the rockers, great idea =)
ReplyDeleteAh I love how yours turned out- so cute!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks adorable. Great choice with the two colors. We passed our down from baby to baby {the rocker} and the white always looked so cute in all the rooms. I need one of those sprayer thing as well!
ReplyDeleteIt's adorable!!! Love the two colors... great transformation!!!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I actually found a kid's rocking chair in the neighbors trash the other day and am planning on repainting it...this is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteOh my word - How darling!! I love it!! I cannot wait to see your little tot rockin' away in it. Such a fun project!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! What a perfect seat for a little one. :)
ReplyDeleteSO CUTE! You did a great job!
ReplyDeleteIt looks so good! And I love that it was your grandmother's!
ReplyDeleteThe green blanket is so cute!
so so cute! and baby h's bottom will in it, reading a book, before you know it!!
ReplyDeleteGREAT POST:) Your blog is so wonderful and I will happily follow.
ReplyDeleteIf you want some Swedish décor inspiration, you can check out my blog:)
Have a great weekend.
LOVE Maria at inredningsvis.se
(Sweden)
It's adorable! And so sweet to have a piece of family history for your little guy. The rockers really make it fun and unique. Isn't it the most fun ever to decorate your first baby's room?
ReplyDeleteVery cute rocking chair!
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing a lot of color blocking going on with chairs lately and I'm loving it. The little guy will be living in style!
ReplyDeleteAhhh, so cute - love it!
ReplyDeleteI love it! Great idea to do a contrasting color on the treads. Never would have thought of that. I've been debating painting our big rocker in the nursery, I was thinking of doing the whole thing in navy. I didn't know if a spray painted finish would work so I've been avoiding it. But now I'm really leaning towards doing it.
ReplyDeleteDid you check it for lead since it's so old? My grandmother gave us her old rocking chair for our daughter and she had it repainted and reupholstered, but when we tested it for lead it came up positive. Now it's sitting in the garage until we figure out what to do about it. :(
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! I love what you did with the rocking chair! Too cute!
ReplyDelete