For the longest time I just assumed that the biological clock just skipped right over me, but a few years back I was standing in our empty guest room and it suddenly hit me that we could totally put a baby in that room. It would be a great nursery. That was a wild moment for me, because although I have always liked kids I never wanted to have any myself.
My husband was thrilled. He knew I wasn’t really interested in kids when we got married, and knew that we’d be happy with or without children, but he was excited by my newfound interest in babies. We started planning, and I purchased a cheap, old vintage rocking chair to refinish, thinking it would be perfect for a nursery.
Then I lost my job, and quickly after that the pandemic hit. We were ok financially, but everything we’d been planning got pushed back – and I wasn’t getting any younger.
The window to have a baby was closing. It’s still not completely shut, but I think the trauma of the pandemic and the bleakness of the post-pandemic world took its toll on us; it no longer seemed like having a child was a great idea. Not within our original timeline, anyway.
So, I stopped working on this rocking chair project. It had been stripped, sanded, and stained. The bottom seat was already cleaned up and reupholstered. I was midway through working on the embroidery when it just got too hard to work on it. Looking at it made me sad.
Then, as the pandemic restrictions began lifting, and after I changed jobs again to a job I actually love, the stress started to fade – and along with it the heartache. I picked up the needle again and finished the embroidery, and then over the weekend I completed the reupholstery on the seat back. Now, when I look at this finished chair I feel nothing but joy. It’s a work of art.
I’m still of two minds on whether or not I want to keep this rocking chair. It no longer makes me sad, and I love how it turned out. But, it doesn’t really fit our living room – not because of style but because we need a larger sofa instead of the two rocking chairs we currently have in the living room.
Oh, that’s right. I actually have TWO rocking chairs. I went a little crazy after I bought the first one. See, I really wanted one with caning instead of fabric upholstery, and had settled on this upholstered bentwood rocker when a caned one in great condition came up on Facebook Marketplace. So, I ended up with two and figured I would refinish both, and then choose the one I liked better afterwards.
I love the idea of refinishing these rocking chairs into cool pieces of functional art. So, for now I’ve placed this floral skull rocker for sale through Facebook Marketplace. If it sells, then great. I’ll refinish Rockin’ Rocking Chair #2 and then maybe pick up a third one!
If not, then I’ll have to figure out what to do with two rocking chairs, haha.
You can find the listing for this Rockin’ Rocking Chair here: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3324664227763999/
Anyhoo, that is all I’ve got for this week. Check back again soon for more crafty goodness!
