Sunday, January 22, 2017

Solving Problems One At A Time

I am the proud possessor of an antique nursery rocker. It was made, according to my grandmother, by her maternal Uncle Jake. He made it for his sister to use while feeding my grandmother who was born in 1898. There isn't a single bit of metal in it anywhere. The legs connect by insertion into the seat as does the back and arms.


The joints after all this time are solid, the wood is in good condition, the finish is not so nice these days. It's not really worth a lot of money since it wasn't created by a popular wood worker of the time. It is a connection between myself and those who came before me. My Mom had it and once she passed away I acquired it but kept it in storage for 10 years since I didn't think it would survive the woodstove heat. I am tempted to sand it down and either stain it or repaint it, but I have no place to work on it right now. I gave it a bath with Murphy's Oil Soap and took off all the dirt I could get. 

I am happy that I now have the space, and no woodstove to overheat and loosen the joints. It can now become part of my daily life in the living room where it should have been for the past decade. It gives me more seating than just the couch and recliner. Not necessarily comfortable seating since it was built for someone who was much shorter and smaller than we are today. I weigh 180 now and I fit in it without a creak or groan. I don't sit in it for too long since my legs do come in contact with the arm braces. After awhile I feel the pressure and it does become uncomfortable. The wood is hard.

I decided that I needed more color and then remembered that I had purchased a fleece throw as a planned Christmas gift. I had changed my mind and stored the throw away for a future purchase. You can see part of it in the picture sitting on the recliner.


If I remember correctly, I spent $8 on it at Dollar General. It provides the perfect color pop on that side of the living room.


After looking at this picture, I need to add a window scarf to the windows. I love the lace curtains but they need a little help in here. They can wait because I still have that 7 foot shelf to think about. Although after solving the problem of the antique rocking chair, my mind has moved to birdhouses and flowers. Endless possibilities there.

4 comments:

  1. You are right, it adds enough color without being overwhelming. See, everything will come together in time. :-)
    I have an old wooden child's chair that belonged to my dad when he was a toddler so it is over 90 years old. It is solidly built like that rocker. They just don't make furniture like that anymore. I know you cherish that rocker and I am glad you can finally bring it into the house where you can see if everyday if not sit in it all the time :-)

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    1. It sat in a storage locker gathering dust for 10 years. I had no place to put it and I refused to part with it. Thankfully there were no mice.

      And I have an idea for the shelf. Since it's supposed to snow this week, I'm going to rearrange my craft room to get it set up because I'm going to be painting my own items for the shelf.

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  2. Your place really looks nice
    the Ol'Buzzard

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    1. It's much bigger than my own home and I don't feel as cozy in here as I did in the old one. I love the home, just haven't found it's personality yet.

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