I have a somewhat obsessive nature when it comes to planning. I really wanted the following in a nursery chair: upholstered, swivels, glides, reclines and has a slipcover. You can buy something that comes with any four of the five qualities, but not all five.. and the slipcover part was the most expensive, but also seemed important to me. I have commitment issues when it comes to upholstery and had a hard time spending so much money on something that I had to commit to a patterned fabric on that couldn't be washed.
Pottery Barn came the closest with upholstered, slip-covered, swivel rockers, but they also came with a hefty price tag that was more than we've spent on any of our other furniture combined. That didn't make sense for such a specific item. The next best option was an upholstered, reclining swivel glider from Target that was within the acceptable cost parameters, but I didn't absolutely love the pattern on the fabric for long term (it was a little trendy, and I like to stick to classic looks for items like this) and I couldn't decide between brown and gray (brown would go in our living room, which I imagine is where the chair would eventually end up; but gray would go in our bedroom, which is where the chair would start out).
SO. The solution? Make our own. This is the Jennylund chair from IKEA which is affordable and has a slipcover. However, it didn't recline or swivel or glide... I did some Googling and found that several people had successfully turned this exact chair into a swivel rocker, so I recruited my brother to see if he thought he could make it work with these swivel glider parts (we used the heavy duty one, my brother said it looked more durable and like I said, he likes to go big or go home).
My brother gave the go-ahead and I ordered the parts and picked up the chair. Now, my bother is famous for over-engineering things, but he also puts out a quality, sturdy product whenever he attempts something and the glider was no different. I wasn't there when he worked his magic so I don't have pictures of the play-by-play but I took some pictures of the bottom for anyone interested in attempting this too.
What a sweet little space! I love it. I think sometimes people go all crazy for a nursery and then the baby is in their room for months and monts. :) Caleb was in our room for about 3 mths and Claire for 9 months. But I never had the idea of setting up a space for them...just crammed them in our space and made a separate nursery. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with your brother's handiwork. I compromised on what I wanted in a glider (basically mine doesn't have a recline feature and I'd have liked that) because someone gave it to me for free, but I do sometimes wish it had all that I had wanted, so I'm glad you were able to make this just what you want!
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We are planning to do this (Jennylund chair, with a swivel glider base) and I'm glad to see it worked out. Thanks for the reference photos!
ReplyDeleteDo you know if he rounded the front edge of the 2x4 because it would have stuck out otherwise, or just for added safety? (less likely to bump your toes on it)
I found a cheaper glider swivel base on Amazon (less than half the cost of the Swivel Chair parts one), so hopefully it works out as well. The mounting looks a little different...I'll try to remember to post an update here!
That's awesome you found the swivel part for cheaper! My brother said he rounded the 2x4s both for aesthetics and safety :). Looking forward to hearing how yours turns out! I'm still enjoying ours, although I do wish I had a bigger back pillow sometimes.
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