Refinished Vintage Bassinet

Finding additional sleeping room is a must with any baby.  With Miles, we put Clark in a twin size bed, and Miles took over the convertible crib.  With baby boy number three, we decided that the crib wasn't ready to be abandoned.  Despite the fact that Miles climbs in and out of the crib, he isn't quite ready for a big boy bed.

So, in an effort to find additional sleeping space, and spend as little money as possible, we refinished a vintage bassinet that my mom had.  Hopefully he can sleep in it for a few months at least.  

The bassinet is over 30 years old, and was in need of some tender loving care.  The base was pulling away, the paint was chipped, and the wicker was separated in places. My husband was also really concerned about the interior of the bassinet being scratchy.


So I busted out the staple gun, reattached the base.  Secured nails that were pulling out, and added a few coats of fresh paint.

In an effort to eliminate scratching, I added a bassinet liner.  I found some single layer quilted cotton fabric, and snatched up 3/4 of a yard.

I finished off the raw edges with serged seams, added some darts to the corner to accommodate the shape of the bassinet, and attached in with velcro. The lining should be breathable, and washable-two major pluses when dealing with babies.

The mattress itself could stand to be replaced, and I need to make a couple of extra sheets.  Before I do that though, I really need to decide on a color scheme for the nursery.

It still isn't perfect, but the facelift really did wonders for it. It should be a nice cozy place for this little guy to spend his first few months.  There is something so sweet about the idea of the baby spending his first months sleeping in the same place I did.

Nursery Decor: Bentwood Rocker Refinish

When we found out that this baby was going to be a boy I was relieved to know that we wouldn't have to build an entire baby wardrobe from scratch. Without the added expenses of new bedding, clothing, and toys, we were able to set aside a little bit of money to get a few additional baby supplies that we didn't have with Clark.  One thing that was on the top of my list was a rocking chair.  Clark wasn't/isn't much of a sleeper, and I remember many a night sitting on his bedroom floor, holding him in my arms, and rocking back and forth trying to get him to sleep.

I was really excited when I found an old bentwood rocker at our local thrift store.  New rocking chairs can be rather pricey, and I think that bentwood rockers have a lot of charm.  I bought the rocker immediately, and bungie corded into the back of our tiny corolla, and hauled it home.  I was especially excited about the possibilities of the rocker because I'd seen this before and after project from Crazy Domestic.

I was so excited about my new find, that I failed to take any before pictures of the rocker.  Just imagine a very damaged light finish, with rust colored tufted cushions.

I completely replaced the foam, and used some home decor fabric that I had in my stash for the cushions.

It's not perfect, but I'm pretty excited to have it in our little nursery.  Do you have a similar rocker to refinish?  If you do you can find the tutorial that I followed for refinishing the rocker here.

 Thanks for reading!