My Nursing Chair - Upcycle Project

I always knew I wanted to have a nursing chair and stool for our baby but they can be expensive. We didn't know how much, if at all, it would be used.

So Steve and I compromised, and he agreed that if I could find a cheap one, we would go for it.

I looked all over the Internet and eventually found a second hand one on Gumtree about 3 miles away from our house. We contacted the current owner and agreed to buy it from him.

To our disappointment, when we arrived the chair and stool were much grubbier than they looked in the photos. They were beige but covered in stains.

I was confident we'd be able to revamp them somehow, so we gave him £50 and took them home.

I scrubbed and scrubbed at the fabric for what felt like hours, and although they improved, they didn't look great.

Time to call in the expert!

As I mentioned in Bird's Nursery Tour, my granny can turn her hand to pretty much anything sewing related and although upholstery wasn't her forte, I knew she was my best bet at breathing a bit of life into them!

She took me to a beautiful little fabric shop in Lymington and it took forever to decide which fabric I wanted. Steve wasn't with me, and the one that had gotten my attention was a bit "out there" but I kept coming back to it, so that's the one I chose. It was quite a dark grey with pretty white elephants. This matched the colour theme of the grey starry curtains my granny was making, as well as the jungle theme on our feature wall.

She took them away and worked her magic... Here is the finished product.

 

Granny used some spare fabric from the curtains to add onto the pockets, so the chair matched the curtains.

This is definitely one of my favourite products and I still use it now at almost 11 months. If you have the space and funds for a nursing chair, I would absolutely recommend going for it. The label on this particular chair says Dutailer.

The pockets in the arms are perfect for keeping a couple of spare breastpads, a muslin square, your mobile and a bottle of water for yourself.

The chair and stool both have a gliding mechanism, so you can gently rock baby (or yourself) to sleep.

I don't really use the chair during the night anymore as I feed Bird in bed if she wakes, but it's perfect for daytime cuddles, storytime and to put my feet up once I've put her to bed. Even when we don't use it for baby purposes anymore, I'm definitely going to be keeping it!

I hope you enjoyed reading this, I'm really sorry I can't advise more on the actual upcycling process but it's always worth checking local companies or asking family or friends to help if you have a project like this - some of them may have talents you don't know about :)

Love, Gina Xx

Bird's Nursery - The Tour

I painted Bird's nursery when I was pregnant - I just could not wait to decorate! The whole house needed a revamp but I was desperate to get our baby's room done. We went for neutral colours as we didn't find out the gender.

We no longer live in this house, but I thought I'd share some photos of what I did with the room and talk about what's in it.

Before I got my hands on it, the walls were bright white and the built-in wardrobes were that orangey coloured pine. The curtains were faded, slightly discoloured floral things with an old net curtain.

We wanted the room to be bright and fun, so we chose a soft green colour for three walls and a bright yellow for the feature wall between the built-in wardrobes.

To brighten it up and make it more fun, I ordered a wall decal from Amazon (click here) for £4.44. I absolutely love it! I was slightly worried that the textured wallpaper would mean the stickers wouldn't stick very well, but they were fine and the wallpaper actually added some nice texture, particularly into the tree and the elephant.

The button rug was £35 from Ikea (click here) and one of the reasons I love it so much is that it covered up most of the hideous carpet!

The cotbed and changing table also came with a wardrobe, but as there were already two fitted wardrobes in the room (and the changing table doubles up as a chest of drawers), we used that in another room. This range is from Mamas and Papas and is called Rialto (click here). The quality is fantastic.

The white ottoman is an upcycled piece. It used to be an orangey pine one. My dad and I painted it white, and then my absolute saint of a granny who is amazing with all sorts of sewing/crafty things made a cushion to go on top. She used a piece of foam and covered it with a fabric I chose (grey with white elephants), and then used velcro to fix it on top.

I am obsessed with my nursing chair and stool! I bought these second hand on Gumtree for £50. They were a beige colour and quite grubby. Again, Granny came to the rescue and managed to upholster it using the same fabric I'd chosen for the ottoman. I still use it every day (I'm sitting in it now) and it's one of the best things I've bought. LOVE.

Granny also made the nursery curtains, although I don't have a photo of them. They're beautiful - pale grey with dark grey stars. They tie in beautifully with the nursing chair and ottoman, even though the fabric is different. She used blackout lining and let me choose the fabric, and then surprised me by bringing them round one day and hanging them. I've got them folded and stored away safely as I plan to use them wherever we end up moving to.

Another surprise from my lovely Granny was to make bunting, which wasn't easy considering she didn't know if we were having a girl or a boy, but she did a fantastic job and I can't wait to hang it properly in Bird's room once we move.

I don't have a good photo of it and it's now away in storage, but on the wall I hung a grey and yellow canvas which said "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day" from Next Home. It brought the room together nicely with the grey to match the curtains and nursing chair and the yellow to match the feature wall.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Love, Gina Xx