Rocking Chair Cushions

Rocking Chair Cushion Advice #3

fernemerrylees — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:52:43 +0000

One of my friends got one of these beauties second hand! It was a little beaten up but her brother sanded it back and re vanished it to look like brand new. She only paid just over $100 for it! The following picture is from this site here and lists the chair as almost $300! It’s a beautiful and stylish chair though.

See how the rocking chair seat is already carved slightly for your rear end? My friend actually found this a little annoying as she has a tendency not to sit properly in chairs so we began looking for a cushion that was thick and well padded as well as being as unassuming as pillows go. She believes (like I do) that the rocking chair should be complimented by a pillow, not overwhelmed by one. So here is what we came up with. (Sorry for a lack of real photos. My camera decided to die on me the other week and it will be a while until it’s fixed.)

This cushion is actually a floor cushion and fits very snug in the chair. The added thickness and firmness means the cushion won’t loose its shape over time. Again we attached our own tags to tie to the chair and my friend decided on not getting a pillow for the back as this rocking chair is fairly comfortable. Overall, another fantastic rocking chair and cushion that fits perfectly in her living room.

Rocking Chair Cushion Advice #2

fernemerrylees — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:02:19 +0000

The following rocking chair is similar to the one my friend bought brand new and is also white. Click here to go to the page I found this image on. Her apartment is a higgley piggley assortment of random things like Buddha statues and her collection of teapots but somehow this beautiful rocker slotted right into her organized chaos! I set about helping her find the right cushion for her new chair.

Instead of going out and buying a couple of rocking chair cushions, we recycled an old fuzzy checkered blanket and re covered an even older cushion. It turned out fantastically and was cheap and fun to do. It does the job, looks great and although it’s not particularly comfortable for huge stretches of time, it works well for this rocker. Having paid a bit for the rocking chair, this cheap idea to recycle an old cushion was perfect for her suddenly smaller budget.

Rocking Chair Cushion Advice #1

fernemerrylees — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:25:57 +0000

A couple of my friends loved my new (but quite ancient) rocking chair and its new cushion that my grandmother gave to me for my birthday and I’m surprised to learn that I’ve started a new craze! They’ve gone out and dug up their own rocking chairs from either their garages, grandmothers or second hand stores! There is something special about rocking in a real rocking chair (and I recall at school the tendency to rock back in my class chair) and its really quite soothing especially if you’ve worked or studied all day and just want to unwind.

So I was suddenly being interrogated by my friends about what cushions suited their rocking chair best. (Somehow I became the guru on all things rocking chair). So I’ve done some research and put together a few posts on different rocking chairs that look similar to what my friends found and what cushions suited the chairs best. Hope this helps you on your own search for that oh so comfy but also aesthetically pleasing cushion!

This was the closest picture I could find on the internet of what on of my friend’s found for an awesome bargain. If you like this chair, I found the imagine on this site.

My friend’s rocking chair was painted a dark blue which suits her house so she isn’t going to change it. So I had a look around and found these cushions on the internet for her to check out. (I think I’ve mentioned this before but where would we be without the internet???).

Two of these fuzzy soft cushions with home made ties attached would make the chair extra comfy whilst still being funky and fitting in with the rest of my friend’s house. It’s quite easy to attach your own ties using strips of similar fabric and attaching with a couple of small safety pins. And there you have it. An instant hit! My friend barely leaves her chair now!

Make Your Own Rocking Chair Cushions

fernemerrylees — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:57:01 +0000

I’m quite fond of pillows. Nothing brightens up a room better than a couple of bright pillows. Having re-pillowed my grandmother’s rocking chair, I began to look around for more pillows to brighten up my home. The rocking chair cushion that I chose was white as to not over power the beauty of my ancient rocking chair but white is pretty bland so I went to Tree of Life (a hippy-like store that’s sprouting up everywhere like daisies and has the most stunning (but expensive) stuff) to see if I could buy a bright throw rug or small pillow.

I was shocked. The pillows range from $20 or more, however, I was inspired! How hard would it be to make my own pillows? (Sounds like famous last words, huh.) Being a bit of an environmentalist, I decided to find second hand materials, old clothes I didn’t wear anymore, old blankets and patches to put together some pillows.

Using a sowing machine, it didn’t take me long to have a couple of square and rectangle pillows with one end open to stuff with stuffing. I then closed the opening with some big mismatching buttons and viola! Home made cushions! You don’t have to be a scientist to do it! I even sewed some ties to one side of my pillows so if I wanted to, I could attach them to my rocking chair for a change or when I wash my rocking chair cushion. I was quite proud of myself for my accomplishment and plan to make more.

The following pictures aren’t mine but they’re similar to the pillows from Tree of Life that inspired me on this creative spree.

The Great Battle of the Giant Chairs!

fernemerrylees — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:25:34 +0000

I stumbled upon this article whilst searching for rocking chair cushions and couldn’t help but laugh. I know there are giant statues of almost anything but to be honest I’d never thought there would be a giant chair let alone a battle for giant chair supremacy! In America there are 5 contenders for the title (not including any foreign chairs) the first of which was created in 1905. That’s over 100 years this battle has been raging! It seems the winner was finally built in 1981 by Miller’s Office Furniture of Anniston, Alabama, a 31-foot-tall steel construction that can withstand 137 km/p/h (85m/p/h) winds! A true monster of the chair world. To check out the article which includes pictures of the 5 chairs see it here.This got me thinking. Is there a larger than life rocking chair out there? Turns out there is! Hand-made by Norman Schanz and 3 other men in 1983, this huge 11-foot-tall rocking chair is a replica of the traditional Amana style rocker and can be found in West Amana.

Just imagine trying to make a cushion for that whopper!

Rock-a-bye Baby

fernemerrylees — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:22:59 +0000

Rock a bye baby, in the treetop,

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,

And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green;

Father’s a nobleman, mother’s a queen;

And Betty’s a lady, and wears a gold ring;

And Johnny’s a drummer, and drums for the king.

Everyone has heard this lullaby, most likely sung to them by their parents or grandparents and the tune is familiar to many people. The first stanza is the most well known whilst the second is not as common. It’s a perfect rhyme to sing to any lucky (or unlucky as the case may be) child whilst you rock with them in your rocking chair. Or is it?

But where did this poem originate from? As an American poem, it is claimed by some to be the first poem written in America with it’s tune derived from the English ballad, “Lilliburlero”. It’s title was altered from “Hush-a-bye Baby” to “Rock-a-bye-Baby” possibly due to the events the poem mentions and the fact that rocking chairs and cradles were becoming more common.

There is evidence that the poems roots reach back as far as the 1600′s and was written by an early American pioneer who sailed on the Mayflower. It is believed that the first paragraph was written by this pioneer and the second is a later invention.

Ever wonder why the poor baby came tumbling down from the bough? Well I did and as a child I always had to be reassured that the baby made a safe landing and found the whole event quite enjoyable. (I was never quite convinced). Wikipedia mentions a few reasons for the falling baby.

The Mayflower pioneer is said to have written the poem whilst observing native-American mother’s hanging their children in birch-bark cradles from trees to allow the wind to gentle rock the baby to sleep. Unfortunately the supporting branches had a tendency to break, injuring the infant and thus the events in the poem.
The changing of the title from ‘hush’ to ‘rock’ was first recorded in 1805 and may be referring to to the Earl of Sandwich’s son who in 1706 was accidentally tossed without warning from his cradle into the Thames River and was never found. However I cannot find any evidence of this anywhere. Does anyone know which Earl of Sandwich it was because there was/is 11 of them!
Other sources say that the poem relates to a woman living in the late 1700′s in England who had a hollow bough cradle for her children.
A political meaning for the poem refers to the events that preceded the revolution during King James II of England’s reign. It’s said a baby was smuggled into the birthing chamber of King James II’s wife to insure a Catholic heir. The wind can be symbolic for William of Orange coming from the Netherlands to eventually dispose of King James II. The cradle is a metaphorical representation of the House of Stuart monarchy.

So there you have it. The somewhat murky origins of this lullaby. I guess it’s a personal choice whether you sing this lullaby to your child. The tune itself is worth humming as it’s soothing and will definitely send a child to sleep but the words are indeed thought provoking. Just don’t get me started on the lullaby “Ring a Round a Rosy”!

I wrote a similar essay on the poem here.

History of Rocking Chairs

fernemerrylees — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:29:43 +0000

Researching the origins of my new (yet very old) rocking chair, I learnt that the humble rocking chair has quite a past. The rocking chair (also known as a rocker) seems to first appear in England during the 1700′s and around 1745 was used primarily as garden chairs! The origins of the rocker is pretty murky as the original inventor remains unknown however recognition goes to England’s North American colonies who designed the well known American Windsor Rocking Chair (named after it’s English counterpart that was first built near the Windsor Castle in the early 18th century).

There are dozens and dozens of styles, shapes and sizes made of different woods and materials. I found a website that details over 30 different chairs, their histories, what they’re made of and where they come from with full colour pictures. If you don’t know what type of rocking chair you have then I recommend you have a look. What type of rocking chair do you have? Where did it come from? What personal history does it represent? Never before has a piece of furniture had so much depth to it. It’s pretty cool.

Rocking Chair Cushions

fernemerrylees — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:19:07 +0000

“What do I know about rocking chair cushions?” I remember stating to my mum. She’d just chuckled and left me sitting dejectedly in my grandmother’s old rocking chair. It was quite cushion-less. My grandmother seems to think that I eat my furniture or something cos it seems that every birthday I get more furniture. For my 16th Birthday I got a newly restored double bed and a matching dresser. For my 18th I got an ancient writing desk over 100 years old and also fully restored. I’m not quite sure where she finds these treasures, however for my 20th birthday I got the old rocking chair that had sat dormant up in the garage gathering dust.

It’s absolutely stunning. It has a tall intricately carved back, smooth arm rests and it still rocks like a charm despite its age and neglect. Yet when I say neglect, I mean neglect from humans. A family of mice had decided that the cushion on said rocking chair would make a nice home. You can imagine all our surprise when we’d dragged the long lost chair out of the dark corner it had resided in for almost a half century.

So this leaves me with a beautiful old rocking chair lacking a cushion and quite uncomfortable to say the least. I borrowed the lounge cushions but to my dismay found that they slid off quite fantastically, dumping the sitter (also known as me) spectacularly on their rear end. That’s when mum said, “Buy a rocking chair cushion.”

Well I hopped on the internet (what would we do without it?) and typed in “rocking chair cushions.” After a few hours trawling the net, I was surprised to learn that there is more to a rocking chair cushion than meets the eye. I’ve listed what I found to make it easier for other rocking chair cushion enthusiasts to discover what makes the perfect rocking chair cushion.

get cushions that tie onto the chair. There are cushions that are made to fit exactly without ties, however unless they’re being custom made you can run the risk of them not fitting snugly. Tie on cushions mean they stay on the chair and thus yourself and also makes it easy to take them off and wash them.
there are cushions made specifically for rocking chairs which mean they have a back as well and all you have to do is, again, tie them on to the backing rails. Having that extra back support makes the rocking chair that much more inviting however you can get cushions that just tie to the seat of the chair.
You can get cushions in all types of designs. Frilly, plain, colourful, flowery, stripes, polka dots, the sky is the limit. I eventually chose a plain white one with a little frill along the edges. It’s plain but not to plain. It’s pretty but doesn’t completely overwhelm you. I know some people buy a few different types to change with their moods or the seasons.
Some cushions come with removable covers which means you don’t need to worry about warping the pillows when you wash them but I didn’t find that a problem with my cushion. However if you’re good at sowing (which I’m not) once you have the cushion you can make other covers out of your own fabrics. These cushions should have zippers to allow easy removal of the cover.
The most important factor of a cushion though is the padding! Check that the cushions are resilient and will last through a single wash. Latex foam or plush latex foam cushion fillings are great and can be as thick as you want. Some cushions even come with arms rests but I found that it began to take over the chair. My rocking chair is a work of art and covering it in to much material would have been a real shame.
The fabric is also important. Velvet can give a more sophisticated or formal feel, tufted cotton is breathable and gives a patterned texture and corduroy is very durable. In the end its up to you.
Now before you buy anything, especially over the internet, make sure the cushion will fit! If it’s too small it will leave you unsatisfied, too big and it might slide off or make it uncomfortable. Double and triple check!

When my rocking chair cushion arrived in the mail, I was surprisingly excited and was pleased with how it fitted and how comfy it was. A rocking chair is bliss after studying madly at Uni and Mum reminds me that it will be perfect for when I have kids. I just ignored that comment but she is right about one thing, a good rocking chair cushion makes the rocking chair.

Whether you’re replacing grandma’s old mouse infested rocking chair cushion or just brightening up a well used piece of furniture, I wish you happy hunting from the gentle, mind soothing rocking of my grandmother’s old rocking chair.

Yours sincerely,

Ferne