Nursery Chair in lieu of a Glider

May 3, 2012 · By ·
Back when the nursery was in transition from guest room (if you could even call it that) to McKiddle #1′s nursery, I was anti-glider.  I took an anti-stance on something mainstream and totally normal, how new and different for me :) . Let me clarify that stance now – I’ve never loved the traditional hardwood cushioned nursery glider (though they’ve improved them vastly in the last couple years and I love the revamps I’ve seen on blogs of late), and I really liked the looks of upholstered gliders, but this mama’s just not about to spend $1200 on a chair that only works in a nursery. So I borrowed the hardwood rocker that was in my nursery as a baby from Caroline and everything was dandy…for about six months.



I will say, Thomas wasn’t a baby that needed to be rocked to sleep – we put him in his crib awake and he fell asleep on his own – so our time in the rocking chair was limited to about 3 minutes of cuddling before bed. And when T was a newborn and still waking up to nurse in the middle of the night, feedings took a long time, so I usually camped out on the sofa in the living room with the Boppy and Design Star on DVR at 3am for those early, nursing-takes-45-minutes days.

But Thomas had a bit of a sleep regression at 15 months and I did a lot of Kumbaya singing from that rocking chair at 2am – and I was newly pregnant and T was much heavier than he had been in previous rocking chair stages. And I told myself in those September days, “When I turn this into this new baby’s nursery, I’m buying a flipping glider”.

So, I started looking on Craigslist for gliders to revamp and went to look at a few, but just couldn’t take the plunge. They either weren’t as comfortable as I expected or just didn’t have the right bones for being revamped. So I turned to my good buddy Shannon who ditched her beautiful Pottery Barn glider for the easier to get in and out of and comfortable IKEA Ektorp Jenny Lund when she redid Gabe’s nursery. And if it’s good enough for Shannon, it’s good enough for me. So to IKEA I went for a $200 chair that I can use anywhere when we no longer need a nursery chair. I like multi-purpose furniture. And the beauty is that if McKiddle #2 is a baby who does need rocking, I now know thanks to my Boulder area neighbor Freckles Chick that I can turn the IKEA Jenny Lund into a glider. Perf. 

Enough chatter, here’s the chair in the nursery.

The beauty of this chair? It matches my sofa. Not that I do the matching set furniture thing, but if I ever wanted to, I could. And it’s darn comfortable, too. The cube ottoman that’s holding Tom’s favorite books right now will serve as a side table/ottoman/T’s jungle gym – and I’m in the process of slipcovering it.


I have short legs, so I needed a pillow to help my feet touch the ground. And since I now bow to Sarah Richardson, design goddess, I wanted more fabric in the room. Sarah likes lots of fabric. And I loved this polka-dot with the exact turquoise to pull in the nursery curtains, a little bit of my signature green, and some yellow.

So that’s the chair situation in the baby’s room – I’ll be sure to let you all know if I end up turning it into a glider, but I’m betting on it remaining stationary. Time will tell!


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Filed Under: IKEA, Nursery ·

Comments

  1. Megan says:
    May 3, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    The IKEA Ektorp Jenny strikes again. I’m glider shopping too and I just keep coming back to this chair. I found a $10 old rocker on Craigslist today that I’m going to buy just for the rocker part, and then we’re heading to IKEA next weekend to pick up this beauty. Thanks for convincing me, yet again, that this is the right choice.

  2. Jenny says:
    May 3, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Get outta my brain!!! I, too, am anti-glider, and too cheap to buy an upholstered one. The Jennylund came to live in my nursery, too. =) AND we have that same star pattern pack of A&A swaddles!

  3. Laurel @ Ducks in a Row says:
    May 3, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Ooh – I love Sarah Richardson too! and I think the chair is a fantastic idea!!

  4. crystal woolever says:
    May 3, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    I love that chair, my daughter is 11 and Im looking into getting that same chair for her room, this way it can either go with her when she moves out, or stay at my home. It’s a very versatile chair.

  5. Kim @ NewlyWoodwards says:
    May 3, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    This looks really nice! I love that it’s very versatile, too. I’m also not a huge fan of gliders, and prefer this option. I am wondering if I’ll wish I had something comfier then our rocker. Yikesies.

    Is that blanket one of the Aiden and … versions you were talking about? I’m really digging the stripes and think I need one.

    And, it is quite shocking that you didn’t like something normal and mainstream. ;) That’s why I love you.

  6. Kristi says:
    May 3, 2012 at 9:10 pm

    That looks like an awesome chair for the nursery and as you mention after the nursery. Don’t be a hater, but we have a glider in our girls’ room. It is a hand-me-down and serves it purpose, but I would much rather have a chair like this. Our arms aren’t paded and now that we have an 8 month old on our hands, or should I say arms?, I would really like something cozier that doesn’t actually bring me physical pain while nursing. :o ) Hope you enjoy your Jenny!

  7. Mrs. 5C says:
    May 4, 2012 at 12:52 am

    I love this idea!!! I, too, think gliders are ugly, awful pieces of furniture, and I was just about to insist that your chair go somewhere in the nursery budget when I found a glider for $25… soooo… my cheapness won out. ;)

  8. leah @maritalbless says:
    May 4, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    I love it! Great choice!

  9. Caroline Meyers says:
    May 5, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    I really like the polka dot fabric that you chose for the accent pillow! It’s very cheerful and happy! I agree about gliders being ugly. My glider is a hand-me-down from my MIL and was therefore free, but I’m working on making a slipcover with extra padding to make it look more chair like.

  10. Anonymous says:
    May 14, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Emily – where is the polka dot fabric for the pillow from?

  11. ElleJay says:
    January 16, 2013 at 2:59 am

    So, did you decide to turn it into a rocker or did the stationary chair work for you?