The Rocker, Refinished

I hauled my Grandma Humphrey's rocker around for years before finally doing something about its beyond shabby appearance. It was special to me so I didn't want to give up on it, and last year I vowed to reclaim it.

Fast forward to having our house undergo a major remodel that included new flooring. This meant everything had to come up off the floor and go into a pod parked in our driveway. Rather than stuff the rocker with its peeling paint into the depths of the pod for something like three months, I finally ran to ground a furniture refinisher who said she could do it.

Reagan needed a photo of the rocker to give me an estimate. The easiest way to send that was to send her the blog post I wrote about this rocking chair's history.

When we showed up at Mr. Oak Antiques and Refinishing to drop it off, she gently ran her hand down the arm of the rocker and said, "I like furniture that has a story. Sometimes people bring me something they just bought, and it's going to get its stories in the future." That told me she really loves furniture and what it represents that goes beyond the wood it's made of.

According to a rocking-chair collector who saw the picture I posted on Facebook in its former condition, Grandma's rocker is an Army knuckle arm Windsor rocking chair with saddle joints where the legs meet the rockers. I'll have to take their word for all of that. To me, it's Grandma's rocker.

About a week ago we picked up the restored rocker. Under all the paint it turned out to be oak. The remodeling project isn't done so it will be a few more weeks before it can rock gently on the new floor, gleaming in its new wood stain and acquiring more stories.