Old Things Need Fixin': Child's Rocking Chair

I just finished this chair for the kids.  It was an old rocking chair, I couldn't even guess the age.  It could be from the 70's or it could be older.  It was hideous but it had a great rocker underneath that allowed the chair to be stationary but rock on springs underneath.  I wanted it to match our bonus room which I'm in the process of redoing for our new classroom.  How awesome is this chair going to be to encourage my little ones to "read", with a red basket of books next to it, it will at least be tempting.   Here's the scary before picture and read how I made the changes.




See, I told you it was scary...Can you imagine your kids sitting in the lap of this creepy bear chair.  It's eyes are too far apart, it's missing a nose and mouth, the poor bow tie is frazzled, it's missing buttons and guess what that yellow is made of...

YELLOW VINYL!

Yuck!

I took the arms off, tore the fabric away and then carefully pried all the staples, all 1001 of them, out with a flat head screw driver.   Here's the sad part...
I cut off that poor bears head.  Yes, my 4 year old was very concerned about the bear having its head cut off.  I'm sure I'll get to hear about it FOREVER!

I painted the exposed wood red, which was a very dirty beige before and simple covered the seat first, then the back and unfortunately, I did have to use my hot glue gun in places.  However, I now have the beauty you see above. 

Here's my tip:
When shopping thrift stores, look at the "bones" of the pieces you are buying.  If they are frail or weak, don't buy.  It'll probably be a waste of time and money.   If the structure is good and sound and just needs a little TLC...BUY!  You can fix it!  YES YOU CAN!