Ok, before I get to this easy and really cool DIY… I gotta back, back, back-it-up … just a little.

Remember this little gem? It was so good. And, a fantastic practice in reupholstery, for me. There was just one small problem. The more I sat in it, and reminisced about the good ‘ol days with the Baby Kiddo… y’know… the late night feedings, and rocking back to sleep… the more I realized this new chair wasn’t going to cut it. The back barely hit my shoulders and there was no where to rest a weary head at 2 o’clock in the morning. Hmm… what was the next best thing?

How about Frankenstein-ing the rocker/swivel from this chair and adding it to another?? Maybe? Could I do that? Well, let’s find out…

I was keeping my eye out for a while, when I finally came across my next victim an ideal candidate… A high-back armchair, on sale for about $270. Could this work?? (This post may contain affiliate links. This means, should you end up making a purchase, advertisers give me a small percentage of that sale, at absolutely NO EXTRA COST to you. Click here for full disclosures).

 

After thoroughly inspecting the underside of the chair (I’m sure I looked like a weirdo), to make sure it could properly support my new swivel/rocker mechanism, I took the plunge…

Once I got it home, I took that perfectly good (and new) chair, and ripped away the bottom dust-cover, (yes, I was nervous, I had just entered the point of “no returns”…) and exposed the underside of the chair… Phew! It’ll work!

I took some 2 x 4 and cut lengths to fit up inside the frame of the chair. This is the supports for the new (old) chair base (… the swivel part).

I slipped them into the frame, and drilled a few screws upwards, through the chair frame, and into my new 2 x 4 supports. One for the right, and one for the left…

Here you can see my supports in place, and the top of my swivel/rocker base before it was attached.

I pre-drilled 3 holes on each side for each bracket, and used large bolt screws to support the swivel/rocker base.

Attached! Success!!

Here’s a better look from the bottom. Let’s flip ‘er right-side up and see how it works…

Oh boy. Can it be?! Did I just turn a comfy high back arm chair, into a rocker suitable for sleepy Mommies, and late nights with little babies? I think I did! Huzzah!

I’ve done plenty of testing, and this time, I think I’ve got it right. My head perches perfectly at the top, totally supported. And the curved back and arms feel like a hug — which I will really appreciate when I move out of the testing phase, and into the real-world for my first 2 o’clock feeding.

You barely notice the new (old) rocker base underneath, but I love the old brass and wood legs — adds a little personality.

And there she sits. All ready to go. However, the room is not — blue paint is going buh-bye, one of these days… but until then, I’ll enjoy having a very important piece of my future, late-night puzzle, all figured out. Now for the hard part… the waiting. WIsh us luck!