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Filtering by Category: the home experienced

nursery series | the glider

Emily Oster

Another overdue post, written while I was pregnant with Jane...

This might be an exaggeration but I honestly thought that picking out a glider might be the death of me. Ok so it is an exaggeration but when you are in a hormonal nesting phase it can be a little hard to take a breath and gather perspective. 

Let's start at the beginning. As a designer, I have aided clients and friends in selecting gliders before so I knew that it wasn't going to be an easy search. That being said I thought that if I was super patient and dug really hard I would be able to find just the one for us. The glider criteria was: an upholstered chair in a neutral linen like fabric (no wood frame), a high back where both Jeff and I could rest our heads, chair arms (armless gliders really seem ridiculous to me), hidden glider mechanism and not something that costs a fortune (more on that later). A decent amount of wants but nothing too crazy - I thought....

As I have mentioned before, I started planning the nursery last November - right at the beginning of our second trimester. I did some light searching on the web and found the Colton Swivel Glider from Room & Board and decided that over Thanksgiving while in Chicago we should go check it out. 

colton swivel glider chair by Room & Board

At the time, I wasn't very committed to the search thinking it was early and the price seemed sort of high - $799.  I also didn't like that you could see the glider mechanics. In person, we discovered that we didn't find the chair that comfortable - it was just too deep for both Jeff and I. We did, however, really like the Ellery model. 

ellerly swivel glider chair by Room & Board

Looking at the chair online, I thought the no cushion back would not be comfortable but in reality it was super cozy while still being easy to get in and out of. It also met our all our other criteria points (upholstery color, high back etc.) EXCEPT the price - $999! Plus shipping and tax so I knew it would be more like $1200! Now as a designer, I knew that fully upholstered chairs come in right around $1000. Yes, its true - gasp, process, look around to verify - but it is indeed the case. But still - $1200 for a chair that wasn't even going to be in our main living space and with so many other things to purchase!

Leaving Room & Board that day, I became highly motivated to find our glider thinking that surely I could find something we liked just as much at a lower cost OR I could figure out a way to get the cost down on the Ellery (designer discount, holiday sale etc.). 

Over that break, I also went to Land of Nod and checked out their gliders and didn't really see anything I liked and/or thought was a good purchase. This further fueled my motivation which was quickly turning into an obsession. 

Once home from Thanksgiving and our two shopping trips, I amped up my search. I went and looked at our local Buy Buy Baby store, spent hours combing Pinterest and the blogosphere for recommendations and basically came up with little to no results. 

In mid-December, we traveled to San Francisco to visit my sister and brother-in-law. While there we had the opportunity to check out a Giggle store. For those of you unfamiliar, Giggle is a boutique baby store that seeks to limit the selection for new parents by carefully evaluating and only carrying items that they have found to be the best. We got to speak to a very knowledgable sales associate that confirmed what we had already been hearing/reading - that the glider was one of the most important items for a new parent and that it would get LOTS and LOTS of use. We also got to sit in the Monte Design Como Glider as well as the Monte Design Theo Glider

Both I found to just be ok aesthetically and too deep. Plus at the price of $1195 for the Como and $995 for Theo, it was no steal and really no competition for the Ellery. 

On the Monday we returned from San Francisco, we found out that we were having a little girl! We were already in the process of painting the nursery walls Benjamin Moore's Caldwell Green but armed with the idea of having a little girl, I put myself to work with finishing the overall design and details of the nursery. I pretty much knew what I wanted for either sex so it didn't take much time to set the general course. Over the Christmas holiday, I did a lot of sourcing and was able to get a lot of the pieces (the full sized bedding, rug etc.) on sale. And still the glider eluded me....The Ellery never went on sale (Room & Board doesn't really run sales) and I could not find any others online that were even potentials. 

In early January, my motivation to find a glider turned into a fully blown crazy pregnant woman obsession. I considered foregoing all of my criteria and just getting the IKEA Poang Rocker Chair.

At $179, the price can't be beat and I did/do like the design of the chair. But I read reviews that it didn't make for a great nursing chair and Jeff was pretty opposed to it. 

My other big hope was at the Restoration Hardware Outlet. They had their Wingback Swivel Glider for sale which was the model I was most interested in as it was the only one with a high back. But, and of course there is a but, the upholstery was very sloppy in person and the deal really wasn't much of a deal as it was around $900 - a discount of $400 or so from the base price of the chair. 

wingback swivel glider by RH Baby & Child

wingback swivel glider by RH Baby & Child

After the defeat at RH Outlet, I retraced my search and discovered the Toby Glider from Land of Nod. I couldn't remember if I sat in it back in November but it was on sale for $699 and came in a nice neutral fabric. It didn't have a high back and the glider mechanics were a little visible but overall I thought it looked pretty good. Land of Nod was offering free shipping and has free returns so I figured why not try it. The reviews were good and it was a savings of roughly $500 from the Ellerly. 

toby glider by Land of Nod

toby glider by Land of Nod

As a last effort, Jeff suggested that we see if the chair was available to sit in at the store near his parents. So we sent his parents and the feedback I got from his Mom "its wrong in just about all ways". She said it was too low, too wide and too deep. She called to give set comments from the Room & Board store while sitting in the Ellerly which she said was just the opposite of the Toby or pretty much perfect. Working with the sales associate, we discovered that the floor model of the matching ottoman was on sale for $169 which was a huge savings of $400 from full price. 

With the ottoman sale and Jeff's parents full endorsement, we decided to purchase. 

The chair arrived roughly a month later and I have to say is quite beautiful and very comfy. I still can't believe how much we spent on it but I do really love it. 

UPDATE: I LOVE THIS GLIDER! Around 2 months of age, Jane went through a phase in which she would only nap on me while nursing on and off... Yes the joys of motherhood... This glider proved to be a life saver as I am not exaggerating when I say I would spend 4+ hours in it a day! So comfortable, has not shown signs of wear and tear and looks great too!

Want to read more? Check out one or all of these related posts. 

first floor renovation | flooring days and snow

Emily Oster

As the end of 2016 is quickly coming to a close, I have given myself the goal of finishing my first floor renovation series. We are almost finished with our second renovation job (ie tree falling on house) so it is really way over due. That being said, I am seasoned enough into motherhood to know everyday is different and that things often don't go as planned...

*This series was written while we were undergoing construction several months ago - hence the present tense. If you missed the first post of this series check it out here , second here, third here and fourth

On Monday of this week, the drywall crew returned for a quick sand and then turned the project over to the hardwood flooring guys. There were no hardwoods under the old pantry and closet so new boards had to be feathered in. Not a big job but about two days of demo and re-laying. 

On Wednesday, we woke up to about 3" of very wet snow and news of a bunch of power outages. The floor guys called and said they won't be able to make it over and I began planning a lovely snow day of movies and cooking for Jeff and I. Then we lost power...We tried to make the best of the day by going to lunch and then a movie, waiting to see if the power would return. At about 6pm, the power company posted that they planned to have power back on by 10:00pm the next day!

With no heat and a dark house, we decided to go to a friends house for the night. We had already been planning on moving out of the house the next day as I, the 7 month pregnant lady, could not be around the refinishing fumes. The bigger issue then became how the hardwoods guy would be able to work without power....

Luckily, they had a generator and the power came back on around noon on Thursday. This meant they were only a day behind schedule and we could come back to the house on Saturday. So we spent Wednesday to Saturday at our friends who so generously took us and the dog in. 

With the snow and the hardwoods being freshly stained, no other work was done for the week which was a bummer. This put us at about two weeks of feeling like things were moving sort of slowly which in a projected 4 week project can be hard to not get anxious about.  I, however, did my best not to nag our contractor too much as he has not let us down yet. I think I was somewhat successful...

cement tilejune 16, 2014

cement tile
june 16, 2014

flooring decisionsoctober 15, 2014

flooring decisions
october 15, 2014

first floor renovation | drywall days

Emily Oster

*This series was written while we were undergoing construction several months ago - hence the present tense. If you missed the first post of this series check it out here , second here and the third here

The drywall crew got delayed and ended up starting a day later than expected. They hung all of the board in a day as well as taped and started mudding. On day two, they finished their first coat of mud with just a short day of work allowing it to dry. They will be back for two more short days applying a second coat of mud and then a quick sand. 

With the drywall up, comes the first happenings of things really being put back together. The space looks a little smaller and closed in but its nice to be able to see the individual spaces take shape. As anticipated, its been a messy few days but overall not too bad.

So far, its been a pretty quiet work week which has made me a little nervous that our great progress is slowing. As a professional, I know this is just how construction goes - some days/weeks with lots of things going on and then a bit of a lull - but I will admit it can be hard to not get a little anxious about things dragging on (especially while pregnant!). After drywall, comes the floors which could also mean a slower few days of work as I am unsure how many guys can be in here working at one time. Below are a few pictures from this week's work.  

Want to read more? Check out one or all of these related posts. 

fireplaces part 2july 2, 2013

fireplaces part 2
july 2, 2013

black fencesmarch 28, 2014

black fences
march 28, 2014

our bad ceilingsfebruary 2, 2015

our bad ceilings
february 2, 2015