Restaurant High Chair with an add-on

Submitted by rbgreene04 on Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:57

After my 6-month old daughter outgrew, or just got tired of sitting in her bouncy seat on the table while Mommy and Daddy ate, I decided to build her a high chair. I loved the plans and it looked pretty easy. It took me longer than expected, but I was using scraps and trying to be efficient with my cuts and waste. After making the chair, my wife said it'd be nice if we painted it Minnie Mouse themed, so I cut the ears using the jigsaw and attached them with pocket holes. I could have just made them as part of the chair (the back piece) but the idea didn't come until after the chair was complete. To make the ears, I just used a compass and quite a bit of an eraser. I used grid lines and tried and retried and retried and retried until it looked almost Minnie Mouse-ish. I was going to try a bow, but didn't want to to ruin it. I'd also like to try to inlay a bow, but that would mean not being able to paint it so that was a no go. I haven't added the safety straps yet, but I have them and will be putting them on before she sits in it--so no need to call social services.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
Around $30-40 including paint
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
I taped off the ears and lower stretchers and spray painted the body of the chair. Then I used a brush and brushed on two coats of the black for the ears and bottom stretchers. Lastly, I used a circular sponge brush from a hobby store to make the polka dots. I'm not very good with the sponge brush so I had to fill in with a small detail brush. I don't like the brush lines so I'm going to try and sand with 350 or 400 grit to get rid of the brush strokes. Then, I'll probably sand up to 600 grit to get a smooth finish.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

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