This one is kind of special. Okay, really special.
I made this recently for my cousin, who’s about to have a baby boy. The theme was a no-brainer (the nursery is a really adorable cowboy motif), but it became very meaningful to me. Our grandmother was a Missourian farm girl, who owned horses when we were all kids, and we’d all go out to her house in Elsinore and ride, and swim in the pool, and get really dirty out in the hills.
Grandma died a few years ago, and it was my cousin’s idea to have her saddle sitting on a sawhorse up in front at her funeral. This just about undid me when I walked in to the church, but it was so her, and so perfect. (side note: he and his bride also had Grandma’s cowboy boots sitting on the sweetheart table at their wedding. We’re a little sentimental in our family. I like that about us.)
So, fast forward to a couple of months ago, when I’m brainstorming about what to paint for this new baby we’re so excited about, and speculating on whether it should be a rocking horse, a step stool, a rocking chair, or what…suddenly, as I was looking at a picture of the rocking chair I was considering, it occurred to me that, if you kind of squinted and looked at it the right way, the curvy back looked a little like a saddle. Grandma’s saddle.
So even though the colors, the lasso, the deputy badge are inspired by the nursery decor, and it’s little Travis’ name tooled into the leather, it’s Grandma’s saddle in my mind. 
another side note: please, please, please forgive the quality of the photographs. I took them myself (and a photographer I am not) with my dinky little point & shoot, because I finished the chair the night before the baby shower, so there was no time to beg one of my talented photographer friends to do it for me. Sorry. Did I mention I’m not a photographer?
Of course, once I had come up with this design, it sure seemed like a keeper, which is why you’ll also find a footstool in this same theme.
Lara Eve Designs 