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Ikea sell an affordable high chair which is very popular. There are lots of third party accessories for this including the Footsi. My wife wanted to order one of these but I disliked the idea of paying $43 plus shipping, therefore I decided to make one. I took some measurements from the chair and used the pictures online to create a template. I used some left over timber I had from another project and was able to make this in about an hour. It looks and functions well and I was able to personalise it using some tools left over from another project. I suspect this will be my go to gift when friends / family have children from now on.
89 x 19mm 1.2m DAR Pine (enough to make 2 items)
Ruler and pencil
Handsaw or Jigsaw with wood cutting bit
Sandpaper / Orbital Sander / Belt Sander
Rag to apply / wipe off finish
Optional materials to emboss name
Supatool 36 Piece Letter And Number Stamp Set
Hammer
Cut the material to the rough size of 500mm long by about 80mm wide. The width here isn't too important, if purchasing timber find something close and use that width.
Once the rough size it cut out, mark the notches to accept the legs and rounding for the corners.
Using a spade bit cut 2 holes as shown
Using either a handsaw or a jigsaw cut holes from the edge to the holes as shown
Using whatever sanding tools you have available, tidy up the cuts and then round the edge to remove any sharp corners (safer for children). I used a belt sander and orbital sander as I had access to them. Starting at 80 grit, then 120 and finally 240 to leave it nice and smooth.
Note: You want the chair legs to fit snugly into the opening you have cut, don't make them to wide.
Optional Step
I had access to some letter stamps from another project so I decided to use them to personalise it. Obviously these stamps are expensive so I wouldn't recommend buying them specifically for this project. After stamping I used a black pen to make the letters more visible, I then sanded it back again to remove any excess pen ink.
Tip: Use a straight edge to keep the letters aligned, it is harder than it looks to do it freehand.
You could decide to seal the wood to make it easier to clean up food stains, as this is for use around children you should use a kids toy friendly sealer such as the liquid bees wax in the materials section.
Bunnings has a range of waxes / oils which state they are fine to use on kids toys under the Gilly Stephenson's range.
Follow the manufacturers instructions, normally just apply with a rag and then buff off.
Place the footrest onto the legs of the high chair and use the o-rings to keep it up. You can slide the o-rings up and down to adjust the height as needed. I would recommend using four o-rings. Two underneath and two on top, this will prevent the child lifting the footrest up.
@edwardjones This is brilliant! That’s awesome you could use some left over timber too, great savings there!
Thanks for sharing!
Good Afternoon @edwardjones
I almost scrolled past as dont know any babbies but the thought of making something instead of buying it drew me in! Glad it did.
Love the idea of making the footrest but the gold part was using a fixed piece of timber to stamp a name into it. Far out, how many times have I stamped various things without that little extra thought.
I do have a question tho, what do you mean by the "O" rings? Are they already on the legs of the chair? I just couldnt see them in the pics.
Dave
Hello @edwardjones
Thank you so much for sharing the the footrest plans for the baby's chair. I finally figured out what the O rings were for, I was wondering how you managed to keep the footrest in place. I'm sure our members who have similar chairs will be looking through their timber off cuts in order to build this clever footrest.
Again, thank you for sharing such a wonderful project.
Eric
@Dave-1 Thanks for the comments and the feedback. I have added another photo to show how the o-rings go on the legs and the wood rests against it.
Here is the view from underneath.
Morning @edwardjones
Thank you, I thought it would be something like that. I think its a brilliant idea!
How has it held up to the little feet being around it?
Dave
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