When we were expecting my daughter in 2004, we searched high & low for a glider rocker. My in-laws were visiting from South Carolina, and wanted to help buy one as a gift. I swear we went to every store in two counties trying to find one. Most stores only had one or two; they were usually ugly, often uncomfortable and always outrageously expensive. Since I am pretty short, chairs with back or neck padding hit me all wrong!

We ended up in a third county (LOL, really) at a bigger baby store that had a good half dozen or more. You had to choose the wood color, fabric, options, and order it. We were only about 2 months away from the due date and not sure if it would make it on time, but we ordered one made by Dutailier. (My water broke the morning we were supposed to pick it up!) It has served us well, and my 2 1/2 year old is still using it. We rock and we read stories, and really didn’t want to snatch it away from him. Plus, it doesn’t match the baby’s crib which we bought to match the “spare bedroom” furniture we already had. (The new glider is in our bedroom for now since we are still co-sleeping!)

So, we wanted a new one, but we didn’t want to spend hundreds. I looked up the original glider/ottoman purchase (thanks Quicken!) and it cost nearly three times as much as the Stork Craft Tuscany glider and ottoman
we just bought.

Anyhoo, I had been poking around and found a couple inexpensive gliders. Wal-Mart (ptooey!) has a really nice selection of glider/ottoman sets in the under $200 range on their website. It’s a shame they don’t have them in the store to see & try. I really wanted black wood & beige cushions which eliminated a few.

Which reminds me. The jerky salesperson when we bought the glider in 2004 acted like I was a big idiot for wanting it to match the nursery furniture. Apparently I was supposed to buy it to match our crappy family room furniture since that’s where it ends up in most people’s houses. I’d hoped to be rid of this (what’s a synonym for crappy?) furniture by now (still using it, boo…) and oh look, 7 years later it’s still in the room with the dresser & crib we bought it to match.

I also preferred the clean look of the Tuscany over some with rounded, poofy, tufted cushions. We decided to take a chance and ordered it from Wal-Mart (ptooey!) for $179 with free site to store shipping.

They’re available in several wood/fabric color combinations.

There really wasn’t too much assembly required, and it came in a really big box that kept the kids entertained, LOL.

Our other glider has squishy, foamy padding in the back, seat and ottoman. The Tuscany has cushy padding in the back, but the seat, arm pads & ottoman are almost a memory foam. It took a little bit for the arm rests to relax & sit right.

I didn’t realize that the fabric is actually a synthetic suede-like material.

The ottoman’s fabric is three pieces seamed together, which I think gives it a nice, modern look. That indentation you see is where my heel was a few minutes before I took the picture!

I think the fabric on our old one is kinda ugly (yellow gingham check), but it was the best gender neutral option at the time! P.S. if anyone knows of a non-toxic scotch guard/stain protector type stuff, let me know. The new glider can be “spot cleaned” like the old one, but you can’t remove the covers to wash them. It’s looking kinda grubby by now, despite having been straight up washed when my son had a stomach virus and it was “be washed or be trashed!”

The old one has a locking mechanism and nursing stool, the new one does not. I really enjoy having the ottoman, since being short means my legs tend to dangle, but I rarely used the stool.

When I first plopped down on the Tuscany, it was kind of shocking, since I felt like I’d just sat on a pile of bricks. It’s not very thick, but I did kind of “sink’ into it a tiny bit like you would a Tempurpedic mattress. Not much, but a little bit. If I’d sat on it in a store, I probably would have hopped right back up and said “next!” but it really wasn’t uncomfortable once I’d been sitting there a minute. It was just different. The back is nice and soft though!

Overall, I don’t miss the lock/stool, it glides just as smoothly as the expensive glider, and feels just as sturdy. This surprised me, since I was expecting it to seem “cheap.” The seat & ottoman aren’t soft and squishy, but considering you can buy 2.9 of these glider/ottoman combos for the price of 1 of the Dutailiers (in fact, the ottoman cost almost as much as the Storkcraft set) I wish I had 2 Tuscanys and $160 instead, LOL.

EDIT: After using this for a while, it clicks when I rock. I can’t figure out why. I do still like it though but wouldn’t have with a newborn!

FTC compliance: I purchased the pictured items at normal retail prices. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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