Stacking Stool Transformation

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend!

I decided that this weekend I was going to tackle a DIY project that I have been putting off out of fear of failure. Yep, I said the f word - don't we all feel this way at times? I have decided that in 2012 I am going to push through my fear and have a positive attitude in all I do.

Really isn't that the secret of success? A positive attitude?

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One day the mister came home with 2 retro stools that he found in the ditch.

As soon as I saw them I knew that I would be able to update them. Sure they are tired looking and dated but they were still very sturdy - and free!

As I mentioned here I am planning to entertain more this year and it seems as though whenever I had entertained in the past I was always scrambling to find a few more chairs. Well these little stools are perfect for extra seating during a meal or during a serious winner take all family game of monopoly!

I started the transformation by purchasing some fabric with a feminine pattern, two packages of floor protectors for the legs of the stools and gathering the rest of my supplies which included a drill and bits, white spray paint, twine, stapler and staples.

I took the seat off of the stools so that I could spray paint the legs and attach my fabric. The cushions were attached to the seat by four screws so that part was easy peasy.

I  sanded the legs very lightly with a sanding sponge and spray painted the stools legs by applying several thin coats of spray paint so that I didn't get any drips during the application process and that I achieved a nice even coverage.

While the legs were drying I decided to upholster the seat cushions. I must mention that the original cushions were covered by a vinyl material that was in fine condition and because the material I was recovering the seats in was heavier weight, the vinyl pattern didn't show through so I didn't see any point in removing it and it adds a bit more cushion.

I simply placed the cushion on the fabric and cut around leaving a few inches of fabric on each side to fasten the fabric with staples to the cushion. I attached the fabric using a staple gun and 5/16" staples stretching the fabric so it was tight before I stapled it.

Once I had both seat cushions upholstered and the legs were dry, I found some twine and thought that I would wrap twine around the legs of one of the stools to add a bit of a rustic touch to it and for added interest. I then reattached the legs with 4 screws per stool in the same manner as they were attached originally.

Because we had most of the materials already this was a very inexpensive project. The only costs were the fabric and two packages of floor protectors total cost of $25.00 taxes in .

I am very happy with the way these stools turned out and it proves that one persons trash really can be another persons treasure!