This is another post that John wanted me to name Stool Boom (here’s why John likes that name). Anyway, a while back I redid a stool that wasn’t ours. It just showed up in the mail and I spruced it up. More on the mysterious mail thing in a minute. First here’s how I got ‘er done. This is a terrible before shot, but picture an old beat up periwinkle blue stool with nails and holes and a rotting wood top:
The first thing I did was get all the old nails out with the back of a hammer:
Then I primed it and painted it a rich navy color (I just grabbed a $3 test pot of paint in Benjamin Moore’s Santa Monica Blue). Ignore the crazy-bright blue color going on in this picture – it’s a very strange camera trick. In real life = navy. Anyway, after my two coats of paint were dry, I dug up some extra loft batting (originally from JoAnn) that I already had and some fabric that I had around as well. Why? Because I’m cheap. And it’s not my stool. Haha. If you’re keeping track, so far, I had sunk $3 into someone else’s stool.
Then I got fancy and picked up two $1.79 boxes of decorative nail heads (from JoAnn). I know, I splurged. What can I say, I’m a giver.
I figured I could use these guys to secure my batting and my fabric along each side of the stool. So I just cut the batting and the fabric about two inches larger than the top of the stool on all sides, and pulled the excess down and folded it under for a nice clean line. Then I tapped each nail head into place to keep things secure. I spaced them about 2″ apart (and used a 2″ piece of cardboard as a spacer to keep the gaps consistent). About thirty taps later I had done one side…
I continued to tap my way around the other three sides and I was left with a sweet little stool to not call my own. Total cost: $6.58. Except I have no earthly idea why she looks royal blue again. See the pics above – that’s probably the most true that the blue looks. So it’s a nice rich color but not too bright in real life.
Here’s a full shot from the side (the same pic I should have taken as a before instead of a zoomed in crazy one):
Then I hugged her, kissed her (more than once), and lovingly sent her off. Sniffle. Weird stool business going on, right?
Well, it was actually for the fine folks at Do It Yourself magazine…
… where we have a Q and A column called “He Said, She Said“…
… but in our column we don’t redo furniture, so the stool was for another article they were running in their winter issue about makeovers by a few bloggers who all received surprise items in the mail to redo. There were some pretty amazing fellow bloggers in the mix, like: Style Me Pretty, Centsational Girl, Jen Geigley, Renegade Handmade, and Lori Andrews. It was really fun see what they did, like this two-tiered-table turned cake stand from Style Me Pretty:
And here’s my little stool makeover. I love how they styled it with yarn because of all the craft stuff that I have in our house, I have zero yarn. Haha.
Oh and really savvy folks might even recognize the fabric as one of the ones we used for Clara’s weekly pictures. We love how it looks like water and the bean looks like she’s swimming in this pic.
After making her quilt and birthday banner there was still more than enough for a surprise stool makeover. Gotta love it. What furniture have you guys been making over lately? Any painting or reupholstering going on? And kiddos swimming around on fabric? Hey, if it makes ’em happy…
Psst- We might be biased, but we think this video of Clara singing a medley of songs is the cutest thing ever. That girl loves to sing!
Kate says
Yeah! I’m the first to post… love you guys and look forward to seeing what you do with all your home projects!
Amanda @ Our Humble A{Bowe}d says
What a cute little make over. Sadly, no furniture remaking lately for us. I do have upholstering plans when we’re done with the kitchen…
Kristen @ Popcorn on the Stove says
What a fun stool (that sounds weird to say, by the way)! Navy can be so serious sometimes so I’m glad you paired it with a bright fabric. Maybe you could DIY a stool with one of Clara’s extra fabrics for you to keep somewhere around the house.
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
I love that stool! It’s so cute! My favorite part is definitely the fabric on top!
Lauren says
I love love love DIY Magazine!! I have that exact issue right here with me now! It’s great you guys are in it, you are wonderful and I love all the projects you do. You’re so inspiring!
Kate says
Love it! I especially love how your thought to add the decorative nails… definitely makes the piece. Awesomeness :)
Karen L. says
Love all that you all do, including things for other people–ha!
Laura@JourneyChic says
That fabric is gorgeous! Do you remember where you got it or what brand it is?
And I love the transformation – a little paint and a little fabric make such a HUGE difference!
YoungHouseLove says
I wish I knew more about the fabric- all I know is that it’s from JoAnn fabrics.
xo,
s
Karen F says
It’s amazing that you can see the beauty in something that at first appears so yucky. You’re so talented!
Janel says
I’ve never even heard of DIY magazine! Is it a regular subscription mag or one that you’d find in the check out aisle of Jo Anne’s? Love the stool makeover!
YoungHouseLove says
You can get a subscription I think! It’s by the Better Homes & Garden’s peeps (Meredith Corp) and it comes out quarterly. I’ve seen it at Barnes & Noble and Home Depot a lot. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Shelby says
You most definitely can get a subscription! Go here: http://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself-magazine/ and click the “Subscribe to DIY Magazine” link. I work for Meredith actually and this magazine is one of my absolute favorites!
I’m so glad they feature YHL, because, well I just can’t get enough of them! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks for helping out with that link (and for the kind words) Shelby!
xo,
s
Karen F says
also, just wanted to tell you that I got to this post via facebook, but when I refresh the page, this post is gone and yesterday’s post is the newest post. Not sure if it’s just my computer or what…
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, sounds like a caching issue. Try clearing your browser’s cache/data/cookies and it should be fine I think!
xo,
s
Karen F says
thanks, it seems to be fixed now!
Peggy says
Love that stool! You wouldn’t happen to know the manufacturer of that fabric, would you? The name of the pattern?
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, all I know is it’s from JoAnn Fabric. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
mike @ the lil house says
that blue is awesome
Beverley says
I definitely need to pick up a copy of the magazine to see all the other projects! The profile pic of the dog on the front cover is hilarious. I may have to try that with my two Dachshunds :)
Vidya @ Whats Ur Home Story says
Love all the blue. Almost on the same lines as your bench/chair redo. Thanks to your bench post I redid mine too. Great Q & A in the magazine. Especially loved John’s idea about adding a large picture with several smaller ones.
Melanie @ Mailbox Journey says
You guys are livin’ the dream ;)
The stool looks fantastic, love the blue base.
John@ Our Home From Scratch says
That came out great! Stool Sample would also be a fun title ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Bwahahahahhah.
xo,
s
Sayward says
stool sample!!!!!!! dying. completely dead.
Stephany says
LOVE IT!!!
kathleen says
Great, now I’m gonna be singing Stool Boom all day! (Well done on the makeover, by the way :))
Wendy says
First of all, I absolutely cracked up at the name of today’s post. :-) Thanks for the good laugh!
I recently took on a stool makeover myself, turning a discarded piece of trash into a cute red end table for our family room. http://www.oldtownhome.com/2011/4/27/Hello-My-Name-is-Wendy-And-Im-a-Dumpster-Diver/index.aspx Don’t you just love how a nice coat of paint can completely transform a room or piece of furniture?
Best part? We’re working on a closet makeover project this week that will use the same paint. Score!
YoungHouseLove says
So cute! I love the color!
xo,
s
Evin says
I am nearly done slipcovering an armchair. It has been an 18-month project (house guests, pregnancy, baby, life) but I’m still in love with the crazy crab print fabric. I originally recovered one of the pair then when we found we would be joined by a little spitter-upper we had to switch to [washable] slipcovers. All worked out and the chairs are cushy and fun. After the process, I decided it seemed fitting to name my sewing machine Pequod.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that sounds awesome! Would love to see pics!
xo,
s
Katy says
Oh I can’t wait to go out and buy it! I haven’t redone any furniture recently but I did receive a sweater for bottles in my mail. http://thefirstapartment.blogspot.com/2012/01/because-even-bottles-get-cold.html I keep cracking up looking at it on my coffee table!
~Katy
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, so cute!
xo,
s
Kim says
Good timing on this post for me! I am planing to redo a similar footstool for our bedroom today. I’ve never used nailheads before, do you just hammer them in with a regular hammer? Rubber mallet so you don’t dent them? Thanks!! That stool came out great!
YoungHouseLove says
I used a regular hammer although I’ve heard rubber mallets are recommended. The nail heads didn’t dent or anything, so I think it worked! You might be faster with a rubber mallet because you can probably bang them harder (I tapped them in lightly so I didn’t dent them).
xo,
s
Roz says
Hi there! Love this (and all of your) projects! Quick question- did you secure the batting and fabric with just the decorative nail heads? Is that enough to keep everything together? I typically see people secure everything onto the bottom of the piece so it’s out of sight, then add the decorative bits on top. What’s your secret for such loveliness? :)
Cheers! Roz
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, in this case the nail heads held everything down, and with around ten per side it was as secure as using ten staples per side on the underside! It’s really just a personal preference thing where you secure the fabric, so while I love redoing dining chairs by pulling the fabric under and stapling them so those staples are hidden, in this case I thought leaving the scalloped wood base of the top exposed and using nail heads might add interest!
xo,
s
[email protected] says
I love that fabric!! Where (in your house) did this stool land? Anxiously awaiting the completed backsplash pics ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Sadly nowhere. As soon as it was done we had to ship it back to the magazine so they could photograph it.
-John
Kristen says
That little stool turned out so cute! Love the blue.
Katy B says
I am a huge fan of the fabric (like so many others). But also, a huge fan of the original paint finish. There are a ton of bloggers out there blogging on fauxing an antique finish just like the one you had. I am not a faux finish lover, but I do love an original (been to hell and back) finish on an antique piece. Just my 2 cents.
Brandi @ His Shabby Her Chic says
LOVE the stool.
I just started getting DIY Magazine a few months ago and only realized over the weekend that you guys wrote for them. I got this excited giddy feeling like “I know them!” but I know I actually don’t.
Debbie says
the photo in the mag gives me an idea for our oyster basket that we got in lyon, france a couple years back (we bought so much furniture & antiques during that trip, we had to have a shipping container bring it all back to this side of the pond). right now its just sitting on the floor at our log cabin sans adornment, but i have all these balls of cashmere yarn (back when i had time to loom) stored away in a cedar chest at a different home. i think im going to combine the two together & see what happens.
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
Adorable makeover!
Glad to see that my camera’s not the only one to turn things colors that they’re not!
Ginny @ Goofy Monkeys says
What a great little makeover! I think I’ll start hitting yard sales in the spring to find a few things to re-do here.
Marjory says
over my christmas break, i reupholstered a chair that i’ve had sitting in my craft room forever. i used amy butler fabric from her ‘love’ line. here a few after pics: http://s879.photobucket.com/albums/ab355/marjzilla/Chair/
YoungHouseLove says
So cute and happy!
xo,
s
Stephany says
That looks GORGEOUS! Love that fabric!
Raina@ Mamacita Spins The Globe says
That little stool was so cute to start. I love the new life that you gave it! Also, so fun to get some random item in the mail, with a “fix me” note :)
Robyn says
Hmm…I wonder if I sent an old, worn out piece of furniture to you in the mail if you would redo it for me and make it lovely and beautiful. ;)
Oh and I LOVE Clara singing Itsy, Bitsy Spider. So incredibly cute!
Allyn says
Man, I want someone to send me random things to redo! Or I guess I could just start redoing things we already have…
I still really want to redo the lampshades on these guys: http://wp.me/p1Ccc8-2g
Maybe that should be one of my goals for this year. Way more likely than say, regularly working out (or at all).
YoungHouseLove says
I love those lamps!
xo,
s
Sarah @ Redhead in Ruffled Flats says
Oh my goodness, that is some seriously amazing fabric! I love the stool redo! Amazing job, Sherry!
Leigh Anne says
I just started subscribing to DIY magazine and was super excited to see my favorite bloggers in there not once, but twice! I wondered how you did that stool, so the timing of this post was right on the money. Thanks for always showing that makeovers don’t have to be hard on the wallet:)
Preethi_oodles_of_love_from_England says
you know you’re a doctor when the word stool does not immediately conjure up the three-legged or four-legged variety! hence the confused look when reading the title of the post!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- sorry for that visual!
xo,
s
Dream Day Cakes® says
Love the stool… and of course the cake stand… but that color for the stool base is AMAZING.
Lizzie says
Just made a headboard from an old closet door! It was my first go with painting a chevron pattern!
http://lizzie-ohsnap.blogspot.com/2011/12/very-cool-chevron-headboard.html
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man the pics (except for the chair and another attaching it to the wall one) won’t load! I’d love to see it!
xo,
s
Christy K says
I don’t think I would have been able to send that stool back! Love it! :)
Maureen @ This (Kinda) Old House says
I knew right away that this was for a makeover. Why, you ask? because I am constantly on the BHG site AND but the Do it Yourself mag religiously.
I love it!!! And, I have a trunk that I will be adding a seat onto (an idea from the BHG site), so this is a sign to get going on that project. :)
Lindsey @ arkadian belle woods says
So cute! I love the finished product! That’s crazy the camera makes the paint color look like that!
Rachel says
I picked up a really cute rocker on the side of the road. (gotta love the free price tag!) It has canning that is falling off on the seat portion and the back is totally missing. This is going to be my biggest challenge yet. Fortunately I have your rocker re-do to help me out.
I haven’t figured out what direction I’m going to take it yet. Leave it wood, or paint it? What kind of fabric do I want to use, etc. Decisions, decisions!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck with it!
xo,
s
Shannon @ Bungalow960 says
Oooh I love that stool! Makes me want to go to a thrift store and find something to paint/upholster.
Hannah says
WfG is one of my fave movies ever… I will sometimes just burst into “Stool Boom” for no apparent reason :) Have you ever watched the deleted scenes? My favorite quote ever: “It was a sad movie… rope broke!”
And your stool is mighty awesome!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, the deleted scenes are hilarious!
xo,
s
heather s. says
I was wondering if you were ever going to post about the stool! I saw it in the DIY magazine a couple of months ago. LOVE the fabric.
Katy says
Love it! My mom and I just reupholstered a cedar bench for the foot of the bed. I picked the fabric (Waverly Bedazzle in Silver Linning – you have done stuff in another color of the same pattern) from JoAnn and she did the staples. She actually got in from Craigslist down in Richmond/Chesterfield! (We are local, live in Fredericksburg). It’s a Lane cedar chest. Here is the before and after! (Sorry for crappy pics, both taken from my phone!)
Before: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kashkm/6573212155/in/photostream
After: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kashkm/6684836479/in/photostream
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- it looks amazing!
xo,
s
Heidi P. says
I’m in the process of reupholstering my counters stools with that same fabric! I have plans to make them waterproof by diy’ing it into oilcloth with linseed oil. Unfortunately, you have to do it outside when it’s above 40 degrees. So I’ll have to wait. Bummer.
Heidi P. says
I forgot to write this before, so p.s. :
Bizarro world! Just yesterday I was relooking at your old “Stool Boom” post to find the comment about carsiding. And I left it up all day so I wouldn’t forget to check the pinterest links for it. So every time I walked by my computer, I saw the tab “Stool Boom”. And then today… crazy.
p.p.s. I <3 your go-to phrases. Sad that sometimes people are so unnecessarily critical.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s too funny! You must have mentally sent the Stool Boom reprise post title to my brain yesterday!
xo,
s
Sophie says
I’m gearing up to do a makeover on my tiny box bedroom so I’m gonna be doing some reupholstering I think. I’m super excited, thinking soft gray on my walls and a couple of punchy pieces of furniture (pretty sure my plain pine dresser is going to go a bright coral color)
But painting my walls means that my cheerful rainbow stripes which I painted on my wall over a year ago (and then sent a picture to Sherry and she went GAGA for them) may have to go, which is a very sad event D:
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, so sad! I love those things. But a coral dresser sounds amazing!
xo,
s
Krystle @ ColorTransformedFamily says
It looks great! I love how a little paint and some good looking fabric can really give an old piece of furniture new life.
We revamped on old chair we bought at a yard sale for a $1. It is a beautiful office chair now.
http://www.colortransformedfamily.com/2011/12/02/she-wore-a-raspberry-beret/
YoungHouseLove says
So cute! I love the raspberry color!
xo,
s
Amanda says
So … do you get her back? I mean you DID invest $6.58 into her AND used sentimental fabric.
Great job! And I have to admit, I kind of like the royal bright blue.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, she is now owned by the magazine powers that be. I like to think that she went home with someone though!
xo,
s