My Stool Sample

We needed tall bar stools when we moved into our house. They could not have backs on them so they could slide all the way under the bar in order to give any sort of walk-through path between them and the kitchen table. I also did not want fabric on my stools because fabric + kids eating = stains. Another problem is that I don't like to spend money, at least not for things like bar stools and polarized sunglasses. So I did a temporary fix and bought $20 bar stools at the Kmart. They were the right height, but the light colored wood was wrong and they were as boring as my required college religion course. Three years after that temporary solution, I saw an idea to spruce up my stool samples here.

I always have to wait for my darling husband to leave the house before pulling out the crafts. He does not have the vision and gets anxiety about the "worse" before it gets better. Luckily for us both, he's a fireman and spends a lot of nights away from the chaos I create. I often pretend to be sleeping on a Saturday morning when he gets up early and softly kisses my forehead before leaving to work. Keep in mind that he loves me in spite of me. I spring to life as soon as he backs out of the driveway. I sprint to my trunk where I've hidden craft supplies from the Hobby Lobby that I bought over my lunch hours.

See how I lose my focus? Ok, back to the stool samples. Here's what was stashed in my trunk: spray paint, Mod Podge, and quilting squares of a fabric that matched my blue/brown/green vibe. I also had some polycrylic leftover from another project. I decided to start and finish one stool so I wouldn't waste all $60 that I had invested in the three stools. I spray painted the stool a dark brown, which seems like a healthy color choice for a stool sample, you know what I mean? While that was drying, I used a bowl to trace and cut a circle of fabric that was about a 1/2" smaller than the top of the stool. I Mod Podged it to the seat and sealed everything with about 3 coats of polycrylic.

Wah Lah! I took no before picture, so here you can see the before and after picture all together.

Here's another after that shows the beautiful thin brown legs, similar to what I remember having as a child after spending a couple weeks at the lake.

It's been a couple years, and after being used by lots of little bottoms, the stools are holding up just fine. And also we've been able to remove all speckles of brown spray paint that I accidentally got on my black car.