Stool Project

One of the projects I intended to take on this summer was a re-vamping of our master bedroom closet.  Well, so far all that has happened is that I moved all our shoes around and vacuumed under them and set them up in rows with mates together.  Well, you've got to start somewhere...

I thought I'd like to set it up to be more like a dressing room and put a small ottoman in there to sit on for tying shoes or slipping socks on and such as that.  I've been on the lookout for such an ottoman and tripped - literally - over one recently at one of the local junk-tique stores.  It was less than $30, so it came home with me.

Well, first, it didn't even make it out the door with me before it lost a leg.

A leg that I couldn't get screwed back into the base.

So, it spent the night at the consignment store until the next day when the husband of the owner repaired it. 

bargain ottoman

It was covered in a nice embroidered silk fabric.  However, when I got it home, I decided it was just too short and we would never be able to get up if we ever sat on it unless I also added one of those stainless steel pull bars like you see in a handicap bathroom. 

Then, I noticed that it is just the right height and size to sit in front of the wingback chair there in the master bedroom.  So, I plunked it down there and left it for a couple or three weeks to see if that would be its new home. 

The only problem is, the coloring in the nice embroidered silk fabric doesn't really fit in the master bedroom.  So, today I tackled reupholstering it.  First, I decided to remove the silk fabric to save for another project.  This also meant I had to remove the black cotton fabric that was glued to the plywood base.  So, I unscrewed the legs and set to work.

removing the fabric

A screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and lots of pulling were required to take the fabric off.  I discovered a nice cotton sheeting covering the cushion.

stripped

The silk now became a pattern for cutting the square which I'd use to recover the cushion.  My next step required fabric, a staple-gun, and some scissors.

beginning to recover

Years ago I had some fabric that I had bought to slip-cover the chair with which this stool would be paired.  (I haven't mustered the courage to make a slip-cover, yet.)  So, I dug that out and set to work.  I had borrowed an electric stapler from my mother and father a couple of weeks ago.  So, I cut my fabric square and got it all lined up, dug out an extension cord, and was ready to stretch and shoot.  The stapler, however, was not cooperative and would not shoot.  I unloaded, re-loaded, turned it off, turned it on, squeezed, pushed banged, and cursed and still it would not shoot.

So, I gave my favorite sister-in-law, JoAnn, a call.  She thought my niece, Julie, had one and rustled it up and sent it over by her grandson, Jayme.  Soon, I was in business and shooting staples left and right.  The stretching and stapling seemed to be going well and then...I ran out of staples.  Thankfully, Mike's son, Stephen, came by at about the time I discovered the lack of staples and said he had some.  So, Toby and I walked to the top of the hill and got a couple of strips of staples.  Soon, we were back in business and finished attaching the fabric to the plywood base.

newly covered ottoman

It was a wonderful project to complete out on the back porch on a cool, breezy fall afternoon. 

in the master bedroom

a closer look

I think it turned out looking fabulous!  Now, if I could only find somebody who wanted to take a practice run at making a slip-cover that I could offer my chair as a practice piece!  I have enough of this damask/leaf/tone-on-tone print left to make a chair cover.  Any takers?