Black and white thrift-store stool makeover

I found this shabby little stool at the Goodwill outlet a few weeks ago for only $2. Nothing special, but it was sturdy and obviously the price was perfect.

I needed a little perch for my basement studio and knew it would be a quick project.

A coat of stain-blocking primer and a couple of coats of my favorite black latex enamel was all it needed. That and some "dipped" gold feet. Because what doesn't look better with gold dipped feet?

But why stop there? I covered the seat with a few layers of quilt batting (because that's what I had on hand) and a black and white houndstooth-y upholstery fabric sample (from this long-ago haul).

It's not really what I would call "cushy," but it's a bit more comfortable. And I'm crazy for black and white right now.

In situ. Yeah, the place is still kind of a mess.

See more furniture transformations here >>

The Jenny Lind nightmare and the make-do headboard

So you might have noticed in the shared kids bedroom reveal that something was missing. Something I told you I started working on way back in February.

Remember Jenny? Jenny Lind?

I got this headboard and footboard out of my parents' basement, but once upon a time, it was in my great grandmother's house. The finish was not good, so I decided to paint it and make it a fun big girl bed for Elise.

I briefly wondered if I should try and put the bed together to make sure everything was OK before I got started, as older beds can be slightly different dimensions than modern mattresses. But I was pregnant and that sounded like a lot of extra hassle. So instead, I got to work and figured whatever happened, we'd be able to make it work. This, my friends, is called foreshadowing.

It took me about 4-5 hours to sand both the headboard and the footboard. Thanks to some unseasonably warm and sunny February days, I was able to do 90 percent of the sanding outside. I used one of those foam sanding blocks; they are so much easier to use than regular sandpaper, especially when sanding something with a lot of curves and details like this. I'm a fan.

I was excited to get a custom-mixed enamel paint, but after a quick trip to Sherwin Williams, I learned that they couldn't mix enamel in a deep pinky red because they don't have a base for it. My options? Go with regular latex paint or pick a different color of enamel. I left the store with their advice so I could think about it.

I didn't want to use semi-gloss in this situation, so I decided just to get some flat paint mixed and then follow up with polyurethane. More coats, more work, but I could get the color I wanted AND that hard glossy finish. I ended up buying the paint at Lowes, though, because I didn't really want to make a special trip back to Sherwin Williams.

Then it was time to paint! I started out with my favorite stainblocking primer (Kilz Premium Latex) and followed up with a coat of flat gray paint in hopes that would cut the number of coats of pink I needed. Painting deep saturated colors on top of pure white primer is a lot of work.

It was around the second coat of pink paint (in total, my fourth coat) that I began hating this project. Why did I have to choose such a saturated pink? Why couldn't I have just used white enamel and have been done in two coats? Because my girl wanted a pink bed. And although I'm sure I could have talked her out of it, I wanted her to have a pink bed too. After the fourth coat of pink, I decided it was good enough to stop. The middle of a project can suck the soul out of you sometimes.

(Spray paint would have been a good option here, but being pregnant and winter, it wasn't going to happen that way.)

And then I went and had a baby and the bed sat in the basement for over a month. But near the end of April, I picked the brush back up and gave it two coats of polyurethane to finish it off. The shine! So pretty.

Then it was time to put the bed together. Sorry, no photos of this process. You'll soon find out why. My dad brought over the metal rails and the box spring just wasn't fitting. He thought maybe he had more longer rails still in his basement and maybe he picked up the wrong ones. Fast forward a couple of weeks, he brings a collection of six rails over. Dan and I struggled to get everything assembled and we discovered the first pair was way too long. Like six inches too long. We try a second pair, they were again too short. Like an inch too short. We try a third pair that seemed just about right and we put the box spring in and the whole thing was crazy wobbly, not to mention crazy high.

I don't think this old bed was intended for use with a box spring. It probably had some sort of platform missing. Anyhow, it wasn't working with the box spring. And it wouldn't work with just an unsupported mattress either. So we took it all apart again.

I talked to my dad and we decided that maybe we could just attach the headboard and footboard to a modern metal bed frame. Wait, make that just the headboard. The metal bedframe wouldn't be long enough to be able to attach the footboard as that end is usually open. OK, I thought, I'll sacrifice the footboard.

When he went to attach the headboard to the metal frame, the heights didn't line up well. The legs were all spindly where the metal frame would attach. There wasn't a flat surface where the two should meet. Not only that, but the headboard is slightly warped. (I noticed that before, but didn't realize it was going to be an issue.)

So now I have a beautiful but useless pink Jenny Lind headboard and footboard taking up space in my basement. All that time wasted! Eight coats of primer, paint and poly! Kills me.

I put so many hours into this project, I'm not ready to quit them just yet. I'm hanging onto them until I figure out if there's anything else that can be done with them. I've seen benches, etc. made from beds and cribs, so maybe they still have a future.

But what's the new plan for Elise's bed? We ended up using a plain metal bed frame to get everything up off the floor. At this time, I'm not ready to spend a lot of money on another headboard. The cheapest new ones I liked were still over $100. And after this debacle, I'm more than a little scared to go the vintage route.

For now, Elise's make-do "headboard" is two giant throw pillows from Home Goods. It is what it is, but I think it kind of works? It is a kid's bed after all.

I also think that it might be wise to wait until Etta's eventually out of the crib and then just buy two matching beds. The long-term plan is to move them upstairs in a few years and matching beds would look so good. Plus it gives me a few years to casually shop for a deal. And maybe my new-found fear of vintage beds will wear off a little.

Any ideas of what I could do with my useless headboard and footboard?

Rounding out the family room seating

The nesting bug has kicked into full gear around here. I have some exciting projects coming up, but first, I'll start off with this minor addition to our family room: a new blue-gray tufted chair.

Recently, we've noticed a need for more seating in this room. Elise is getting bigger and taking up more space and with another baby on the way, more seating is never a bad thing. Another person = another seat. Makes sense to me!

Initially, I was searching for a reasonably-priced loveseat to add, but that probably would have crowded the space too much. So we shuffled things around, brought the ottoman to the center to function as an actual ottoman and made space for the new chair. (It's from Overstock!)

Funny how bringing in more furniture sometimes makes the room feel bigger. The TV seems farther away, but the whole room feels cozier and more comfortable.

See more family room posts >>

Bedroom details: Pillow + foot stool

I'm not a fan of a thousand throw pillows on my bed; one is enough.

I made this pillow with a couple of fabric sample swatches I had been hoarding for just this purpose. It's a simple square cover with an invisible zipper on the bottom. I made it to fit a down pillow insert I picked up on clearance at Bed, Bath and Beyond for something like $4. Add on a couple bucks for the zipper and we're all in for under $7. Cheap cheap!

Onto the second project!

I transformed this foot stool to give our elderly kitty cat an easier way to get up on the bed, but the only one who's been using it is Elise. Can't teach an old cat new tricks. Ah, well. 

It started out as one of a pair of counter-height stools. I bought them something like 10 years ago, but we weren't using them anymore and they were just wasting away in an upstairs closet. It was time that I did something with them or got rid of them.

I had my dad cut one in half, making the top cushioned part about 14 inches tall.

I painted the legs black then recovered the top with an upholstery remnant I picked up at Hancock fabrics for $5/yd.

I wrapped the cushion like a present and stapled the fabric to the underside. I treated the corners very simply, just folding the fabric at a 45 degree angle and stapling the excess underneath.

It was so easy I'm trying to decide if I want to cut down the other stool and make another, but, you know, I'm not sure we actually need another...

A gift for me: A new work table

Before I get too deep into showing you what I made for Christmas gifts, I thought I would quickly show you one of the awesome handmade gifts I received.

My dad made me this gigantic counter-height work table. It's two feet deep and six feet long! That's some serious surface space. My small workbench has become so crowded with supplies it makes it hard to spread out. I need to reorganize all of the spaces, a project for another post, but I'm so glad to have a new huge clean surface. Even if it is in our grubby unfinished basement.

Record cabinet makeover: Scratched to basic black

My brother found this old record cabinet at a thrift store for $10. I told him to drop it off for a makeover and decided to lump that in as a Christmas gift. It's about the size of an end table, so I knew it wouldn't take long.

It's solid wood and was in good structural shape, but the top was really scratched up. See how sad it was?

My brother didn't have any specific instructions about how he wanted it to look, so I just decided to go with basic black. Keep it simple.

This was my first time painting with latex enamel. I thought it might give me a smoother finish than regular latex wall paint and it did. It comes in a few colors (like black, white, navy maybe?) off the shelf at a similar price point to regular latex paint ($9/quart). I chose a satin finish, but it also comes in gloss. It takes longer to dry/cure than regular latex paint, but I think it's worth it for furniture. It feels smooth and durable and doesn't need a top coat. I hardly used a fourth of the quart on this cabinet, so I'll be using it again I'm sure.

I did not paint the inside. I know it's begging to be painted, but I resisted. With the dividers and all the angles, that just looked like a peculiar form of torture, even for this girl who likes to paint nearly anything. The finish inside was in pretty good shape, so I don't feel terrible about it.

But I did want to put some small surprise on the inside and if it wasn't going to be with a paint color, the insides of the doors needed something. Enter Mod Podging with fabric to the rescue. Seriously, this is like my new favorite thing to do (if you didn't know already).

I found a yard of this home dec fabric on the upholstery remnant pile at Hancock Fabrics. (The remnant pile recently went up from $4/yd. to $5/yd. Oh no!) Anyway, it looked sort of antiquey and modern at the same time. It's mostly traditional, but the parrots make it a little cuckoo bananas. And I like that. A quick google image search tells me it's regularly about $15-25/yd., so I'm happy with the price I paid.

I picked out these glass knobs at Hobby Lobby on sale 50% off, so $8 for the pair. I have to admit, it was unintentional, but the slightly yellowish tint coordinates well with the fabric on the inside.

And now the cabinet is ready for his record collection. And soooo much happier!

............................................................................

This is part of my 2011 Handmade Gift Challenge.

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THE most comfortable chairs are now in my dining room

Our new dining chairs are here! And they coordinate with the freshly painted table pretty well (in that non-matchy matchy way, of course).

Before

Our old chairs were those ubiquitous wood Windsor-ish chairs that I've seen in every thrift store I've ever been in. They were not special and very not comfortable sitting for long stretches. Time for a change.

The world of dining chairs is enormous, so I came up with a few parameters to help guide my decision:

1. They had to be comfortable, which meant I needed to be able to test them out before buying. (Sorry, internet.)
2. The seats needed to be upholstered, preferably the backs too.
3. The upholstery needed to be wipe-able: vinyl, leather, fake leather, whatever. I briefly considered going with heavily scotch guarded fabric, but in the end, I know I would have been constantly worried about sticky hands and stains. I'm low maintenance. I need low maintenance things.

I searched for a set of chairs secondhand, but came up short. I found a few sets, but most older chairs are very petite. We are pretty average-size people, but the smallness of the chairs just did not look inviting. And every single set I found had wobbly chairs. Maybe they could have been fixed, maybe not. I didn't want to take that chance. This is not a "holidays only" kind of dining room. These chairs are going to be used everyday, multiple times a day. Anything uncomfortable or wobbly need not apply.

After a lot more searching, I was able to meet all of my criteria with these slightly mid-century looking chairs from World Market. But I stalked them until they went on sale, and when they did, I pounced.

Regular price, they are $140, on sale for $110, and then I used a couple of coupons (out of the Entertainment Book of all places), which brought them down to about $103 each including tax. Not cheap, but not super expensive either. And we are going to use the heck out of these chairs, so it's money well spent.

I like how they don't stick up too far above the table, maintaining a more casual feel. I'm thinking of adding the green painted chair to the mix, especially as we transition Elise out of the high chair. She can beat that thing up, and it won't really matter. Plus it adds a nice shot of color.

I'm almost finished with the whole room. I have a couple of tiny things to add, some accessorizing and then I'm calling it!

Chevron kid's chair (from a clearance find & a fabric remnant!)

I found this kid's chair on clearance at Home Goods a few months ago for five bucks.

Before

There wasn't anything wrong with it... except that it was ugly. (Seriously ugly.) And I do my best not to encourage the "princess" stuff too much.

I painted the body of the chair and started to do something decorative on the seat and the back, but I didn't like how that was turning out, so I primed over it. I thought about decoupaging it, but the seat is about 13 inches wide. Too wide to use a piece of cardstock like I did on this step stool makeover. So it sat for a couple of months until I figured out what to do.

Then I found this awesome yellow chevron patterned fabric remnant for $3. It wasn't quite a full yard, and I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but it was so pretty, I snapped it up immediately. It wasn't until I got it home that I realized it would be perfect for my chair.

I cut two pieces of fabric, each slightly larger than the surfaces I wanted to cover: one for the back and one for the seat.

I flipped the fabric over print side down and spread Mod Podge all over the back of the fabric with a large paintbrush. The brush forced the Mod Podge into the fibers in a way that a foam brush probably would not. I just used regular Mod Podge and it worked fine, though they supposedly do make a version for fabric. (The Michael's I go to didn't carry it.)

It's important to note that I did this on top of a piece of plastic. You don't want your fabric to stick to your work surface! I used a plastic bag I cut open and spread out, but you could also use plastic wrap or something like it.

After the fabric had dried, it was still very pliable, but slightly stiff, sort of like oil cloth or vinyl. This made it very easy to apply to the surface of the chair. I covered the seat with a layer of Mod Podge and smoothed the fabric out. I wrapped it around the edges and trimmed where necessary. So much easier to work with than paper, actually! You can re-position the fabric and adjust as necessary without fear of peeling or tearing.

After that was dry, I top-coated with two more layers of Mod Podge and a layer of water-based polyurethane. The texture of the fabric is still there, but it's sealed and smooth-ish.

Don't tell Elise, but her "chair" also flips down and becomes a step stool. She might get ideas about using it to get a leg up into my craft/office wardrobe.

We have this tiny corner in our dining room behind the wardrobe where she likes to sit and hide behind the curtains, so I thought it was the perfect spot to tuck this tiny chair.

p.s. I had never Mod Podged with fabric before and this video tutorial at Mod Podge Rocks was really helpful.


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