7.26.2013

before & after: my $1 stool


One of the many reason I love summer is because of the fact that I can go outside and SPRAY PAINT! Hot dang I love to spray paint! When I picked this stool up for $1 at a yard sale last summer I knew it needed a major overhaul. The seat was ripped and the frame had seen a better day. It was just so... blah looking.

For a year, it's been living in our basement (I had good intentions of finishing it). Last week, I picked up a few cans of spray paint, recovered the seat with a piece of fabric from my stash and now I have a bright & cheery new stool.
I love it's yellow & white-ness :)
It's so much better than what it used to be.

... a few tips about spray painting almost anything ...

1) Make sure your object is nice & clean. Get rid of any dust, dirt, grease or gunk. This will help the paint stick better.
2) I usually skip the "priming" step and buy a spray paint that has primer built in. Make sure it is meant for the material that you are painting (in my case: metal).
3) Do 3-4 very light, even coats of paint instead of 1-2 thick gloppy ones. This will prevent runs and will give your piece a nice durable finish.
4) Don't be afraid! In this case, all I had to loose was the $1 that I spent on this stool. What's the worst that can happen?
Happy spray painting! What have you spray painted lately?
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[p.s. this post may be linked to any number of these blogs]


[SIDE NOTE:  To recover the seat, I removed the ripped vinyl/leather to find a thick piece of foam & a wood disc (which the base had been screwed in to). I added another thin layer of foam (for added "cush") and pulled & stapled my fabric around the cushion to the bottom of the wood disc. This is a similar process as you'd do to recover a dining chair. It didn't maintain its exact shape (since it was almost a boxy circle... If that makes any sense), but the added foam made it a lot softer and more comfortable. It was really just a trial & error process since I had never recovered anything like this before.]

11 comments:

  1. Fantastic! What a great addition to your home and thanks for the helpful tips :)

    Enjoy your weekend. Hugs!

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  2. Nice!! I love that you kept the "foot ring" metal. And the fabric is cheery - lookin good my friend

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  3. Looks amazing, Shannon!!! Great job. How did you cover the seat? Did you just pop the fabric straight over the vinyl/leather or did you do a bit of reupholstering? x

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    1. Thanks Nikki! I added a little "side note" section above explaining my process of recovering the seat :)

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    2. Good one - I'll check it out. Thanks! x

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  4. This is awesome!!! Such a great idea!!

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  5. This is such a great idea. It looks amazing!

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  6. It looks beautiful!
    Thanks for sharing on Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.
    I gave you a FB shout out for the post...hopefully some will stop by to take a look :)
    Blessings,
    Sinea
    Ducks ‘n a Row

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  7. Wow! Looks great! Found you at Whimsy Wednesday.

    Be sure to stop by Manic Monday to link up!

    Renea (http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com)

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  8. Hi Shannon, I am excited about finding your blog. Your posts are very inspiring; I'm a sucker for before and after photos :) Also, you are so organized . . . I'm hoping that by following you, some of your organizational habits will rub off on me, LOL.
    Have a lovely week.
    Your newest blogging sister, Connie :)

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