Happy Friday! I can’t believe we’re already a week away from Thanksgiving…guess it’s time to take down my Halloween stuff and make way for CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!! (Yes, I’m aware that I’ve totally bypassed any Thanksgiving decor, but since we aren’t hosting dinner or anything, I doubt it will be missed). This is going to be such a fun holiday season, especially considering (a) this is our first Christmas in our home and (b) our first Christmas as an old married couple. 
I’m super excited for a big Christmas tree, as opposed to our sad little apartment tree from years past…
First, please notice that Bryan is taller than the tree. Also notice the little Christmas kitten hiding underneath. We came home several times to find the tree on its side, thanks to Wrigley and his penchant for trying to climb up inside the tree and play with the lights. Hopefully he won’t do as much damage to a more hefty evergreen. I’m sure there will be several posts to come regarding our adventures in holiday decorating…get excited!
Now, on to the subject of this post…this country-tastic footstool I picked up a few weeks ago for $7.99:
I know I shouldn’t be all judgmental when there’s a huge wooly cat perch in the background, but this little stool was just dying for a makeover. The fabric isn’t coming across very accurately in the pictures, but imagine a yucky beige background with pale blue dots. Like many Goodwill finds, the entire thing just looked tired.
Taking off the cushion was an adventure in itself. After taking out one round of staples (using a flat head screwdriver and pliers), I discovered that those staples were just holding the cording in place…
And there was another round of staples actually holding the fabric and that black cover down. Awesome. So, I took all those staples out as well and unveiled this:
What. Is. That?
I mean really. It looks like gross hair or worms or something, right? If nothing else, something has to be living in there…
As soon as I saw this nastiness, any thought of reusing the stuffing (or whatever you want to call the innards…stuffing seems appropriate given the upcoming holiday though!) quickly flew out the window. I tossed it all in the garbage and tried to think of a substitute. Meanwhile, I primed and painted the legs with satin white paint.
Here they are all primed. I decided to use paint out of the can instead of spray paint, mainly because I was working in the dungeon portion of our basement instead of outdoors (too cold). Indoors + spray painting fumes = bad times. Believe me.
In between coats of paint I picked up some burlap fom Joann fabric for $3.99/yard. I purchased 2 yards since I figure I can use the extras on other projects, but 1 yard or maybe less definitely would have completed this project easily. While I was there I checked out foam prices and it seemed kind of expensive considering it was just fluff. When I got home, I decided that I already had something around my house that would work, and I guarantee you have the same thing at your house. Any guesses?
Yep, that’s just an old pillow we weren’t using anymore (we already have 9 pillows on our bed….no joke…we don’t need spares). I figured the stuff inside the pillow is cushy and soft, and for something like this footstool no one would ever know the difference.
Ripping apart the pillow and cutting it down to size was a totally trial-by-error experience, but I eventually ended up with a rough cushion:
Then I flipped it over on top of my fabric (while making sure the foam stayed lined up on the frame) and cut the burlap into shape. From there, I basically followed the same steps I’ve talked about for re-upholstering a seat cushion (here’s a white chair I did, and here’s the red one for my nephew). Here’s the stool after a few staples:
The only tricky part of this project was getting the burlap attached around the legs of the stool, as there wasn’t anywhere underneath to wrap and staple the fabric. Instead, I just stapled as close as I could to the leg (between my fingers in the picture below):
I got everything stapled, but it still looked unfinished. The whole time I worked on this project I had a very Restoration Hardware-esque end result in mind, like this:
(You can find this actual Restoration Hardware stool on the store’s website). So, what was mine missing (besides the hefty price tag)? Nailhead trim of course! Luckily, these are easily procured…
…and easily attached with a hammer:
The little OCD person hiding inside made me use a pen cap to measure the space between the railheads. Yeah, I’m that person…
I kept them kind of far apart only because I didn’t know how many I would need to get all the way around. It ended up taking one full box and about 1/3 of another, so I probably have enough to go back and close in the gaps. Not sure if I should or not…thoughts? I’m also thinking about distressing the legs and maybe even using a little dark stain on them so they don’t look soooo clean and white. Definitely open to suggestions from our HUMONGOUS readership
Here’s how it looks all finished (for now):
No idea where we’ll use a footstool, but for now it’s making a bare corner of our living room look a little nicer. Well, that’s it for now…hope you all have a great weekend!
xox, katie
PS: Big thanks to Joy at Girl v. The World for hosting a gift certificate giveaway for a cool company called NOVICA which I just happened to win! Yippee! I never win. Open to suggestions for what to buy with my ca$h money. Also, go check out Joy’s blog…super cute!
