Refinish an Old Stool

What You Need:

  • An ugly old stool that begs a make-over
  • fabric
  • staple gun
  • paint to match or compliment the fabric
  • sand paper
  • masking tape
  • a blade screwdriver
Picture

Step One

Remove the stool legs.  Some are screw on, like this one I refinished.  Others can be twisted out.


Sand the legs to rough them up, so the paint will stick better.  If you want, you can sand them really well and varnish or stain the legs rather than paint them.  That looks great too.

Step Two

Step Three

Remove the old fabric.  I use a blade screwdriver to pry off the old staples.  


Removing the fabric will sometimes reveal unpleasant surprises.  The board on the top of my stool here was broken.  Thankfully, my husband had his saw handy and cut me a new piece of wood for the top.

Step Four

Place the fabric over the stool frame and the padding, making sure the fabric is big enough to cover the edges and wrap around the bottom.  


Wrapping the fabric corners is a bit like wrapping a gift.  Make sure the corner folds are attractive, because you will be able to see them later on.


*I sewed a scene on this fabric piece before I started the stool.  Plain or patterned fabric looks great too.  The options are totally up to you.

Step Five

Replace the cardboard (or cut a new piece, if the old one is yucky) onto the bottom of the stool and screw the legs back on.


Flip your stool over and voila!  A fancy new piece of furniture for your home!

Before

After
Picture