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I've been meaning to get around to this blog post for what seems like forever (I feel like I say this about all my posts because sometimes life takes over but anyways). This project has been complete since Halloween, oops.
When Jeff and I moved in together last year, I wanted to have the house styled perfectly but unfortunately that wasn't realistic. We started fresh so we had to get the essentials first before worrying about the decor. This meant a couch, dining room table, mattress, bed frame, comforter, vacuum etc... All big ticket items SO buying super cute stuff wasn't on the top of the list. Oh, I forgot to mention, I had just graduated flight attendant training and was on what we call that new-hire budget so balling on a budget was essential. We were gifted a couple things by friends, some we kept some we didn't.
We did keep two barstools with the intention of giving them some love via a makeover. Of course that took forever to get around to because I was getting acclimated to life in the skies.
Anyways... my amazing mom finally gave me the inspiration to give these babies a much deserved makeover. It all started when she came over to my house with two super cute furry body pillow covers from Target, duh. She was telling me how cute these would look if we reupholstered the cushions on the barstools with these body pillow covers. I looked at the color and the fabric and immediately got inspired. We got pretty lucky with this project because Jeff knows someone who reupholsters furniture. We simply removed the cushions from the stool itself and we were lucky enough to have him professionally reupholster the cushion with the body pillow cover fabric. You can easily find a reupholstery professional near you if you are interested in this type of DIY project.
While we (patiently) waited for him to finish reupholstering the cushions, my brother and I began sanding the stools. These stools are 100% real wood so I wanted to make sure I sanded correctly without damaging or scratching the wood. I enlisted the help of my little brother because, well what else are little brothers good for?! Just kidding! I love spending quality time with my brother and this was a good opportunity to do so. Another plus is he took woodwork classes in high school so he was bound to make sure I didn't scratch the wood when sanding. He taught me to go with the grain of the wood instead of against the grain (maybe everyone already knew that but I didn't!).
When we were done sanding, I used a chalky spray paint from Michael's in the color/finish Mink. I had used this brand before when doing a furniture makeover with my mom on my night stand so I knew I liked the chalky finish and quality. I thought one can would be enough but we ended up needing two cans. I did a layer and let it dry for a few hours and then a second layer and then just a breeze of a quick last layer after the second was dry.
After all was said and dry, Jeff screwed the cushions back on and tightened all the screws and VOILA!
Here are the before pictures of the barstools (very 80's):
And the finished product (ahhhhh so proud of these babies! thanks to my awesome brother and mom for all the help!):
It feels so rewarding to have furniture you put work into. What are some of your favorite furniture makeovers?!
xx,
Scarlet
