Ikea footstools getting customized

     Happy Monday everyone!!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I know I sure did.  My creative juices were flowing, and as such I managed to get a few projects started/finished, some on my list and others that suddenly inspired me to drop everything and do.

     A few months ago, I bought 2 small footstools from Ikea.  Super cheap at just $14.99 apiece.  I picked out the off white canvas slipcover figuring I could just bleach away when needed.  My initial plan for them was to flank them on each side of my bookcase, but when I got them set up, they came up, well kinda short, plus the off-white slipcovers didn't look right next to my very bright white bookcase. See my dilemma? I knew I would find a home for them eventually and recovering them would be a snap.

    Here are a few pictures I found off Pinterest that really inspired me.  

     I headed to Jo-ann's and hit it big with 50% off all their fabric. I knew ahead of time that my 2 footstools would not be paired together, so I chose 2 separate fabrics.  Both were on sale for $5.99 a yard and I bought 2 yards of each fabric. For $24 bucks, plus just a few extra dollars for a little bit of trim, I managed to customize these footstools to my own liking.  

     What I used to cover the footstools was my staple gun and my hot glue gun.  You will also need a pair of fabric scissors to trim to size.  If you didn't want to permanently attach your fabric you could easily substitute the glue for velcro strips.  I used 2 yards for each with some fabric left over, (for future sofa pillows), and 2 yards of trim for each, with very little left over.  You can omit the trim, but I chose to include it, as I just liked the look.  

     I started with the top of the footstool.  I spread out my fabric and placed the top on it.  I then just cut out a large square, giving me enough fabric to fold it on top and staple.  Work on one side first with a staple and then pull the opposite side taut and again place a staple. 

Here it is without the slipcover.

                                              Fabric and trim for footstool 1.

         Stapled underneath.  I use a little bit of hot glue to keep the fabric down before stapling in place.          

Here's what the top looks like finished.

This is an interior wall inside the footstool.  I hot glued the top and stapled.  You can see at the bottom, the material was a little longer.  I simply folded it over and gave it a bit of hot glue to make a seam.

This is before I added the trim.  You can leave it as is or add a decorative trim.  I applied the trim using a hot glue gun.

                        Here's what the finished project looks like.

 My next thing to do, is to just press it to get the wrinkles out and then spray some scotch guard to protect it.

Here is the second one I made using the same exact steps as the first.  You will be seeing this same fabric again in a future post.

She's getting all BLINGED out...

Reupholstering for the first time.

     I think I've mentioned before that I am a seat of my pants kind of decorator inside my home. Sometimes I manage to come up with some pretty amazing ideas, executed well, and other times, well I hide the evidence.  I've read a few blogs from some very talented DIY ladies out there, on the topic of reupholstering.  They make it seem fun and fairly easy to do.  I want to join in on the fun and easy to do. 

     Okay, I'm about to admit something to you all, that I have NEVER said out loud.  I am a "chairaholic".  Yup, I see a chair and I can't say no, although I've gotten a lot better.  In fact so good, I have managed throughout the years to clear out most of my chairs. I said most, but NOT all.  Back when I worked full time and had a disposable income (has it been 10 years already?), I paid a whole lotta money for a pair of chairs that I had shipped from France.  I was instantly in love with having authentic French furniture.  The lines of the chairs are AMAZING, the orange and black tint to the wood, not so much, and the fabric...um don't even get me started on how ugly it is.  But love is blind in many cases, and this has certainly been no exception.  Let me introduce to you one of the pair.  (The other one is camera shy, or is it she's hiding in the basement under a ton of stuff?)  Now is the time to put on your rose colored glasses if you have any. 

I wasn't lying when I said she was a little on the "orange" side and her frock, well again, don't even get me started.  But I have a vision, or I've never taken off my own rose colored glasses.  I needed to seriously do something to tone her down and make her more in line with my style and taste.  (I'm still figuring out my style and taste).  I grabbed a while back this thing called "Rub n' Buff", it was at Michael's and I was armed with a 40% off coupon.  This tiny tube actually covers up to 20 square feet....impressive to say the least.  You only have to use a minimal amount and by that I mean pea size for each section of the chair.  

Here's what I used...a pair of disposable gloves, a somewhat stiff paint brush, and the Rub n' Buff.  It's best to do this outside, although it doesn't have that, obnoxious of an odor.  I simply squeezed a tiny amount on the tip of the brush and lightly painted it on, I then went over it with my finger.  That really helps to smooth it out and distribute it a great deal more than the brush does. The brush was great for the smaller crevices and trust me there were plenty.  

  

Here she is looking a little "fancy".  Look at those legs...now can you see what I first fell for?  I left the chair outside all afternoon.  I have decided to do a section at a time, just in case at some point I feel that I am not able to reupholster the chair.  The back of the chair being my starting point, since I have never done this before.  It took a couple of hours of just pulling each individual upholstery tack out, using needle nose pliers.  Ouch, is all I can say every time I pinched myself.  

Being cheap and not wanting to invest in expensive fabric, I purchased a painter's drop cloth from Lowe's.  It cost a whopping $20 bucks and should be enough to do the whole chair. I actually went with it because I love the look of the canvas.  I did bleach it and washed it a few times to "soften" it up.  

Once I had the back fabric off, I placed it on top of the drop cloth and gave myself an inch all around.

As you can see, I never work alone.  Now onto the moment of truth.  I already owned a staple gun.  I just simply tucked the fabric slightly under and stapled.  A few times I had to remove the staples because they weren't sitting flush, but all in all, it's pretty easy and (fun).  I made sure to tighten and tug the fabric and almost managed to finish it all, when this happened.

I ran out of staples....ugh.  I can still remove the tacks and cut the fabric but the actual reupholstering part will have to wait. I am toying with the idea of using some trim to cover up the staples but using a roll of upholstery tacks should hide my stapling, and by roll not individual ones to be hammered in. 

      Here's a close up....hey not too shabby for my first time! More to come I promise.  But in the meantime, I did see a chair in the window of a consignment shop....