Fantasy Footstool (Little Tyke Stool Makeover)
1 Material
Thought I was gonna say 'football' didn't ya?! Ok, so it's not really a foot stool per se, it's just a small stool that I bought eons ago for my porcelain dolls (used to make them). Like so many other things in my world , it has gone mostly unused for a long time. When I first purchased it I slapped some clear on it and called it good (since the focal was the doll and the stool was inconsequential at the time).
Now I find myself with a GREAT Niece and Nephew (how the heck did that happen, I'm not really that old yet am I? .. I know it's my sister's fault! She's older by 5 yrs, doesn't sound like much , but it's worth mentioning in my book! : ).
They are little shavers and cannot reach the vanity when they visit. I ran across this stool the other day and thought it would be a perfect addition to my guest bathroom for them to use when they visit, but , not as BORING as it was then. My brain was definitely revolting against putting "THAT" in my beautifully quaffed bathroom , so how to 'fix' it? hmmmmm
(just fyi , this stool was not made for dolls, it is a heavy , hardy little stool).
I think Mr. Stool is in a much happier place now. : ) Shall we see?
NOTE: For all of you that have expressed an interest in 'Hobart' and how to make him: I am currently creating a tutorial and will post it on Hometalk soon, as well as add the link to this post.
Hobart is extremely 'puffy chested' with all the attention!
AND IT'S HERE! NOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN
http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/rooms/hobart-gets-a-friend-sock-horse-tutorial-28692023
Did I say boring?? Yes, yes I did. How Mr. Stool started out.
Mixing my paint. In this bathroom there are pictures of carrousel horses. They were the inspiration for this makeover.
I wanted a grey color, but wanted a tad bit of sparkle or sheen to it (colors In this bathroom are predominately grey and blue).
I mixed 1/4 cup Fusion Champlain (cream color and one of my favs), 1/4 cup Fusion metalics brushed steel (sparkly) and a tablespoon of Fusion Bedford (light grey). I did not end up with sparkle , but what I did get was PEARL ... Oooooohhh Ahhhhhh Love the color. So, I sanded down the stool and got to painting.
Here you can see the 'sheen' of the paint (very hard to capture on camera)
This shows the sanded top and two coats of paint.
Distressed the grey and waxed with clear finishing paste by Minwax, then went over areas with black wax.
Stained the top a dark brown (just something I mixed together).
Put white wax over top so it appeared 'weathered'. (you can also see the sheen of the pearl color here on the handle)
Here comes the cool part (ok so that's just my opinion....). Found a picture I liked , printed it out, and on one of my many trips to space and beyond (alright you got me, it was the internet and most likely on Pinterest or Hometalk) I heard someone say that using chalk on the back of a pic and then tracing the picture, worked really well as a transfer medium. So I tried it , and YAY it worked great. Then I began painting. This is about a quarter of the way done.
After I finished painting , I also used one of my stencils and choose a small portion of it to use in the corners. These were painted with my grey pearl paint and copper (to match the sea horse's saddle which Is also copper)
And... here is what it looked like. Much better than boring , right? I have to be honest here, I was so worried about smearing the horse that I just could not use my usual wipe on poly! I had some polyurethane semi-gloss by Minwax spray, so I used that to seal it. Since this is to stand on I will probably go back with a couple more coats and use the wipe on this time (it's flat, which I prefer).
And here's Hobart (my 'sock unicorn') helping to show off Mr. Stool's new style and digs! (Hobart was also made for this room and usually sits on top of the medicine cabinet , but being the nosey bugger that he is, he just had to come down and check it out).
Hobart loves the new Mr. Stool, and so do I : ) Ah, much better, don't you think?
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4 of 43 comments
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Excellent skills! Very sweet little stool.....
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Thank you so much
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So cute! It reminds me of the child furniture from when I was a kid... only better! :)
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Thank you Ethel!
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Really interested in a pattern for HOBART also. would you consider sharing?
I too would love to have that pattern for the unicorn
Beautiful!!!!!! Great job!!!!