Coastal Burlap Upholstered Footstool

You know that thought in the back of your mind when you see something in a thrift store that you know would be perfect for a makeover? But you dont get it because you're looking for something else for an entirely different project. You can't get that thing out of your head? Yes, that feeling. I saw the perfect foot stool recently for this months Themed Furniture Makeover Day as soon as I saw it, tucked up behind stuff and underneath a rickety table, I knew I could make a such a cool coastal burlap footstool out of it.
So I went back the next day.
And it was gone :(


By that time I had everything figured out in my head . I knew exactly how I'd make a coastal burlap footstool, right down to the graphic I wanted to put on it.


But, it was gone.


Bummer.
So... instead of running all over town to different thrift stores to find another footstool , which I know there would not be a single one available, anywhere...


I built one.


I used the same concept as my Simple DIY Bench which came from my tutorial for the DIY Patio Tables I built last summer and shared here on Hometalk too.
I wanted my coastal burlap footstool to look like it had been around awhile so I layered several colors on the raw wood, letting each one dry in between. Then painted it black and followed up with two coats of clear wax.
I just knew a crab would be cute on it. After trying several transfer methods that didn't take so easily, I traced it through the burlap and used another printed crab to make sure I was getting the shapes correct. I used a regular sharpie and heat set it with a hot iron between two papertowels.
I covered the seat with a layer of muslin first and then attached the burlap. I have great tutorial on how to upholster a bench seat here on Hometalk or you can go to my blog, H2OBungalow.com and search "upholstered bench tutorial". Since I didn't want the edges to unravel or fray, I added a layer of ProBond glue all around the inner edge of the burlap to give it extra stregnth.
Then tacked down an extra burlap piece with the staple gun to cover the raw wood.
Light distressing before I waxed it let the different colors peek through just enough to give it personality.
I attached the seat with 2 screws. To make it easy. I drilled pilot holes and used my countersink bit so the screw heads would be recessed and not show.
I love it, do you? If you like coastal projects or creative DIY, stop over my blog H2OBungalow.com to see lots more:)
Wendi @ H2OBungalow
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Anne Weaver Anne Weaver on Nov 04, 2015
    The stool is adorable! Is there a tutorial available that show how she made the wood base?
  • Va Va on May 27, 2020

    new to crafting...but love this. Where did you get crab stencil?

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