Cafe Castaways Become Beachy Bar Stools

Krosiepowers
by Krosiepowers
$75
Easy
These stylish stools cost me less than $20 each--makeover and all!
This post is another cottage kitchen project, and it follows up to last week's Banquette Table Makeover. If you read that post, you'll remember that due to space constraints, our kitchen peninsula was UNUSED before our kitchen mini-renovation. Adding the banquette gave us the space we needed to finally utilize some counter stools.
Which leads me to the counter stool saga...
Now that I finally had the space, I just had to find the stools! But that proved much more difficult than one might think. Although I spent plenty of time drooling over adorable bar stools online and in magazines and catalogs, we were in the midst of a renovation, so the budget was SUPER-TIGHT. I couldn't just order up stools at well over $100 a piece! And when my (many many many) Craigslist searches also came up empty, I had to resort to other thrifty means. And that's when I discovered a virtually unknown little flea market (which has since gone out of business, tear tear).
Ta da! A beauty, right?! Black metal stool, doggie print.... Well, so maybe it wasn't exactly the look I was going for. But my DIY side saw the potential of a simple makeover. It all came down to one factor: MONEY. Aaaaand the price, you ask? $35 for ALL FOUR stools! Apparently they had come from a cafe in a neighboring town. Now, how could I pass that up?!
I brought them home, took off all the cushions, and spray-painted the bodies of the stools a nice white (forgot to take pics-sorry!). Then I recovered the cushions in a "beachier" fabric.
I used a staple gun to apply the new medium-weight home decor fabric. The fabric has held up well to (a lot of) spot cleaning, and the kiddos love the lobsters!
I reattached the cushions to the stools--it only took a few screws--SO easy to do. No sewing, and only tools needed for the cushion revamp were a screwdriver and a nail gun!
And there's the finished product.
A quick before and after...
Stools from above (can you picture what an 8.5 month pregnant lady looked like taking that shot with a camera?!).
And finally, we have a totally practical, usable kitchen space for our family!
This pic (above) gives a sense of how much space we gained between the kitchen table and the peninsula space. It gives us so many options about where to enjoy meals, snacks, and projects!
Here's the angle from the other side of the room...
And that's about it! It was really an incredibly simple project. Here was the final cost breakdown:


Chairs = $35


Paint = $20


Fabric = $20


Grand Total = $75 or about $19/stool!
Check out my blog post for some more before pics and other details (including how I narrowly avoided a major blowout with the hubby)!
Krosiepowers
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  2 questions
  • Peggy Peggy on Jan 17, 2016
    Do these chairs swivel ???Beachy Bar Stools
  • Hbg13285396 Hbg13285396 on Dec 17, 2016
    What are your counter tops and color? Love the look. Thanks for posting.
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  • Amy Aguirre Amy Aguirre on Apr 28, 2015
    Very pretty.
  • Country Design Home Country Design Home on Apr 29, 2015
    Super cute- love the lobsters! I have those exact chairs (no doggies, thought) and it is most definitely time for a spring makeover!
    • Krosiepowers Krosiepowers on Apr 29, 2015
      @Sue@CountryDesignHome Thank you, Sue! I actually had a hard time covering the doggies because I knew someone at sometime must have loved that fabric! If you do make yours over, I'd love to see some pics!!
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