step stool

with an ever growing family it seems we outgrow so many areas in our house.  one of the most annoying areas that we no longer fit is the dining room table.  it doesn’t help that two of our dining room chairs are out of commission for various reasons.  for weeks, we have been sitting on an array of other objects to make up for our missing chairs and it’s getting old. 

driving the boys to school the other morning i spied a must have salvage in someone's trash. 

 

 

this beauty.  now who could pass this up?  with little boys that love to climb up and help in the kitchen or get the craft supplies down from the high shelf for their little brothers, i have always wanted a step stool like this one. 

 

 

there was no denying it, with the condition this guy was in, i was going to have to hide it from scott until it was well on it’s way to being refurbished.  scott always appreciates the final product but just not the journey. if things are in particularly rough condition sometimes he lacks the imagination it takes to see the value.

 

 

 

after hauling it home, we got right to work.  it started with our usual bleach and water scrub down followed by a full day in the sun which once again i am convinced kills any real germs.  some naval jelly to dissolve the rust.  note to anyone considering using naval jelly, it will not only eat rust, but also the skin off your hands.

 

we did some scrubbing with the steel brush, sandpaper and steel wool.  it’s helpful to have a team that will take turns on items that require a lot of sanding.  sanding is not fun.

 

next was time for some spray paint but first i had to cover the rubber mat to protect it.  my only available scrap paper was tommy’s homework from last week.  it worked quite well and also got to serve another purpose before finding it’s way to the recycle bin.

 

at this point i felt the condition was good enough that i could reveal it to scott.  as usual, he jumped right in and agreed to help.  he offered to do the first coat of spray paint. 

 

i wanted a dark undercoat so i could later see it through the top coat.

 

 

next was the top coat, off white to match the dining room furniture.

 

 

while one of the coats of paint was drying i turned my attention to the cushion which was in very rough shape.  i choose to leave the original vinyl in place.  my plan was to cover it with a new piece of fabric.

 

i always pick up extra fabric at old time pottery when they have sales.  i have a color scheme in mind for each room so i try to pick up several patterns in coordinating colors so that when a project like this comes along, i not only have fabric to use, but matching fabric.  i had this scrap lying around from a previous project.

 

after cutting it to size i simply used a standard cubicle issued stapler to staple it onto the existing pad.

 

  

 

it turned out rather charming.

 

 

after several coats of the off white, it was time to rough up the edges and let that black undercoat peek through simulating the years of wear and abuse that this step stool actually had received.  this will also hide any additional marks that the boys will no doubt add.

 

the wear and tear was easy to simulate with some aggressive rubbing of steel wool.  the cushion was reattached.

 

 

the final product turned out like this.  kind of cute i think. 

the boys have already deemed this their favorite piece of furniture.  i find it in every room.  sometimes it’s just the extra chair but also has been used to hold up the end of a makeshift tent, to reach confiscated items back down from the top of the entertainment center and as a diving platform for poor auggie when the boys decided to play circus yesterday.  what was once destined for the trash heap will get a few more miles and a few more memories on it around here.