After I finished up with my big desk re-do, it became pretty obvious that I needed something to fill the big giant hole where a chair’s supposed to go. Except not a chair. I wanted something that would tuck neatly underneath to leave lots of room to move around, but that would visually take up a lot of space to hide as much of the ugly floor and walls and vent and everything.
I thought, “Hmm, if only I could find the perfect little stool, something plain that I could fix up. I wonder how long I’ll have to look through thrift stores until I find it? If only I had such a stool already. Say, sitting around somewhere like an attic or a basement. Just one lowly stool.” Oh wait! I have four.
This was just a plain square stool. Full counter height and from Ikea a few years ago. We cut it down to an unconventional height so it would fit exactly how I wanted it. I think it’s 23 and 1/4 inches.
I found this pretty leafy looking fabric for $5 a yard at the fabric store not too far from here. This place has tons of fabric choices on clearance! It’s like fabric heaven! I can find anything I want for almost nothing! And then I found out they’re closing the store in April. Well, I guess that makes sense then. I’d better stock up!
It turns out that my new giant table comes in handy when I have like 17 million yards of fabric to work with.
I measured the height of the stool and the circumference. To make it all floofy and pretty, I doubled the circumference measurement. Then I put the skirt together in two separate pieces, just to make it easier to work with.
I did all the hemming with hot glue (of course), but I used a needle and thread for the basting stitch to make the ruffles.
I used my staple gun to attach the fabric at the corners first and then added a few more in the middles for good luck.
The staples and stitches got covered up with a little grosgrain ribbon glued all around.
Then I had a stool! One more piece of the kitchen puzzle falls into place!
I ended up freshening the finish on the top of the stool a bit too. Just a quick sand, some stain and two coats of poly. It doesn’t match the desk, but they still seem pretty happy together.
Chris asked me why I’m always skirting everything. I have to say, I skirted maybe two things about 3 years ago once and then never again. I guess three things skirted ever is just too many ruffles for any man to take.
At least Marsha gets it. So I decided to skirt one more thing with all this beautiful fabric I have on my hands. I’ll show you next week!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.