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Spice Up Your Bar Stools: DIY Upholstery

by 5 March 07, 2013

So, I have these bar stools. They are old, from Wal-Mart, and not very attractive. At the time I got them, I wasn't really worried about whether they were cute. I just saw the pricetag and said, "I'll take two!" I have grown to hate these bar stools. Mostly, I hate them because I don't feel like they are "me" at all, or that they really fit with anything else in our kitchen. I decided it was about time to take matters into my own hands. Now, I don't know about the rest of you ladies, but because my husband and I are 20 somethings and just starting out, we are on a budget. While it can at times be frustrating, I honestly feel like it is the best thing for creativity. It really challenges you to think outside the box and work with what you have. I am a big fan of projects that involve making use of things that I already have around the house. So when I decided to cover the boring, drab cushions on these bar stools, all I had to do was go to my embarrassingly large stash of scrap fabric. I am by no means an expert at this, but I would love to show you all what I did!

What you will need:

-Scrap fabric (big enough to cover whatever you are upholstering)

-Scissors

-A staple gun

-A screw driver

First thing's first: let's detach those cushions! Depending on what type of stool you have, this should be a fairly easy process. For me, it simply involved flipping over my bar stool, grabbing my screwdriver, and unscrewing four screws.

This should leave you with only the cushions to work with. Next, you will choose your fabric. My kitchen is full of bright, vintage accents, so I chose my fabric accordingly. It is totally up to you and your style! The great thing about this project is that if you get tired of the fabric you chose, you can always recover later! Once you have made your fabric selection, lay the fabric underneath the cushion. Cut around the seat in a square, leaving enough extra fabric around the edges so that you will be able to cover the entire thing. {Note: I had WAY too much excess here and ended up having to trim as I stapled.}

Next you will lay the fabric face-up on tope of your cushion. Smooth out the fabric, pulling it as tightly around the cushion as you can so that once you staple, the fabric will be fitted and without any gathers or folds.

Okay, now for my favorite part! Grab your staple gun, and staple the edges of your fabric to the bottom of the cushion. Make sure to keep pulling your fabric as tightly as you can. Also, it is a good idea to flip the cushion over and check how the front is looking every few staples. Make sure the fabric didn't bunch somewhere that you didn't notice. My stools do not look particularly attractive on the bottom, but I figured nobody will ever see the underneath side. (Well, except maybe now!)

Now you are ready to attach your cushion to the rest of the stool. Again, this will depend on the kind of stool you have. I just had to replace the four screws that I had removed earlier.

Voila! There you have it. This project was easy as pie. I did both of these babies in about 30 minutes. Much improved, don't you think? Do the rest of you have upholstery success stories? As I said, I am by NO means an expert at this, but you have to start somewhere, right?

xoxo

5

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Spice Up Your Bar Stools: DIY Upholstery

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