Tag Archives: ottoman

* Snow Day Project: Footstool Makeover *

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A TON has changed in my life since my last update and I am busier than I have ever been before…

The long and short of it: I am 7 months pregnant with my first child, a baby girl, due May 18th 🙂 If you count back from my last entry, it’s kind of self-explanatory.

My pregnancy has been rough, and naturally, I cannot use most products I used to when doing projects, nor have I had any energy to do them anyway. I’ve avoided traditional paint, dust, chemicals, fumes, all the toxic nonsense. But I had a nice snow day off from work today, and decided to tackle a tiny, fun little project. The shabby rocker from my last entry? This cute little footstool goes with it…it’s down in our den and ready for downstairs feedings and rocking the baby! We ended up getting a comfy secondhand glider/ottoman for the nursery.

Before I get down to it, I DO finally have a huge project in the works, and it’s slowly getting there…my 50-year-old family bedroom set is now my daughter’s nursery furniture and it is being rehabbed. All drawer tracks were repaired by my hubby, tracks are being greased, new hardware is being added, and the dark pine frames are being painted with a beachy look to go with the “shabby beach cottage” nursery. I kept the drawer fronts their original dark pine. It is a unique, high-contrast, almost odd look. I’ll take photos of the completed nursery soon. I knew this was what I wanted in a nursery, whether the baby was a boy or girl.

So back to the task at hand…here was my raw material for the footstool. The second photo was me deciding between two fabric choices. I opted for more color and saved the blue and cream etoile for another day/project.

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The colors used for it were Shabby Paints’ “Alamo White”, and 3 custom-mixed accent colors…a beachy slate blue, an oatmeal beige, and a mint green…I did the base coat of the white and then highlighted with the others. After re-upholstering the top, here is the end-result (and hubby and I both love it).

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MUCH more fun! Not only will it work with the rocker (especially because her name is going on the top of the rocker in little-girl-themed letters when the time gets closer since the name is a secret), but it’ll make a great little seat for her before long. Here it is with the rocker before an accent pillow and name decal on the back:

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Cost breakdown:

Footstool: Free 🙂 We sold off some items (like our game table set) from the second half of the den to make room for a playroom and space for the baby, and this was purchased with some of the money we got for it…it gave us a very nice Valentine’s Day out together at the Jersey Shore.

Fabric: $1’s worth of fabric purchased from a Walmart remnant. I still have half left for a small pillow or a seat-pad if I decide to make one. All tolled, this project would have cost about $8 if I were actually paying for it. Doesn’t get any better, does it?

Within a month, there will be an update showcasing the final product that is Babygirl’s fabulous nursery!

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Bonjour, Paris! (A fast, easy, cheap little makeover)

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When I saw a small ottoman/upholstered footstool for sale for $5, all wood with padding and plywood intact…I pounced! There’s no limit to what could be done with it. It’s funny to me that the makeover ended up being neutral, demure, and sophisticated rather than vibrant, bright, and fun.

 

I’m fairly certain the culprit is “The Other Boleyn Girl”, which I am currently re-reading for the fourth time. Maybe it’s the sense of artistocracy, Anne’s French sense of fashion, or the courtly revels, but I’ve had Paris on the brain today.

 

I decided I wanted to budget between $8-$10 total for the project, including the ottoman and supplies.

 

Well, $3 in fabric later (I had also bought a burlap fabric, but it didn’t “fit” as well as this cotton twill), leftover chalk paint and paint supplies later, and I had my final result!

I used a bit of semi-gloss water-based floor poly to seal the chalk paint, which I distressed using an old sanding block. When keeping project costs down, GO SHOPPING IN YOUR OWN HOUSE.

 

Seriously…it’s the best way to do it! And chalk paint is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and safe, so it’s a good choice for virtually anyone. Roughing it up is a lot of fun, and you can play around with it to achieve your desired result.

I did one good coat of oatmeal colored chalk paint and then roughed it up.

 

Here is what I started with:

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Bad fabric, bad color (it did not know whether to be maple or mahogany). However, good bones!

Here’s the frame after paint and before distressing:

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And the final results:ImageImageImageImageImageImage

(That last photo, with the flash on, highlights the distressing).

I fell in love with that fabric straight away…old bikes, skeleton keys, French script, the Eiffel Tower? AND cheap? Sign me up! It is a cotton twill, as previously mentioned, not heavy tapestry or thick fabric, but it works perfectly on this piece. I’ll use my $2 piece of Parisian burlap for another project in the future.

 

So to recap costs:

Footstool/ottoman: $5

Parisian fabric: $3

Leftover paint, brushes, poly, sanding block: FREE 🙂

Project total: $8

 

Here it is in its new home, next to a fabulous $15 overstuffed chair that I got on Craigslist last summer. The butterfly pillow is from Pier 1 and features French script that pairs nicely with the ottoman.

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Can’t beat that, can you?

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Until next time 😉