homey home design: A Bar Stool Face Lift

Friday, June 8, 2012

A Bar Stool Face Lift

When we updated our kitchen over the winter I desperately wanted to get new bars stools, but they weren't in the budget. So we kept the same old beat up ones we always had and called it good. I knew that they needed updating but wasn't sure what or how. Then I came across Amanda's bar stool redo and fell in love with the charming numbers she used to update her stools using her cricket machine. Well, a cricket machine wasn't in the budget either so I decided to use my basic sign making technique and see if that would produce the same result. Here's how they came out:

I've never really stained before and that is quite apparent if you look at #4. However, to boost my morale I decided that I would call them 'modern rustic'. The font being modern and the rustic being the sorry stain. Oh well!

Here's where they started:

Now #4's not looking so bad......am I right? ;)

If you want to give your stools a face lift here's what I did:

1) Using a medium grit sand paper, sand the shiny finish off of them.

2) Using a rag and the desired stain color, lightly add coats until you get the desired color. For best results {not my results ;) } follow directions on the can. This is what I used:

This is just after one coat. I probably did 4-5 coats total.

3) Once you get the desired color and its dry, its time to do your numbers. I have four kids and four stools, thus the numbers one through four! ;)

I played around with fonts on my computer until I found one I liked. I used the size 500 {after some trial and error} and printed one number out per page. With them printed out I next used my pencil to shade the edges of my number on the back side.

4) Tape your number on your stool and trace the outline of the number. Doing this will push some of the lead on the back side of your number onto the stool leaving an outline for you to fill with paint.

5) Using craft paint fill in the outline and let it dry.

6) Cover with polyurethane and let it dry! I used this foam brush but it left lots of bubbles so once I rolled it on I took my rag to smooth it out. I'm sure a brush would work much better. {Live and learn!}