Denim Footstool Makeover with Faux Metal Paint Finish {VIDEO}

Welcome to this month’s thrift store challenge.  I have a new one for you this month… a footstool makeover.  Not my typical jewelry cabinet!  Are you glad for a little change up?  This old stool was in good shape when I found it.  Very sturdy but not very attractive.  (Don’t forget to scroll down to see what everyone else did this month!)

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The Rules: 

• • Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
  • There’s no monthly theme.
  • There’s no budget to stick to.

Meet the Hosts

Supplies for My Footstool Makeover

• Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint, turquoise  (I ended up not going with this color, but you might like it for another project.)
• Americana Decor Metallic paint, pewter
• Country Chic Furniture Glaze, graphite
• paint brush
• old denim blue jeans
• fabric scissors
• light duty staple gun
• 1/4″ staples
• denim ribbon
• hot glue gun (THIS is my favorite) with hot glue sticks
• hot glue finger protectors

The Three Stages of a Thrift Store Footstool Makeover

This “simple” makeover really did go through three iterations.  

At first I thought it would be my go to color — turquoise.   If you watch my Instagram stories you saw the day when I was painting everything turquoise.  

Once I had the paint on, I realized how bright that would be.  So I added a coat of black paint over it and distressed it so the turquoise would peek through.

Better… but still not what I was looking for.  I knew I wanted to cover it with old denim and I just didn’t like the color combination. 

So, as much as I liked the turquoise, I painted over the turquoise and black with a coat of metallic pewter paint.  It covered pretty well and I didn’t worry about a little black peeking through since I knew I was going to glaze over it with black.

When the metallic paint was dry I mixed up some of the black paint with glaze, brushed it on, and dabbed it off.  Here’s what the stool leg looked like after that coat.

If you need more visuals, here’s a Facebook Live video where I did the same technique on my piano stool.

I know someone out there is going to ask, “Did you put a top coat over it?”  No, I didn’t.  The glaze provides a pretty strong finish.  If I had painted the top instead of upholstering it, I probably would have used a heavy duty top coat on it.  But since we won’t be standing on the stool legs, I think it will hold up great.

Now, on to the upholstery…

I’m not an upholstery expert but chair seats and stool tops are pretty easy.  Think “wrapping a present”.  I just cut up a pair of Bikeman’s old blue jeans, laid them over the top to get the right size, then trimmed the denim just a little. 

I started by stapling a straight edge of the fabric along one long side, then pulling it taut and adding just a few staples on the other side to tack it down.  I worked out from there, pulling and tacking as I went, until it was all smooth.  Then I went back and added a LOT of staples and trimmed the denim.

To cover the staples I just hot glued a piece of denim ribbon over them.  (Don’t forget the hot glue fingers… they’ll save your fingertips!)

And here’s the completed project:

Now I’ve got a perfect little reading spot with my new lamp (it’s the Ava) and our Amazon chair.  (Yes! You can buy furniture on Amazon, too!)

I’m pretty happy about how this little footstool makeover turned out.

And now for more thrifty goodness!

Check out what my fellow upcyclers created below!

Thanks for reading about my footstool makeover!

‘Til the next challenge,

 Ann @ Duct Tape and Denim

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