Bar Stool Makeover

The last time I was at A Wider Circle I brought home a pair of worn out bar stools. They are well made and were probably very nice when they were new, but the once nice leather is pealing off and the legs are pretty banged up - so although functional not something someone would be proud to have in their home.

I decided to make slip covers for the seats and to paint the legs. I didn't have enough fabric in my stash for both stools so I had to buy fabric.  One of the reasons I blog about my unique volunteer work at AWC is to show how used furniture can be inexpensively transformed, that being said I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the fabric. A great place to find inexpensive fabric is the linen section of your favorite thrift store. I visited once of my faces on their 25% off day and headed straight for the curtains. Curtains are great because they are usually made of a heavier weight fabric and they have lots of yardage. I found three cream colored curtain panels that appeared to be a matching set. Each panel was $3.99 ($2.99 on sale) - not a bad deal for more than 6 yards of fabric. 

The cream color was fine, but a little boring. So I decided to dye it using Dylon dye (Navy Blue). As you can see the color ended up looking more like a denim blue. I had not used this brand before and I had to go in search of front loading machine instructions online. I found easy to follow instructions on the Dylon website. Once the panels were dyed, I discovered they were not a matching set after all. One of the panels was much lighter than the others - indicating a different fabric composition. Although I was frustrated by this at first, it ended up being a happy accident. 

Now to make the slip covers. So first of all, I am self taught sewer. I am sure my way isn't always the best or easiest way - but its they way I know. I learned to make slip covers from Hildi on Trading Spaces. She basically took a bunch of fabric, pinned it around the chair, sofa - whatever - then sewed along the pinned seams. You can find a ton of great slip cover tutorials on Pinterest.

To make the slip covers look more custom and help them fit better, I used the lighter blue panel to trim the bottom of the covers and to make a sash to tie the covers to the chair - kinda like this. 

After cleaning and priming the legs of the stools I painted them a warm whitish grey Benjamin Moore color called Abalone. I had a large sample of this color in my stash - I think it may have been the color in the Master Bath at our last house. Doesn't it look nice with the blue slip covers?

Finally I had a little extra fabric so I decided to make little lumbar pillows for the stools. These are not at all practical but I love them. I used my silhouette machine to cut the word "yum" for each pillow. I ironed the words on (backed with heat-n-bond) after sewing and before stuffing the pillows.