Revamped Foot Stool

Here is my first mini-furniture makeover as promised. The fabric used is the new Thea & Sami "French Stripes" in Creme - Duck Egg Blue available here.

I thought I would start with a small project that needed no sanding or sewing.

This is what the before looked liked. I don't know about you but I can't imagine green vinyl looking good in anybody's home. Especially this shade of green.

The following are the steps taken by me which may or may not be the best way to do things. Flip the stool over and remove the legs. This was easy to do as they were the type that you can screw in and out.

Place seat over the fabric to work out how much you need and allow around 2 inches all around for folding and stapling. This project used 80 x 80 cm so one metre is more than enough.

Before stapling fabric, I removed the old staples and lining fabric. I didn't bother with removing vinyl nor relining since the wooden bottom was clean.

I folded the fabric for extra strength and attached a few staples in the centre. Leave the edges until last so that you have room to fold corners. Don't cover the metal parts where the legs will be screwed back in.

Stretch fabric, fold edge and staple the middle opposite side.

This is what my no-sewing-necessary folded corner looks like.

To achieve those nice corners, I folded the next sides like this and secured with a couple of central staples.

Now fold from the outside until fabric corner is how you want it.

Stretching fabric again, staple across the middle. This time, I didn't fold the fabric as it was getting bulky from the folded corners. As nobody will see it underneath and the linen is quite strong, it won't matter.

Stretch opposite side to that and staple. Trim excess fabric as you will need to expose leg attachments.


Flip seat and check tension and then you will be able to stretch the rest evenly and staple all around. Don't be afraid to remove staples where necessary if tension is not right.

Spray paint legs to suit your fabric. I used White Knight Squirts in "Lace" which is a creamy type of colour. I did use a base coat first. The legs on my foot stool are plastic so no sanding was necessary. Screw legs back in once thoroughly dry.

I'm taking my new foot stool to Life Instyle as a prop and a seat. I just can't decide which way I like the fabric facing. Do you like the horizontal stripes or vertical (see first image).

I'm planning to share another makeover with you next weekend. Please feel free to submit any makeovers of your own when you use any of our fabrics.