Kimba at A Soft Place To Land is hosting a DIY party today, and it just so happens that I finally finished my yard sale stools.

Remember these ladies?

Remember how I didn’t like the green? Well, I finally got around to making them my own. I bought these chairs at a yard sale for $15! For both chairs! Hunter and I have been looking at similar chairs (a rush bottom is what we want) for a while and even cheapies at Target are like $70!

I started out by removing the base. There were 3 simple screws to take out.

Then I sanded the chairs. Hunter and I disagreed on this. He said to skip sanding but I did a test piece. I sanded the wood under the chair seat one side and didn’t on the other. When I scratched both sides with my fingernail, the un-sanded side peeled right off. Sanding it was. I just did a light sand. I also used some wood glue I had to re-secure the chairs structurally since the older wood glue was deteriorating.

I had paint leftover from my dresser redo so I used it. I did 3 coats, sanding between the coats to remove any run marks. I wanted to buy spray paint but Hunter talked me into using what we had. See, he can be frugal when he wants to!

I let them dry a good 2 days before I put the seats back on because I knew the boys would immediately climb in them. And I was totally right. They’d missed their stools! Here’s the final result.

Aren’t they great?!? I LOVE them!!!

I bought 2 cushions because the boys keep dropping snacks in the seat, but I’m thinking about making a fabric cover when I find a new curtain fabric that works for my “colors.” I think the cushions are just too big. Here’s one with the cushion.

(Yes, I know one of the little decorative arch things is broken…thank you JP about 3 hrs after I brought it home). It looks kind of orange but the cushions are really a cranberry red which is one of my favorite colors.

Right now, I’m a hodge-podge in the kitchen/dining room are (and well, the rest of the house) but I’m getting there I think. Maybe I could just use a drop cloth for the chair liners…something simple and cheap. It would totally match my table cloth! lol. No cushioning though.

I’m so happy with how they turned out and for $15!! You can’t beat that. Decorating on the Cheap!!!

C-re