Heeeeeelllo Friends! I hope you’re all having a fantastic week. We’ve been getting settled back into our groove after being gone for a few weeks–that means better naps and meals for Henry and more project time for me. I’ve been a busy bee cranking away on our Craft Room/Office makeover, as well as touching up a few other things around the house. Nothing like being gone for a while to light a fire under you and get some things finally checked off the list! This project is one of those “just need to find the time to get ’em done” projects, and I finally got the motivation to tackle them. How do you like my new stools?

These stools were purchased in Okinawa years ago. I bought them on a whim, hoping to put them at the end of a little girl’s bed someday. Well, since then, there have been no little girls added to this family; and we’ve lugged them around from house to house trying to find a good spot for them; oh, and my husband has ALWAYS hated them from the minute I brought them home. Truth be told, we’ve been slowly getting rid of and/or updated all the Asian decor we purchased while overseas. The phrase “when in Rome” comes to mind when I think about the furniture purchases we made there. Oh well, live and learn, and now we’re trying to update some of those pieces to fit with our more modern decor scheme.

Although the pink was cute, they just haven’t worked in our home for over five years. They were great stools for my craft counter however, and since we already had them (meaning I didn’t have to go out and buy new stools), I figured a makeover was the ticket. Still, I was worried about painting them (more so than I have been with anything we’ve re-painted), because once I painted over all that detail, there was no going back. A push from my friend/neighbor got me to finally pick up the paint brush, and I am oh so glad I did!

I know the gold feet are super trendy, but I just couldn’t resist…AND they were just too boring all blue. There’s nothing wrong with going along with the trend, right!

I thought the process would be a quick one–they didn’t take super long, but longer than I expected (isn’t that always how it goes?). I decided to give them a quick sanding to smooth out all the butterfly/flower detail so it wouldn’t show through the new coat of paint. Well, the one time I don’t want the sander to take off all the paint, it of course comes right off, down to the wood underneath! I was already committed at this point, so I just sanded them down to the bare wood. It took a little longer than I anticipated, but you can never go wrong getting things down to the bare bones!

From there, I started with Zinsser Cover Stain Primer and then followed up with a turquoise color by Behr. This gallon of paint was a gift from my neighbor so I don’t really know the color – she changed her mind on the color for her project, but it was just right for my office. She sure knows how to pick paint colors! After the two coats of the blue paint dried, I taped off the feet and gave each leg four (yes FOUR!!) coats of the Martha Stewart Metallic Paint. Thankfully, each coat took about 5 minutes total!

My last step was to seal it up using Rust-olum Gloss Clear Coat. I’ve mentioned before that I think this clear coat gives the greatest durability!

So so cute and cheery!

I know it may seem a little strange that I have chair-height stools for seating at a counter height work station. At first, I thought this was going to be a problem…over time however, I’ve found that because I am sitting a little lower, I don’t hunch over my sewing machine. I am almost right at eye-level with the needle, meaning no more sore neck or shoulders when I’m sewing!

As usual, the before/after shots are my favorite to pull together, so here we go!

I’m so thrilled with this little transformation. Not only is the solid color much more in line with our design style, but the pops of blue were very needed in my very light/white craft space. Oh – and pay no mind to those dots back there on the wall. Like I said, I’ve been busy in here and have yet to catch you up on everything I’ve done. Stay tuned, I’ll tell you all about them next week, but let’s just say they’re another trendy trend, but they make me very, very, very happy!

 Megan

See You Soon!
Megan