An Unstamped Project

While I was browsing at Joann's the other day, the thought occured to me to buy some fabric to recover a stool my aunt gave to me many years ago that I use at my sewing table.  It was in pretty poor shape and needed a makeover...badly.  The paint was chipped and dirty and dingy looking, and the fabric didn't even come close to going with my made-over craft room.  The legs were all wobbly and every time I sat on it, I was afraid I was going to end up on the floor.

See what I mean?  This is the only picture I had of it because I was in such a hurry to start my project, I forgot to take any before pictures.  Oops!

Now, I have never refinished a piece of furniture in my life, and I was a little leery to venture into uncharted territory.  That is one thing I don't like about myself, and it is directly related to my fear of failure.  If I haven't done it before, I want someone to hold my hand through the process.  And that comes from someone who used to take vacations to foreign countries by herself.  What's up with that?  Looks like there is something I need to work on.

Sorry about that.  Probably a little too much information.

But anyway, I did it!  And I survived.

And so did the stool.

My 'new' stool looks awesome if I don't say so myself!  *pat, pat*

If you heard distant screams yesterday, it was probably me while I was trying to staple the fabric to the frame. For some reason, two of the sides were very hard to get the staples to go into all the way. I tried hammering them in the rest of the way, but no matter how softly or hard I tapped, they would bend. I kept thinking that it never looks this hard on all those home improvement shows I see on TV. I never see a pile of mutilated staples next to them while they are recovering something. What was wrong with me? I was actually sweating from using a staple gun!

So I screamed. Really loud. And then miraculously, the staples went in.

Well, almost. I still had to tap them in the rest of the way. But it worked this time.


I used Citristrip paint str*pper, and it worked like a charm!    The paint bubbled up and slid right off within an hour.  The label says it is safe to use inside (with lots of ventilation), but I took advantage of the 70 degree weather we had yesterday and did it in the garage.  Even with all the ventilation, the citris smell was pretty strong.  From my label reading at Home Depot, it has low VOCs compared to other str*ppers, so it is fairly safe to use.

The best part is I learned how to do something I have never done before, and nobody held my hand.  I did it all by myself.  And now that I have refinished something, my next project is to refinish my daughter's dresser and highboy that I have been putting off for about four years.

Yes.  It is time.

K