Bar Stool reveal!

As promised, I am back today with Kelli's "new" bar stools! Just to refresh your memory, I picked up these two bar stools from an estate sale last Friday:

This is exactly what I saw...I did not realize that the pieces you see in the left side of the photo, went with.  I sent this picture to Kelli to see what she thought...she loved them.  She wanted something with a vintagey feel and these did.  I told her they needed some work, but that I thought I could work some magic and give them a new life!  For $10 each, it was worth a try!

Apparently someone had started their own "re-do" on these bad boys, but never got around to finishing the job.  When I realized that the cushions went with, I could instantly visualize them done in some fun fabric...Kelli had other ideas.  She wanted them as is (no cushion).

The plan was to sand the seats and stain them and just paint the legs.  Sanding was easy, but then I had to contend with the four holes on the top where the original cushion was screwed on.  Now, I don't know about you, but even though I see "stainable" on the wood putty label...it never works for me, so I did not want to chance filling them with anything.  Enter these little guys:

I went to Lowe's and looked for some sort of "bolt" type thing that I could insert into the holes.  CHEAP fix...cost .64.  I sprayed them with Rustoleum Oil Rub Bronze that I already had on hand.  Pounded them in the holes and VOILA...problem solved.

For added interest, I asked Kelli if she wanted something stenciled on the top.  She decided on the #'s 11 & 12...why, you ask?  Well, let's just say that if two of Kelli's favorite football players come to visit, they have their own place to sit!  (psssst.....that would be #11 for Larry Fitzgerald and #12 for Tom Brady!)

I created the stencil with my Silhouette and stenciled it on with black craft paint:

The stain color I used was Minwax "Special Walnut" and I topped it off  with about 3 coats of Minwax Rub On Poly, lightly sanding in between coats.

For the legs I used Annie Sloan paint in "Graphite", which I also already had on hand!  Love this color...if you just top with a clear wax, it appears a dark charcoal gray.  If  you want it black, just use the dark Annie Sloan wax.

This is how they look now:

As you can see, I left the bar off around the bottom.  As soon as I could tell that it did not affect the sturdiness of the stools, we opted to leave them off!

And of course, here they are sitting in front of Kelli's island:

Sorry about the not so great cell phone shot...even worse that it was dark out!   I love them with the white cabinets!

Another look:
 

 And one last before and after:

I went to another estate sale yesterday and got a smokin' deal on a bedroom set...will have to share pics next week as I have not moved it all home yet!

Till then...have a great weekend!

P.S. For those wondering...we did not win the contest.  I put my ingredient labels on so people thought she cheated with professionally made cookies.  Oh well!

This post linked to:

My Repurposed Life
Miss Mustard Seed
Primitive and Proper
Finding Fabulous   

There's a skinny girl who lives inside of me that's screaming to get out...I can usually shut her up with cookies!