Thrift Store Footstool Makeover How-To!

Ain't she sweet?

Except for the 1985 hideous tapestry fabric....

And the shiny brown wood...

She is a diamond in the rough!

Here's what I did to transform this little thrift store find. 1. Take the BEFORE pictures!
Here's some tools of the trade that I used...


painted her up, sanded her down and stained her all over.



Thrift store find #2.....a FAB lone curtain panel for 1.50.
Guess why it's so fab?? Psst....it's NUBBY!
We all love NUBBY right?
And it's blue frenchy farmhousey looking too!
We all love blue frenchy farmhousey right?




Cut out a piece bigger than the stool top itself so you have enough fabric to completely cover it all up. I actually unscrewed the lid and it made recovering SUPER easy.

Get out the staple gun and HAVE AT IT!

I always fold my fabric under so I don't have raw edges that may unravel or hang out.

When you're all done...

Flip her right side up...

Stand back...

And {sigh}

Such an E*A*S*Y project....

What a difference!

SOOOOO much better.

SOOOO much sweeter!

I did this little stool on the same day with the same techniques as above.

The only difference here is my fabric choice.

I've been wanting to use this old feedsack for ages and I think it looks perfect!

Thanks for looking!!
This post was made to be posted at

Air Your Laundry at

Freckled Laundry.

Hop on over to see sweet Jami and get inspired!

AND

Transformation Thursday

over at

Shabby Chic Cottage!

You'll love what you see!

~~*** COLLECTING OLD LINENS **~~~

I recently bought a big box of old linens and doilies. As I was pricing them I was tossing them into a pile on the counter and it occured to me how pretty all the COLOR tones looked and how different the TEXTURES were. It made me also think if a cleaning tip that I found in a old time homemakers book. It said to "get yellowing stains out of an old linen , lay it on the grass overnight . In the morning, gently wash with soap and water and lay it back outside in the sun to dry." I have tried this and it worked on two doilies I had!!
The other nice thing about collecting old linens is that it is not generally expensive and can accumululate quickly. It's always fun to start a new collection and usually when you shop for linens they are always in a box and you just have to start diggin! A true junkin pro has this skill down pat!! HAVE FUN!!

THRIFT STORE BURLAP TOTEBAG MAKEOVER!

Okay...at first glance I KNOW what you are thinking....I even picked it up and put it down myself ....then I kept thinking about it because I really love that granny smith apple green color, but my initial is no where near "R" BUT then I came up with this idea.....TURN IT INTO A PILLOW!! So here we go..................

First step is to cut the bag apart....cut the top handles off and then just follow the seams and cut all the way around. Your goal is to get two even pieces.......................

LIKE THIS!!!. You will have to do some trimming to get them even. I did not use a pattern for this , I just eye balled the pieces but you could ...just to be sure...lay out a template for accuracy. At this point sew the pieces right sides together leaving a small opening on the bottom. Turn the pillow right side out, stuff with fiber fill and sew opening closed.

You will end up with this FABULOUS LOOKING TRENDY MONOGRAM ACCENT PILLOW! This project was soooooo inexpensive....the tote bag cost a whopping .25 cents and it took all of 1/2 hour to get it done start to finish. The best part is I can also use the twine that was the handle to hang my price tags with! A total recycle project that looks like a million bucks!!

SO get out there and rummage thru the tote bags next time and give this a try! Have fun!