Shopping your home has so many advantages. Before I ever think about going out and buying something new, I think is there a way I can make it? Usually when I make something it ends up being better quality than buying some mass produced item from China. Also making things yourself brings a custom touch to it so it fits your home just the way you like. Case in point this cute little round foot stool! I made this stool out of an old table I had, a round weave rug that I could never get to lay flat, some upholstery foam and quilt batting. I made it to be at the height we like as well as having a unique piece that fits uniquely into our home. I've already had people come over and ask me "where did you get this little stool from??" and of course I proudly say that I made it!! So even though this tutorial may not be something you can exactly recreate as the rug is probably hard to find (purchased it at Home Sense years ago), maybe you could gain inspiration on how you could look at items you have laying around collecting dust with a new set of eyes. Maybe you have a little square end table you don't use anymore, or a round accent table you bought at a garage sale and still haven't taken it out of the garage cause you don't know where to put it or how to make it work with your decor...whatever the case I want you to take those pieces out of hiding and finally make use of them! Here is my tutorial on how I did just that, hope you enjoy!
Items You Will Need:
An old end table or small accent table - look through your house I bet you have one kicken around.
Upholstery Foam - I used 3 pieces of 1" thick foam, this is the foam I had from Michaels. If you buy it at Michaels be sure to use their 40-50% off coupon on one item!
Fabric for cushion top - I used an old round rug, maybe you have an old square or rectangular rug, or some old fabric, perhaps an old table cloth or shower curtain, but be sure it's heavy duty fabric as your feet will be rubbing around on it.
Staple Gun
Hot Glue Gun
Saw
Good sharp scissors
Level
Sand Paper, medium grit
Wood screw - I used a 2" wood screw
Washers to fit your wood screw
Step 1:
Whatever unique piece you found laying around your home collecting dust lets turn it into something more useful! Decide what height you want for the stool. I knew I was wanting a super thick cushy foam top. My foam was going to be 3" thick and I knew I had a 1" thick table top, so in total 4" thickness. That's an important thing to know before you cut the legs off your table. I prefer a taller foot stool. The one's I've had in the past were always too short. I don't like my legs to drop down to the stool, I find it harder on my back. Yes I said that lol! I have always suffered from herniated discs so I like my legs to be rested straight out in front of me rather than downward which always strains my low back. So I cut my legs at 13" height. To properly cut the legs off of your table you will need a level, pencil and a good saw. I like this tool that we got from Canadian Tire. I like how precise it makes smaller cuts. Be sure you use a level surface before you make any cuts. Draw a straight line across the leg carefully making the line with your level. Then flip your table upside down to make a precise cut all around the leg following your line using your saw. If you have a hand saw you will need to remove the legs off of your table so you can lay them parallel to your surface, clamp the legs down if possible then saw across your line. Sand the edges smooth so that the legs don't scratch your floor. I used a medium grit sand paper.
Step 2:
Now that your legs are all cut off your table you can start working on the cushion top. I flipped my table top over on top of my upholstery foam and simply traced around the shape of the top. I did that 3 times to make 3 cuts out of my foam. I used a knife to cut my foam, but you can use scissors too.
Step 3:
Take your table and flip it back over. Now hot glue each individual piece of foam down and on top of the table top so that they are all securely in place.
Step 4:
Lay your batting flat out onto your surface and flip your table upside down again laying it in the center of your batting. Fold your batting all around the foam and onto the underside of the table top and use a staple gun to attach it. Being sure to tug gently all the way around so that it is smooth. Using batting helps to smooth out all the edges of the foam before you apply your finishing fabric.
Step 5:
Now it's time to attach your fabric. I had the same shape as my table for my fabric, round rug and a round table. I damped my rug so that I could really work with the material and stretch it to around the table top. After I laid the damp rug over top of my table top, I decided how much excess material needed to be trimmed off and used my very sharp fabric scissors to cut along the stitching.
Step 6:
Lay your material onto a flat surface and flip your table upside down again and onto the center of the material. Just like you did with your batting, fold your material all around the batting and to the underside of the table top stapling it into place as you go around. With the batting being underneath already you may have to use a bit of manual force to get the staples securely into that wood and through the batting. I definitely had to put some muscles into it.....see DIY-ing is not only fun, but you can also get your work out done at the same time!! Make sure you are pulling that fabric nice and tight as you go along.
Step 7 (Optional):
You can actually be all finished now unless you want to take this cute little stool one step further and give it a more custom look. I was having issues getting the center of my round rug to lay flat, even after I attached it to the stool. I still had this slight hump where the fabric didn't want to smooth out. A simple solution I had in mind was to sink it down almost like a tufted look. All I did to do this was take a long very slim screw driver and poke a hole through the center of the fabric all the way through the foam so that I could reach the table top. Once I reached the table top and I could feel it with the tip of my screw driver I made the hole a bit bigger by feeding the screw driver up and down and cutting through. The reason I made a hole first is because I want to take a 2" wood screw and screw it through all that fabric to reach the wood top. If I screw right through all of that material the threads will get all caught up with material and not be able to feed into the wood. Now grab your screw and washer and poke your screw through your hole until you reach your table top. Now you can screw directly down into the wood.
To finish it off I sewed a button on top to hide the ugly screw head and washer. You can also use hot glue if you don't want to sew, but be mindful it may pop off at some point.
This is somewhat of a fake tufting DIY. I have never personally tufted anything. I think there's more to it than using a wood screw haha, but I kinda came up with this idea cause I was working again, with things I already have on hand, but I think it worked out perfectly and I love the fact that it ingeniously sucked the fabric down that I was having issues with. Now my stool looks even prettier and doesn't really look like a DIY in my opinion. What do you guys think? I would love to know if you guys have it in you to try to make something similar! This ain't a hard one guys. If you can use a staple gun and have a saw on hand you can create something adorable and unique like what I did here.
Have a beautiful day guys and thanks for stopping by!
Dale
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