I spotted this footstool by the roadside when my colleagues and I were out for lunch. It was lonely and sad (I was probably just imagining it though), and it called out in a soft, weak voice, "Halp." Ok, I was probably imagining that too, heheheh.
We went back to the studio, but then I kept thinking about the footstool (more like a little vanity stool) and my workmates said, "Let's go get the stool! It's now or never!" So SJ, Lion and Meng (I think it was the 3 of them, though I'm not sure why we needed so many guys to carry a small stool LOL) and I drove back to the spot-- me being paranoid that someone else would've gotten to it before me-- as if everyone is a hobo thief like me. Anyhoot, lo and behold, we attained the stool!
It took me a reallyyyy long time to get started with the stool, and I'm glad I did it in the end. I cleaned and sanitized the stool with some Dettol. No bugs living in there, but you can always use bug spray to get rid of any too.
The stool was rickety, but nothing an Allen key couldn't fix (thanks Ikea for the many Allen keys you've bestowed us with over the years).
And then it was time for the usual suspects: A coat of primer, and a coat of white spray paint...
... followed by a few coats of the final color: warm golden yellow.
p/s Always wear a mask when you're spray painting stuff! :-B
I replaced the whole cushion with a brand new one. Found an old Ikea footstool pillowcase (we seem to like footstools in the house eh), but the pillow was too flat. Enter fabric scraps to the rescue! Lord knows I've a ton of them ^.^"
The fabric scraps were sandwiched between layers of aquarium filter foam pieces so that the surface feels flat and not lumpy. I'm not sure what the exact name for these are, but they're like thicker, coarser versions of regular batting (and much cheaper too)-- these were leftovers from my brother-in-law's aquarium.
While my husband and I were out buying lights from a lovely old man's shop, we walked through an alley and I saw pieces of chipboard discarded by a furniture shop. My brain screamed AHHHHH I NEED DATTT and my husband, thankfully, didn't think I was a crazy hobo. Ok actually he probably thinks that lol. He helped me pick out a good piece, I got a little FatMax jab saw (was looking for one of these pull saws which looks so cool in this video but couldn't find it), and cut out a piece of wood for the cushion to sit on.
I sewed a simple cover for the cushion with some fabric my mom gave me.
Like most padded stools and chairs I've seen, the cushion sits on a plank of board (plywood or chipboard), the fabric cover is stretched around the cushion and tacked onto the board with a heavy duty staple gun.
Huzzah! New footstool!
I call it the hobo footstool because every part of it came from somewhere different, and yes, I did pick it up from the streets like some hobo lol. Have you done anything like that yourself too? Please tell me I'm not the only hobo around...







