Before & After: An Upholstered Stool Gets Stylish with Hand-Stamped Fabric

From Katie:

I got this little upholstered table/footstool/bench at a thrift store for $5. It’s not a spectacular piece, but with its cute little bulbed feet it had the potential to be a lot better once I got rid of the dirty cream vinyl and chipped black paint.

I was hoping that the wood under the paint would be salvageable. Rather than using a chemical paint stripper – the last time I tried it ended with disastrous results – I decided to sand off the black paint. I put on a mask and safety glasses and went to work with an orbital sander. The paint came off reluctantly, smearing a little and leaving charcoal-like streaks. It was evident (and I was grateful) that the table had only been painted once, so there weren’t many layers to remove. Because I was nervous about ruining the little bulbed detail at the bottom of the legs, I sanded that part by hand. About an hour and a half later, much of which was spent trying to get into the crevices where stubborn paint still clung, I had a pretty little red oak table. Rather than stain it, I put on a coat of neutral Restore-a-Finish followed by Howard Feed & Wax to condition the wood.

I’ve been really inspired by the indigo textiles that are so popular right now, and I’ve wondered whether I could make something similar using fabric ink and a stamp. This seemed like a good time to try! For the print, I used a pattern from Lena Corwin’s book ‘Printing by Hand.’ It’s a wonderful book and her instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

I really like how it turned out! The color of blue is pretty close to what I wanted and the natural wood is a big improvement over the old black paint. Best of all, it’s usable and no longer sitting in a heap of other project pieces in the storage room. See more of how she turned this simple stool into a sweet project on Katie’s

blog, including how to make your own stamp so you can make your own custom stamped fabric for projects!