Painted Kitchen Stools

Long time ago when we renovated the kitchen, we bought a new set of stools. The kids really wanted to have the ones they could automatically adjust the height and most importantly, they wanted the new stools to spin round and round, and that's what they got. Not that I like them that much, but for the price and the fact that the kids love them, they are still there in the kitchen serving its purpose.

Since that time, the old set of stools have been going places around the house. They are the ones I grab when I need to reach for something in the highest cupboards. My kids have been using them as small tables when they eat their snacks or when doing homework, and as you can see, they've also been a paint station for many of my projects :)

I don't think they are going to replace the ones in the kitchen, at least for now, but since we use them so much I thought a makeover was greatly needed.
After sanding them pretty well, I decided I wanted the "new stools" to have that little skirt most of the stools have. So, out of 1x2's  the little pieces were cut and added to the stools with the Kreg mechanism.

Now that they were properly dressed, some more embellishments were not going to hurt, hah. I don't know why I always keep on adding stuff and making things more complicated than needed, but here I am working on the skirt when I see those wooden screw covers and of course I have to add them too.

I'm not a great painter, these stools were good pieces to experiment and learn with. I wanted to go for a distressed look, the one you see the other colors under-neigh the top coat. First they were spray painted red and blue, but when I went looking for petroleum jelly to rub on some spots so the next layer of paint didn't stick...Alas I had none, and I didn't want to go and buy some. So, black paint was then applied, I was just crossing my fingers to see the bright colors showing at the end ;)

At this point I decided to work on the seat.  You can get my free graphics HERE and HERE. You know I love coffee, well, if it's Colombian coffee I like it better ;)  Using graphite paper the designs were transferred and filled in with a black Sharpie.

Two final coats of chalk paint were then applied to the legs. Using a sanding block I kept on looking for those bright colors ;)

The letters were also distressed. Be careful, the ink can bleed into the unpainted areas. Finally, two coats of stain were applied to the seat and the decorative covers.

The stain gives them a nice soft shine.

Black is mostly the color peeking out, though I saw some red specks :)

The before and the after.

My kids are not happy I painted them white again, but black is too drastic for my small space I think.

Well, after all this work it's now time to go and have a cup of coffee ;)