This really is the ultimate “trash to treasure” project. This unloved stool was constantly being moved from room to room as a DIY prop. It’s been used as a ladder, a paint tray holder and of course a seat in times of a much needed rest when I’ve overestimated whatever DIY project I took upon myself that day.
This project was also a bit of an accident. I had originally ordered this La Redoute stool and after an email saying it was on an 8 week back order my impatience got the better of me and I thought I’d give it a go myself. Much to my husband’s delight of saving us a £100 spend on an unnecessary stool when we already have plenty of seating in this house. His words not mine. In my mind you can never have enough seating, especially when it’s matt black, cane webbing seating. amiright?
I hurriedly ordered the supplies I thought I’d need for this and originally had set out to just “no nails glue” the whole job, because quite frankly that’s my solution to most DIY. However an hour in to frustratingly trying to hold the cane webbing down on the stool I realised it just wasn’t going to stick. The solution I found was WAY simpler, less messy and much quicker.
Read on for your four step guide to transforming a boring stool into a chic top trend of 2020 home interiors.
Time: 1 HOUR
MATERIALS:
- Stool
- Cane Webbing
- Rubber Edging
- Paint
- Primer
- Sand Paper
- Hammer
- Scissors
- 8 slim nails
TIP: Buy just a sample pot of paint because you will need hardly any.
If this is an upcycle project and you already have the stool you want to refurb, along with the tools then buying the webbing, paint and rubber will cost you no more than £35 for this project 🙂
Step 1:
Sand back the stool to remove any lacquer or finish that it has on it. (If the top of your stool isn’t plain wood then sand it back fully to wood as it’ll show through the cane webbing when finished.)
Step 2:
Prime and paint the legs. I used Valspar wood primer in dark and wood paint in “Nevermore”. Any brand will do just fine. Farrow and Ball “railings” is also a great colour to use and you can buy it in a sample pot size. I’ve found in the past their matt emulsion works well on properly sanded and primed wood.
Step 3:
Make sure the paint is fully dry before starting step 3. Place your sheet of cane webbing on the top of the stool. Take scissors and carefully cut out the circle shape of the seat. Go very slowly but don’t worry if it’s a little rough around the edges because the rubber will cover it in step 4. Now take four of your nails and hammer down the cane webbing at four equal points on the seat.
Step 4:
Take your piece of rubber and at the lipped edge prise it apart and place it on the stool edge. This means one half of the rubber pipe will be lining the top of the seat and the other half will be fixed to the side of the seat. It will fix on immediately and hold as it’s sturdy stuff. Then with quite a force pull the rubber round the edging of the seat as you fix it into place the whole way round. The rubber I used and linked measures 1m and my seat circumference was slightly over that, however I pulled it as tight as I could and it managed to cover the whole seat. It was a forceful job so if you want to remove that stress from your project make sure the rubber and seat circumference match up in size. But the rubber will stretch if pulled. When you have fully covered the seat edge all the way round and your rubber meets up with the starting point then take the final four nails and on the side of the stool (not the top) nail two at the starting point of the rubber and two at the end point.
TA-DA!!!
I hope my amateur DIY explanations were easy enough to understand. Once I’d figured out the process this was hands down the easiest DIY project I’ve ever done and it has a real WOW effect (if I may say so myself).
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